would you be my friend? - CTA

Posted by derrick on December 31, 2006

Like the wallpaper sticks to the wall
Like the seashore clings to the sea
Like you’ll never get rid of your shadow
you’ll never get rid of me
- Dave Dreyer - Al Jolson - Billy Rose
Well, here’s the first entry on the new “Chasing the Ana” blog. Proof that things are changing all the time and we’re still some 8 plus months away. I realized I didn’t want to task everyone on the Quixotica blog with every little detail of the trip. Especially when there are so many other things going on. So from this point forward THIS is the place for my trip musings and Quxiotica will continue to be the place where I exercise my paddling demons.

Choosing a partner for a trip like this is a real bear. I admire the guys who can just say, “hey, let’s go to Japan” and are off! If you don’t have a sudden flash of light or schedules don’t match you have to hunt a bit. That’s ok. Diamonds take a bit of work to recover.

Thing is an expedition is a marriage of sorts. For that short period in time you and your partner are totally dependant on each other for safety, support, companionship and on and on. Plus you have to be of the same mind about the goals of your trip. Not that you have to be completely of one purpose, but your goals have to entwine. This is a must in order for the expedition to be successful. For my part it’s important to bring everyone along that has been following my kayaking experiences for the last couple years. This means I want to film, write and photograph like a maniac along the way. So it was important that my partner was ok with what some could find an intrusion. Something I on the other hand find to be challenging and fun. Not to mention the money! You have to be able to finance yourself and want to do that.

As readers of my blog know I’m also given to melancholies and wanderlust. So there will be times no doubt when I’d be temped to just lay under a palm and ride the ether of my thoughts. So my partner needs to be someone who is mostly of the “high on life” energetic type. Someone who will make me smile when I feel like slipping into a grey cloud. Converstly wise I have my crazy days. I’m told I’m a bit of a challenge on those days when I’m feeling a bit too happy to be alive!! I also tend to be a bit slipshod organizationally. Usually because my mind is racing off to new wonderlands. My partner needs to have their feet on the ground (or paddle in the water if you like.) As you can see, choosing a partner means knowing yourself too. Something all to easy to overlook.

The first thing I did was get out a bit of paper and write down a list of everyone I could think of that I thought I’d love spending time on the water with. The list was quite large actually. Then I had to start the process of elimination. Something that I felt quite bad about actually. Even in the privacy of your own home you hate crossing out names of friends and people you so much admire. But in order to get there from here you have to do some cold blooded things. Cold blooded. Me? Well it fits the pirate theme that’s for sure. So I got out my cutlass and started hacking away. I couldn’t really go on skill. Everyone on the list was a great paddler. But slowly worked the list down. I had thoughts like, “he’d want to go too fast”, or “she’d never tolerate my whimsy” and on and on. . . Finally I had a list of just a few names. Now what?

I stared at those names for some time. I could see each face and imagine them in a kayak sailing just a few yards away in the tropical sun. Yeah, I would cherish time with any of these great people. I took time to write each person on the list an email explaining my plan and goals along the way. I told them why I was asking and how much I admired them. I told them why I thought they would be a great partner for the trip. Luckily no one just said, “You Suck”. That was certainly a possibility that ran through my mind. But as it happened schedule conflicts came up all over the place. It was getting frustrating. . . until finally and almost accidentally I came to someone who was all of the things I was looking for AND was free to do it. Thing was, we had never met. We could easily share the dream but could we handle each other? That’s when the phone calls and emails began in earnest. . . . stay tuned. . .