Archive for July, 2006

Yeah, this is heaven. The best of everything; Reed Cag, Nigel Dennis Explorer and Freya’s trolley to carry it all! (I think my Lendals & Beales are hidden there under the cag) . Please send all checks to. . . .

Now, the reason you get all this fine kit is so you don’t have to buy it all again. Reeds last forever. The Explorer is just the toughest boat on the water. Freya’s trolly is built like a tank. My lendals are chipped up and turning grey, but still nice. Don’s poor paddles should never have to face my chubby and talentless attemps at balance tricks, but still they are still holding out nicely. Good thing this stuff all holds together cuz now I’m broke!!

Now if I could only solve my PDF and Drysuit issues . . .

btw – Yes, there were 3 posts today and 2 yesterday! Sorry, just could’nt stop typing. )

Little by little
the night turns around
Counting the leaves which tremble at dawn
Lotuses lean on each other in yearning
Under the eaves the swallow is resting
Set the controls for the heart of the sun
- pf

Alright. I’m a bit disappointed. Why shouldn’t I be!? The pins that held my back band in place on the Anas Acuta ripped right through the bulk head yesterday. Yeah, I was sliding back into the cockpit when the back band caught under my derrière and instead of rolling, it just ripped right out. It’s easy to see why actually. The washers are quite small and the bulkhead itself is quite thin. A little pressure and “Pop goes the weasel”. Well I can fix it, but I certainly feel like the pins should not have torn through the bulk head so easily. Oh well, what is life without an occasional surprise? I long for the old “nut-n-bolt” system that I could repair much easier than the pins they use now. I have a feeling it will be time for some of that good ole “combat engineering”. I’ll also have to patch the bulk head where the washers tore through. Makes me think I may go to a foam back support in the long run. It just goes to show no kayak is perfect, even the perfect ones.

But then again is there such a thing as perfection? Even perfect balance is an often an illusion. Which is something I’m becoming quite familiar with of late. Behind the illusion of perfect balance is often a myriad little corrections taking place continuously. Total havoc creating an illusion of calm. Well, at least where humans are involved. But then again maybe we do find perfection, if only microseconds.

Which takes me back to a picture I posted a few days back of Ms. H. doing one of her famous balance moves, which I went out to give a whirl the following day. So far, so good. Well, if you missed the comment, she now tells me that I must take the balance skills a step forward and be able to balance the GP on my head while sitting in the boat with the skirt on, remove the skirt and go to a standing position without losing the paddle. Ok then. I wonder if I can get her to send me a video clip of her displaying this amazing bit of grace? I have a feeling I’m missing a hand hold somewhere! Lord knows we can all use a little hand holding on our way to perfection. )

I have to tell you, I really enjoy the challenges quite a bit. My headstand is getting very close now, and this new proposition has me intrigued as well. I’m sure some people would find this all as silly, show-boating, unnecessary or all of the above! You certainly may! And sometimes it’s all those things and maybe a little bit more; both silly and serious, comic and cosmic. Like a finger painting of the path to nirvana with great big technicolor lollipop trees along the way.

It’s amazing how as you work toward finding balance, your mind seems to close an envelope around your body. Your senses become statically charged. Awareness is heightened and limited at once. You’re hyper-sensitized to subtle motions of the water, the lightest breezes, the flex of your hull, the motions of breath. Sound and other unnecessary functions are shut down as your mind seeks to achieve it’s task. In this cloistered place all becomes at once calm and chaos as your whole being attempts consciously and unconsciously to control even the most subtle twitch while correcting for external forces. You can feel energy surge through you to move a toe, tighten or release your abdomen or relax a knee. Your mind is constantly correcting for ever changing variables, managing every little fire to keep you upright. Then in little moments. . . miniscule moments, something just like perfection happens and you feel nothing at all. You’re in perfect balance. . You close your eyes. A moment passes, then something changes, something so small it hits you like a thunder bolt; A wisp of wind, a rebellious ripple across the water. . instantly your brain again takes over all the leavers to attempt to bring you back into balance. Sometimes you return to perfection, most often you plunge.