. . . from Wales, to San Diego, to Baha, back to San Diego, then off to Wisconsin. . . Justine Curgenven falls contentedly asleep. She’s earned her nap. In fact I think we all did.

I pulled out into the traffic lane at the O’Hare airport in Chicago this afternoon, I looked back in the mirror to see Justine waving me off. I felt a bit of a lump in my throat. I was sad to see Alun and her go. That’s the thing about our “international” kayak friendships. We say lots of goodbyes. Suddenly I was again on the highway facing another 3 hours on the road back to a quiet world for the first time in days.

The weekend was a busy blast. Wendy, Justine & Freya ran from presentation to presentation all the while trying to make moments to cross paths with friends and partners for momentary rendezvous before abruptly running off to the next assignment. Momentary pauses would remind them of the Jet lag that was lingering in the background, but soon enough the adrenaline would take over and again they would be all energy and smiles.

Saturday night we watched along with over 400 people as This Is The Sea 3 was premiered here in the States. In fact it would have been more but some were turned away as the venue was filled to (and slightly beyond) capacity. People cheered as NDKs, Rockpools, and all sorts of Sea Kayaks flipped and spun on the big screen. Whistles came from around the room at images of Cheri Perry in her best yoga form and then again as Freya Hoffmeister came on the screen. Soon the whole room broke in a thunderous applause as Freya slipped into her now famous headstand, then slid down into perfect splits onto her black Superior paddles. This Is The Sea 3 was a hit with the audience.

Before long the room was filled with high energy Celtic Music as “Rising Gael” commanded the stage. Interestingly the oldest member of “Rising Gael” had just turned 21. Just the mention of the lead singers birthday brought a bottle of beer to her hand and the shout of the crowd for her to join us for a drink! Which by the way, she did!

We took our places on the floor and danced through the night. The women of the UK and Europe showing us sad Americans what proper Celtic dance looked like. Freya Hoffmeister was sure to take the guys of our little group out and show them a thing or two about how to move on the dance floor. Of course our lesson ended with her ready to go again as we tried to catch our breath!

By the way, Freya’s Dress is a custom design made of Reed Chillcheater’s Aquatherm Materials.

At 3AM on Saturday night I stared at the computer closed on the hotel counter. There was no chance I’d be writing that night. Now two days later, I leave you this note. And mention I miss my friends already. I’ll tell you more about events soon and I have fun galleries and videos and a couple little announcements as well. So stay tuned. . .

My turn! So today I got a little personal play time. I drove a few miles over to the Monona High School swimming pool and met with the designer of the Trak Kayak for a little private session. Now I’m sure you all know the Trak Kayak is something new in folding boats. Besides being amazingly strong you can also change the rocker with just the tug of a lever. Of course I was in the pool but it sure moved for a small boat when I dug in. I’ll tell you a bit more about my experience with the Trak later including some video. But for the moment here’s a picture of me doing something I’d never imagined doing on folding boat. . . standing on the back deck!

Well that’s all the time I have for the moment. It’s time to get the gang and head over to the High Noon Saloon here in Madison for the World Primire of This Is the Sea 3. I hear there will be candy and eye candy, well at least kinky Reed gear.

Thank you to Trak Kayaks, Mark Rogers of Superior Kayaks for loaning me a beautiful black graphite Greenland Stick and to Scott and Megan at Lendal for the loaner Euro for my little play day. It was great to get out of the building for a couple hours and play with a nice boat in a warm pool.

I have lots of stories to tell from day one of Canoecopia. The problem is it’s after 1am and I’m bushed. So the long winded stories will have to wait. I can say now though it’s been wonderful to have the gang all in one room. Freya Hoffmeister & Greg Stamer are warm wonderful people. They kept me smiling all day. Wendy Killoran and I finally met in person. Wendy greeted me with “Do I know you??” Yeah, we’ve found a funny sort of sibling interaction that just fits us now that we are standing together in the same room. Justine arrived just at the last moment before her first presentation of the evening and after a little technical wizardry she was off sharing all the intimate secrets of making award winning action films. Later Wendy did her first presentation on her “Round The Rock” expedition with all of use intently watching. Of course I sat in the back far enough that I wouldn’t be tempted to make faces at her the whole time. Nice job Wendy!

I talked to many shop owners and vendors, looked at many new products including Current Designs new RAVEN seakayak perfect for kids, and of course the much anticipated Trak Kayak which I will tell you more about later. Looks like fun. I wonder how it rolls. . .

Well, I’d better get some sleep. Long day tomorrow including the World Premiere of This Is The Sea 3 and of course the big party afterward. Oh, and I still need that winning shot of Megan as well.

Here’s a few pics. . . Night all!

Well, here is Wendy Killoran’s kayak shined up and ready to be displayed at the Current Designs booth over the weekend. You now know it’s here before she does. This of course is the kayak she used to paddle around Newfoundland last summer. Of course she will be presenting on the trip here at the show.

I spent a good part of the day helping build display racks and unwrapping kayaks and canoes. Yes, Canoes!! And I didn’t even burst into flames! Imagine that! We did our best to convince the various reps that we had scratched up their pretty new boats with our knives but they were not about to believe us. Well, other than the guy at the CD booth who had a passing heart attach when I yelled out, “Oh no I cut the deck lines!!” For a moment we had him!

I bopped around a corner and ran into Sean Morley who was busy un-wrapping is stock of Valley boats. I took a moment to introduce myself since we had chatted online in the past but never met. That’s fine, I’m quite sure he didn’t recognize the name either! Sean is now living in California although he told me that the paddling around Cornwall, UK is still the best in the world.

I ran into Megan the “Canoecopia” Queen a few times, but alas never with my camera at hand. I know I’ll have to depend on others to get that perfect shot.

Soon, I’ll have to head out of my little Super 8 Motel room and navigate my way over to the airport to find Freya and Greg. Hmmmm, now would you be nervous if you were going to be heading over to pick up to of the worlds top traditional kayakers in an hour? Well, I bloody well, am. Poor Wendy K won’t be arriving until the wee hours so she may not get chauffeured by the Canoecopia Cabana boy poor lass. But of course if she calls, I’ll get out of my snug hotel bed and go get her. Now wait a minute. . . How come I’m the cabana boy and Megan get’s to be queen. I want to be queen for a day!!! Maybe I should have worn more colorful shoes!

Now if you happen to be the owner of Rutabaga you don’t even need shoes. You can scoot around the showroom on your skateboard. Darren’s quite handy with that by the way.

It always amazes me how many kayaks you can see at this show. Litterally hundreds are piled into every corner as trucks come in and pile them up in big stacks that look strangely like alien sarcophagi. Surprisingly by mid-day most of the boats were already unwrapped and ready to be displayed.

Well, I’d better sign off now. I should get halfway presentable before I put myself under the critical spotlight of the stars. I’ve been enjoying the quiet room a bit. It always feels strange to be traveling alone. Something I’m not all that used to. I like the silence, it just feels odd. Ahhh, but that will pass soon enough. tomorrow the whole gang will be here and by mid-afternoon the show will begin in earnest. And Canoecopia is Big, Big show indeed!