pyjamas in the daytime
Published May 8, 2006 | 
I’ve watched the summer evenings pass byI’ve heard the rattle in my bronchi…b.roberts
The trouble with being sick, is you feel worse just trying to pass the day on the couch. If everyone is sick, you end up laying around the living room like wolves in a heat wave. Tongues hanging out and everything. So the only way I’ve found to feel any better is to get outside. Anywhere under the sun. As long as you’re moving you don’t feel so bad. Until you stop of course, then it’s worse. After another 2 hours of slow-motion loading we packed up a little picnic, kids toys, chairs, blankets and the Acuta for a day on a secluded beach. Loading the boat was a slow and exhausting maneuver, but I had a goal of testing my padding work which was now all dragon skinned and glued into place.
While Gryphon reclined under blankets on a big beach chair and Mary fiddled with fire & tinfoil, I slid out into the lake and paddled for about a half hour before 
I could feel my equilibrium starting to fail. Soon we were all sitting in a short row watching an occasional gust of wind send cats paws across the water. Almost un-noticed, time passed. By mid-afternoon the sun began to slide below the trees on the southern bluff and we knew we should probably be heading home. The problem was, no one felt good enough to stand up. . .
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11 Responses to pyjamas in the daytime
Yuck, not nice and I trust you are all getting better…. but perhaps it was the doing of the voodoo doll crafted from a soggy biscuit I found near me on Anglesey….! (Only kidding!) Good symposium – you must come over next year – we even allow East Coast Yanks to pass their 5* (well done Jack!)! The Rapier attracted a lot of attention, and a boat change occurred… my Greenlander is now in the caring hands of Jeff Allen, having been displaced by ……an Anas Acuta!!! (Yes, I do fit – especially after 10 minutes with a hacksaw getting the torture device (aka ‘seat’) out.) GP rolling, here I come!
Rowland
PS – this year it was only a 6 dog tow with integral surf landing!!! (all the others ran away!)
Derrick, when do we get to see pictures of the new seat, etc., in the Anas Acuta?
Josh
Hey Rowland!
Wow! Sounds like a great time! Cool to hear you got an Acuta, although Mary says you’re a traitor for ditching your Greenlander! How’s the rest of the fit? Even with my 91/2 (us) shoe size my feet are tight in there. I can’t wear anything bigger than “socks” and be comfortable. On the other hand once you get your feet wedged in there it should rolls like a dream. Check out the kayak on the left in this pic http://www.aarhushavkajakklub.dk/php/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=50&pos=13 . There’s an inventive way to find some foot room!
Still sick today, probably was the voodoo. Biscuit voodoo takes much more energy than standard chicken voodoo which is more popular round these parts. . .
Sorry to hear you’re still ‘ick’. I’m surprised about your footroom – given my size 13.5 (US)feet and 34″ inseam, my Anas feels almost comfy – and certainly not constrained. I nearly ended up with your original Anas (still in the factory at Nottingham), but the bank balance dictated that I ended up with a burgundy over white ex-demo(which neatly compliments one of the Nordkapps with the same colour scheme). Tell Mary I’m sorry, but a) I can get my head onto the back deck, which I couldn’t with the Greenlander and b) Jeff will look after Pialayuq, she’s gone to a good home. Now I have to find all the bits of antler again!
Rowland
Josh,
I’ll have to take some pictures. Everything went fairly well gluing it all in. I ended up with the seat about 2 inches forward. I also put an additional 3/4 inch bit of foam under the valley seat. Then I padded out under the deck as well. I got the padding under the deck just a bit crooked, but I can work that out with the dragon skin. That H2 stuff is so tacky that if you don’t place it just right the first time, you’re toast. I may end up adding more padding there as well, but I’ve got to take it out and roll a bit. Yesterday with my fever raging I tried a paddlefloat re-entry just to see if I could do it with the ocean cockpit and additonal padding. Not a problem other than I had to get back further on the deck to slip my feet in, then putting my whole body on the back like that sunk the stern down to waterlevel!! I’d never (well maybe not “never”) do a PF normally with the AA. But I was wondering if I could demonstrate the PF re-entry in a class with it. Being much more agile and ligher than my explorer It would be a nice boat for instruction if I can demonstrate basic rescues without screwing up the visual presentation.
r –
They haven’t sold the twin yet, eh? That’s because it’s EVIL!! EVIL!! (Ten years from now Valley is going to still be stuck with that boat and writing me nasty letters for cursing it.) Actually I just hope someone get’s it who knows it has a story.
I remembered seeing your bit in the old NDK video promo and wondering how you’d get 13s in there. Probably just foot placement. I do keep my feet in a different position in the Acuta to get a better connection with the hull for rolling. (more vertical, and to the sides). So when I think about it, it’s probably just me. Nevermind!
I’m a ‘heels in, toes out’ man myself….!
)
I got a response back from Laurie and she’s got me listed as a Euro instructor and she has me teaching some rolling as well. I better brush up on my paddlefloat rescue now! Good thing I didn’t sell my Euro paddle and my paddle float like I was planning too!
Can you roll with a Euro???!! Haha!
You don’t dare get rid of your paddlefloat. . . how are you going to properly demonstrate why you’d never use one in real life? But then, what about a paddle float roll? What will you rest your head on at night on camping trips? How will you splint a broken leg? What will you use to insulate & protect wine bottles on long trips? Get rid of it?! Jeeze!!
Hey I’ve been running whitewater twice a week so my Euro skills are still fairly sharp. Probably moreso than my GP skills at this point!
I will have to get used to the length and offset though which I assume won’t take too long. Well I’d sell one of my paddlefloats (I have two) since one is currently in use holding my flares. Well I always could use a camelback to store my wine and use that as a pillow as well…
R-
You should email a picture of your new boat so we can see it!!