A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear
War is over, if you want it
War is over now
- lennon

Funny isn’t it?  Here we are today listening to Bing Crosby singing “I’ll be home for Christmas” and it’s just as appropriate for some as it was all those years ago.  John & Yoko’s white billboards could be again plastered across NYC and be as appropriate today as they ever were.  War is Over (if you want it).  I always thought those simple statements were actually quite valuable.   People will argue that the world is not that simple.  They’re right of course.  But the goal is, and that’s a good place to start.  

Here in the states we are fighting many wars, both militarily and culturally. It seems it’s becoming very hard to get much of anything accomplished. We’ve become a polarized group.  According to an article I read recently, only about 50% of Americans will actually vote in the next election.  Those that do are the ones who are most polarized and pretty much split down the middle.  The Reds vrs the Blues.  Of course the people they put in charge are representative of their inflexibility.  Thus the problems.  I spent all morning trying to find the article but lost it.  However, what was interesting to me was its examination of the media’s responsibility in all this.  20 years ago we all got our news and formed our world view from 3 major network outlets.  Because each one of them was somewhat beholden to the government for their FCC licenses it was always in their best interest to be somewhat moderate in their reporting of politics.  Of course they were not always successful, but compared to today they were pretty even handed.  These days of course due to cable TV and the internet we are fed "right" or "left" leaning content like heroin in its purest and most biased form. Readers tend then to go only to the outlets that speak to their views. Just reinforcing their opinions and their sense of right.  The voice of compromise is then forced aside, leaving more and more moderate voices feeling disaffected and dropping out of the system. Simple math then suggests that In the end elected officials  will only represent about 25% of American views, and then only the hardliners of one stripe or the other.  This is not a very positive path to success.  People standing nose to nose and screaming at each other seldom get much accomplished.  This lack of open-mindedness and compromise is going to get us in the end.   Just take Climate Change as an example.

The majority have come to believe that the science is in and that we have to do something about Climate Change.  (not everyone of course) Yet odds are we will do very little.  Each action has to be filtered through the stubborn stances of those people meant to negotiate.  It just won’t happen.  At most we will do much too little much too late.  The scary part to me is that the science may be worse than what we are actually being told.  Why?  Well, because it’s too complicated. When you start really digging into the complexity of the issue it’s no wonder it’s hard to get an agreement.   To make it all understood researchers are dumbing it all down.  Yet by doing that they make their position seem arbitrary.  That over simplification while making things easier to understand, also make it easier to argue.   In addition climate models are not nearly as accurate as we’d like them to be, something naysayers use to support their point. However it’s very possible that what those models can’t account for may make their results much more rosy than reality.  One example is this; climate models are not very good at accounting for “positive feedback”.  One simple example that most of us know is how the loss of ice causes less energy to be reflected, thus causing more warming, thus causing more loss of ice.  As I said, that’s a simple example.  It gets much more complex when you start looking at air & water temperatures, currents, solar output, cloud cover, and a myriad other factors that all work together. Recently I’ve been looking at the work of Dr. Jim Hansen with Columbia University.  He’s not making much headway with either side of the debate.  He originally wrote an  article called “Climate Catastrophe” for New Scientist”. Thing is, that was the oversimplified version.  Easily attacked because as he says, it can seem more “arbitrary”.  (as I mentioned above) The detailed version called “Scientific Reticence and Sea Level Rise” is the stronger paper yet is not great reading.  However if his analysis is even close to correct things may get much worse, much faster than we are being told.  Could he be wrong? Yeah certainly.  But that does not mean he IS wrong either.  It’s up to us to have the patience and understanding to examine these issues.  I just don’t think the powers that be have these qualities.

Then even if we do accept these findings our actions would have to go way past “efficient light bulbs” and 30mg cars by 2020. (China is 30 now, Europe averages 40) Something even the Terminator understands! Hell, a Vauxhall Astra TwinTop gets 37.2 mpg city & 55.4 highway now!!  With a top speed of 132mph and going 0-62 in 9.5 seconds it’s no slouch either.  Obviously we can do better than 30mph by 2020. Change is necessary, however every change will have to filter through the same unbendable lot leading to many more ineffectual laws. 

So why the Christmas eve rant?  Well as we gather our families together and look over our pasts and contemplate our possible futures I’m reminded that holidays are also times when we gather to share not only our news but our ideas. Much like those communal gatherings around fires in many years past. From these gatherings we share and learn with each other. The good ideas we take back with us. Nothing really new under the sun.  It seems to me that openmindedness and compromise are more important than ever.  Peace on earth, and of course a healthy earth are as always possible.  Like the sign said, “If you want it.”  But  yeah, to tell you the truth. I don’t think it will happen. 

So I wrote this nice post today with this pretty, festive picture of the dogwood branches against the green yew bushes right outside my office window.  Then later in the day I saw some spam get through on the comments.  I hit delete. . .   Wrong button. .  Oh man!  There went the post.  I think I’d better stay away from the computer today!

Happy Christmas!

Cool Beans!  René had a copy of my post!  Thanks for that! Just a little reminder that everything you post on the web sticks around.  

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Christmas List

I thought this bare dogwood branch against the yew bushes outside my office window made the perfect holiday image for today. Outside the wind is howling but I don’t think we are getting anywhere near the snow that was expected. Still, the wind has once again filled all the paths I had finally got around to shoveling. Winter snow is a great reminder of how quickly mans work fades a way. Well most of it anyway, the Nazca lines will probobly last forever. . . but that’s another subject for another day. . .

It’s really amazing when you go back and look over a time in your life. When you see all the people who have some effect on it. In 2007 there were many folks who were important in my life personally. I appreciate the time and efforts they gave. Most of my experiences over the past year were very postive and uplifting. Some were of course rough and painful. Yet that is the way life goes. In some ways it’s not important that we all see the world through the same lens. What is important is knowing when to put that stuff aside for the betterment of everyone involved or to get a task done. Even those whom I did’nt get along well with usually did exactly that and I credit them for it. I often say I’m a bit of an isolationist and not a people person. Yet, no one is an island. Without the help and support of others along the way most of us would never acheive the goals we have put forth in our lives or for that matter keep our sanitiy in tact! So for today let me thank some of the people who have been so important to me for many reasons over the last year. (even if just for that one un-expected giggle. . ) Thank you and Happy holidays; (in no particular order so don’t get your undies in a bundle!! LOL!)

    Janna

    Mike W

    Gord

    Chris

    Jo

    Ron

    Dick

    John

    Nigel

    Alex

    Freya

    Justine

    Greg

    Axel

    Alun

    Rowland

    Simon

    Jeff

    Yvonne

    Wendy

    Kelly

    Taino

    Hadas

    Bryan

    Jose C

    Phil R

    Ryan R

    Vicky T

    Karel

    Keith

    Megan

    Darren

    Nancy S

    Nydia

    Gail

    Mark T

    Pat B

    Kayak Scuba & Family

    Robin & Chuck

    Wenley

    Everyone in PR who helped with food, shelter, logistics, & sometimes just good company

    Everyone at Rutabaga

    All the paddle bloggers

    Everyone with the North East Wisconsin Sea Kayakers

    and of course family . .  who often have no choice!!!

    oh and yeah, I know. I forgot someone. . .  of course Thank YOU too!

 

A long december and theres reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last
I cant remember the last thing that you said as you were leaven
Now the days go by so fast
- counting crows

The morning fog and thick wet blanket air  rolling around today are precursors of an oncoming storm.  I’ve read we can expect another three to seven inches of snow by Sunday.  This has been an unusually usual winter so far.  “Usual” is a term used by old people to describe the weather before first hints of climate change were upon us. The amount of early snow this winter has been a surprise.

Happy Holidays to everyone out there.  Each year at this time as is the habit, I tend to look back over your passing year around the holiday season.  This year although I have done many new and exciting things, I sit here now thinking that today is much like December twenty-second of two thousand and six.  Although time is always moving forward sometimes one maker in the road seems very much like the next.  To many I know this consistency is a form of comfort and security.  Humans love to know their slippers are right where they left them.  I think in some ways I feel that too.  However, I think it’s also good to feel the passing of time and the wind in your face, to know that you did something that made this year better than the last.   In review I’d say 2007 has been in many was a tremulous year in my own little world.  Yet today it feels more like I’ve been surfing in one spot more than making any distance.  Something I’m sure I’ll be spending much time considering over the coming weeks and months.

Some of you blogger types out there have been discussing a gathering of sorts at Canoecopia this coming year.  Sounds good to me.  I’d love to hear more about that.  Are we all going to gather over large pints of ale, or is there a more formal plan in mind?  I’d certainly be happy to talk to the powers that be about time and space. Not that I wield any great influence.  I wonder how many paddle bloggers are planning to attend?

I’d like to note too, that some paddlers are a long way from home this holiday season. Freya in New Zealand and Simon & Phil in Madagascar to name a couple.  It would be nice if we took a moment to wish them a happy holiday as well. I’m sure they would appreciate it.

I’m sure you’ve noticed some changes here at Quix.  I’ve tried not to mess things up too much, but I found the sidebar menu was becoming about 10 miles long. So I’ve changed the layout and added a left hand bar as well.  Hopefully this will help avoid some of the scrolling.   In case you’ve lost it, the video clip section is still here just moved as is the wallpaper sections.  I’ve yet to add Wes Boyd’s section on paddling for the “bigger” folks.  My goal is to do some research and come up with some updated content as much of the gear and boats he described have changed since his original website.  If you have information there you’d like to contribute just let me know .

Over the coming days, I’ll spend a bit of time looking back at 2007 and of course leap frog to 2008 and what the new year may hold in our small but growing paddling community.  Be sure to let me know of your plans for the new year so I can share them here.  That has always been one of the fun bits of this site, sharing other paddlers trips and adventures.

Well,  as I’ve written this my black lab has been jumping and scratching at my door.  She hates it when I’m not paying attention to her.  My Winter Solstice CD has played three times and my coffee cup is empty.  Now I either need to organize the troops to go finish up a few last minute Christmas purchases or. . I can try to slip silently out to the steps and spend some time watching the geese fly and chatter through the fog.

A Long December Complete Lyrics – Counting Crows

A long december and theres reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last
I cant remember the last thing that you said as you were leaven
Now the days go by so fast
And its one more day up in the canyons
And its one more night in hollywood
If you think that I could be forgiven…i wish you would
The smell of hospitals in winter
And the feeling that its all a lot of oysters, but no pearls
All at once you look across a crowded room
To see the way that light attaches to a girl
And its one more day up in the canyons
And its one more night in hollywood
If you think you might come to california…i think you should
Drove up to hillside manor sometime after two a.m.
And talked a little while about the year
I guess the winter makes you laugh a little slower,
Makes you talk a little lower about the things you could not show her
And its been a long december and theres reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last
I cant remember all the times I tried to tell my myself
To hold on to these moments as they pass
And its one more day up in the canyon
And its one more night in hollywood
Its been so long since Ive seen the ocean…i guess I should

A dream unthreatened by the morning light
Could blow this soul right through the roof of the night
There’s no sensation to compare with this
Suspended animation, A state of bliss
Can’t keep my mind from the circling skies
Tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit, I
– floyd

Pilot Steve Fosset did a bunch of crazy things. In Time magazine recently they quoted him in response to a question about why he did what he did; He said something to the effect that he wanted to challenge himself and push the boundaries of science and aviation. I understand that. There are millions of pilots out there but not every pilot is trying to push their boundaries.

The same can be said for sea kayaking of course.  We can paddle just because we love to paddle. We can paddle to become closer to nature. We can paddle to see how fast we can go. We can test our endurance or how many rolls we can master.  A kayak can just be a fishing platform. Often it’s a combination, we do it for many different reasons. So why do you paddle?

Well, for my part I had no idea why I started paddling. Even more so, I had no real idea why I kept it up. I was never really a “sports” person. “Sports” to me is often a metaphorical response to a question no one asked. Well, at least I used to feel that way. I was never all that hip on some bristle headed football coach telling me why football made me a better human being. These days, I keep that guy in mind when I find myself using a sports metaphor. . .

I think early on, the first thing that drew me into sea kayaking was a desperate need for quiet. I know it’s hard to believe these days, but at heart I’m an isolationist. Not that I want to be, but most of the time in groups I feel too much the alien. I’m the guy who laughs at my own jokes while everyone else just glances blankly. A blog suits me much more than a round table. Writing I can find my thoughts, conversations often move too quickly for me to gather my head. By the time I know what I want to say, everyone else has often moved on. In a sea kayak I found a way to get out away from the social scrabble of human interaction. I can understand the water. The sea has no bias, it just is. And as I’ve always said, the sea and the enviroment have a sensuality that can’t be matched. Well. . . can’t be matched without long dark hair, white satin and a good bottle of wine anyway. . . .

As I grew in the sport I became more interested in going further out in more challenging conditions and pushing over the next horizon. Suddenly learning skills became more important.  Then somewhere in that process the addiction of personal challenge reared its ugly head. I found I hated NOT being able to do something. That was one personal discovery that sea kayaking made me very aware of! Next thing I knew I was spending hours trying to get a sideslip just right or mastering that bloody hand roll. I’d spend day after day in dogged pursuit of the victory over my own incompetence. Each time I’d try something new it was always the same; At first I felt lost, slowly an image would catch, I’d gain bits, fall back, improve my visualizations until I knew it WAS possible, then like an old mule, I’d push to a success. Heck it’s the same today. Yeah, this is not always “Fun”. It’s work. Self-improvement, practice, and personal victories can be a very hard core pursuit. In the midst of it, you sometimes find yourself asking “Why??”

Well in part as I said, it is about personal challenge. If it weren’t for my own need to push my abilities I’d not be at the pool so often or spending summer hours at my local lake. To be honest, the scenery gets really boring. Yet, years pass and I’m still at it. I cloister myself up in my own little world and fight battles with my brain and body. Each session I push to come away with any little victory, no matter how small or how silly. If I don’t perceive a win, I usually leave a bit dejected. (sometimes I’m downright pissed!!) This is the personal ballet of self-improvement.

However it’s bigger than that. All those hours of dogged practice pay off when you are alone at sea. As your skill sets, balance, and judgment improve, you can go further, explore more, find joy instead of fear in rougher conditions, dip into places you’d never thought you’d dare go. . . Your world opens up as your mind is freer to it take in more of the world around you. I thought of that often during some of the rougher days in Puerto Rico. I recognized the things that would have once terrified me, had become part of the joy of the experience. In the end it’s that freedom from your own fears that make all those hours in the pool worthwhile. Even on those days when you forget your nose plugs.

The moon and three brave stars peeked through the advection haze of a warm winters night.  I stood alone in a snow crunch, thread bare place, not ready to go in.  The Doppler din of passing cars mixed with the ticky-tacky hiss of spinning tires on a wet country road.  My nose still burned from the chlorine bath of countless kayak rolls. My fingers pressed against my watering eyes. The air horn blast of a Great Northern diesel shot from the west to ricochet off the dark silhouette south-eastern hills. I looked up to see the tiny yellow lamp of a small plane escorted by flashing Christmas light wings as it rose over the northern horizon.  As it passed I heard the buzzing of it’s bumble bee engine fighting to catch up. I pressed my hand on my cold but still burning nose.  

Sometimes I could stand outside forever. I wondered what it would be like to lye down in the snow and go to sleep.  As another car passed,  my thoughts evaporated into the wet night air.  I turned toward the dim amber lights of a tired house, grabbed my Greenland paddle from the back of my truck and walked the lumpy un-shoveled path to the door.  I paused for just a moment. I watched another car pass. For a dead frozen second all was quiet. Then I went inside.

Well it sounds as if the guys with Crossing the Ditch are well this morning and have everything under control.  Good for them.  It had to be a scary evening.  Meanwhile interestingly enough the inquest into Andrew McAuley’s death has been going on as well.  According to “The Age” Vicki said that she felt that if authorities had let her listen to the full distress message the night Andrew got into trouble they may have had a better change to find him.  Vicki contends that with she would have been able to identify Andrew’s voice right off and therefore Paul Hewitson could then have calculated Andrew’s position, thus getting the searchers to the correct area in good time. In hindsight of course it’s hard to know these things.  However, I agree that authorities not letting her hear the rest of the messages because they did not want to “distress her”, seems a bit 1950’s to me.   It’s also worth noting that the RCC (according to Stuff.co.nz) lost an additional 25 minutes dealing with a second emergency on the north island.  To be clear though, everyone feels the RCC did a great job all in all. The results of the inquest are due out by the end of the year.

However one other thing is jumping out to me.  The call signal, “Kayak One”.

These days we have a variety of signaling and communication options if we get in trouble in our boat.  PLBs, Flairs, VHF and occasionally your cell phone MAY work. (May being the key word).   In some cases the VHF is not the first choice, but it may be the only choice in some situations. 

In Andrew’s case either he was separated from his PLB or it failed.  Hard to tell, but whatever happened he was down to using the VHF.  Andrew used the standard  “Kayak One” call sign.  Vicki was not sure if that was the sign he was going to use.  Apparently no one on the team knew that either.  Let’s think about that for a moment.  Why would they? I mean, we all use the same thing, right? So would we actually tell anyone what call sign we would use?  Somewhere in our minds we’d just assume they know we’re going to use “Kayak One”.  We’ve all seen or had  the little demos, “Coast Guard, Coast Guard, this is “Kayak One”. . .”.   I’d guess that Andrew just went into automatic mode and used the signal we are all taught.   From the RCC or Coast Guard’s perspective by using Kayak One,  really all we’ve told them is that we are in a kayak. 

I think this shouts out something to the rest of us doesn’t it?  In training "Kayak One" was really meant to fill in for your unique moniker I think, but for many it just seemed simple enough to use it as OUR unique moniker as well. However, learning to identify ourselves as “Kayak One’ and then later giving color of our boat and location, assumes we have time to do such things.  In Andrew’s case the signal was too degraded.  Not surprising really. Anyone who has used a VHF know that signal quality is hit and miss.   What if your call sign was the only bit you could get out as in Andrew’s case? The RCC was left asking, “Who is Kayak One?”.  This set up the situation Vicki describes.  However, with a unique identifier Andrew could have been ID’d right off.  There would have been no issue of trying to identify a garbled voice. [Read Transcript Here ] We can’t be sure what difference that would have made, but the issue of listening to the call over and over to figure out who it was would have been moot.  They would have immediately known it was Andrew and been able to work with his team to locate him.

Of course when we are on open water, we should have a PLB in some cases, Flairs or other signaling devices, and a VHF.  We also need to share a float plan with our team and in some cases with the local rescue services as well.  It seems to me it may be a good time to stress UNIQUE call signs as well.  Maybe there is a good reason to name your kayak after all?

Sounds like the guys are having a rough night as the weather had turned sour and their main anchor line is tangled in its rudder.  The rough seas have made it impossible to deal with at the moment so the hope is that everything holds together over night and they can deal with it in the morning.  It’s going to be a long night for everyone.

Read More:

Rough seas belt ailing kayakers mid-Tasman

Crossing The Ditch

* photo is CTD file shot. Thanks Karel for the links.