From the moment that you realize Most of this Isn’t real To the moment that you decide Shall we go out tonight And we’ll swim from these island shores Till there’s a fear of drowning A little old fear of drowning A little old fear of drowning - british sea power. . .
Cabo Roho on the south west corner of Puerto Rico was symbolic of what it is to face fears. Every fisherman we spoke with in the days leading up to the corner had warned us about this monster. The wild seas would not let you hide on the inside, the harsh winds would not let you take the outside. “Even single engine boats have been pushed backwards!”. Yeah, well that gets your attention. Everyone we spoke too agreed; This was a passage you could only take at dawn. Before 10am for sure and even then it was a risk.
Yesterday we spent the morning filming at Devil’s lake State Park near my home. Of course I was never quite sure what we were filming, but I was invited along and of course any chance to be on the water. Above Nancy Saulsbury, head of Rutabaga Outdoor Programs, is getting ready to explain one way to get into your kayak.
Meanwhile Darren Bush, owner of Rutabaga, tries to demistify some of the fears people new to water sports may have. Either he’s showing how hard it is to go over in a canoe. or he’s showing how easy it is to go over in a canoe . . .
As for me of course, I do what I always do. . . lake a trained seal! Did I mention I don’t eat fish??
If you’d like to see a few more pictures from our day, including Darren’s impression of the “flight of the bumble bee”. . . CLICK HERE
*Rutabaga Paddle Sports Shop is located in Madison, Wisconsin and hosts the annual Canoecopia Paddlesport exposition in March.
Alrighty then! I have to rush out the door this morning to address what can only be called the business end of kayaking. So much so that I can’t wear black!! Man! LOL! Oh well, the important thing is being on the water. . or in the water . . . or under the water. . .
New Zealand is another one of those legendary sea kayaking destinations. The South Island specifically. Of course it is, big seas, tall mountains, deep sounds. (I’m not suggesting of course that everyone on the South Island is a baritone!) Most of you who’ve followed the sport have read Chris Duff’s “Southern Exposure” and saw that wonderful picture of his busted up kayak and read of way too many upside-down surf landings! The first person to circumnavigate the South Island was of course Paul Caffyn who did it in 1978.
The impression that you sell Passes in and out like a scent But the long face that you see comes from living close To your fears - the fix
Cha know what I’m sick of? LOL! That bit in people where they think that everyone always has ulterior motives. PuLeeeeeeeze! Sometimes people are just well. . . nice. Funny too that it still bothers me. I’ve had some intense exposure to ulterior motives in the last year. Still though I know those self interested behaviors are not “the norm”. Just a few very strange, very self interested individuals.
Golden slumbers fill your eyes, smiles awake you when you rise
Sleep pretty darling do not cry, and I will sing a lullaby
- the beatles
Do you remember that line from the Beatles, "The love you take is equal to the love you make." Well, here is an example of what good people can be. The picture above is from yesterday in Saint Isabel in Puerto Rico.
Everyone here’s to blame, everyone here gets caught up in the pleasure of the pain, everyone hides shades of shame, but looking inside we’re the same, we’re the same And we’re all grown now, but we don’t know how To get it back to good - matchbox 20
I enjoyed reading Micheal’s blog about paddlers carbon output. Be sure to read it. It’s a good conversation to have. Thing was, I would have filled his comment box to post my thoughts. . so . . instead you get Monday’s blog. LOL!
In Puerto Rico I had 3 video options. My 3CCD for high quality stuff, my handycam with dive case for on the water, and of course my now dead Optio for little on water video notes or “Vblogs” as they say these days. This is one of those Optio clips. So on this particular day we started out clean but soon enough the wind and waves began to build. We took a nice break after this clip where I ended up taking a nice beating trying to get off the beach to continue the day. Of course that was followed by the most memorable landing of the trip near Isabella. “Camuy” that I mention in the clip is actually inland quite a ways from where we actually were, but was the easiest identifier on the chart I was using at the time. Actually we were somewhere more west of Quebradillas.
