thinking about paddling
Published July 11, 2008 | 
I feel at home
Whenever the unknown surrounds me
I receive its embrace
Aboard my floating house
-bjork
Today in Door County the morning classes went smashingly. It’s always wonderful to watch students gain confidence. From there comes the enthusiasm that keeps them going for years to come. In fact only moments ago as I sat writing this a woman came up to me to share her excitement of overcoming a little ghost of a bad experience while on a tour a couple years back. Earlier in the day I had her in a class and knowing about the issue, focused on confidence building. Of course that meant getting wet. . a lot. I often see that twinge of doubt in students when I start asking them to seemingly silly things in their kayak. It’s not until later that they realize that all the while they were becoming more confident. THAT, is the big payoff as a coach.
(the boss’s boss does the REI thang)
In the afternoon I led a group of mixed skilled paddlers out through a shallow bay south into a hard wind. We pushed our way through the wind making about 2mph all the way. I did my best to keep up my normal silly banter even though the owner of Rutabaga (the sponsor of this symposium) came along on the trip. Darren of course is a great guy but something in my gut still feels a little queezy when feeling under the eye of “THE BOSS”.
watching the water
We took a short break at Cana Light house, then turned south and surfed all the way back. Amazingly one woman in the group surfed the whole way back in her recreational kayak with fantastic boat control. Few beginner paddlers can handle following seas well, let alone in a rec. boat. I went out of my way to compliment her on her accomplishment.
Historic Cross & Kayaks
Meanwhile, Mark’s comments yesterday bring up a valid point. One I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about on and off over the years that I’ve published this blog. Paddling or not paddling is the question. Realizing that it’s not everyone’s bag when I don’t write about paddling there has to be a decent way to separate those posts in feeds. Of course I don’t know exactly how to pull that off. Certainly the obscure titles and song lyrics have always been a part of this blog and I don’t fancy giving that up.
I’ve also considered and have on and off, posted a separate non-kayaking blog. But running 5 blogs is way too much for one little brain. Then of course each time I mentioned the multiple blog idea here it was met with resistance too. Thing is, in the end KayakQuixotica has always been about kayaking and life through my lens and how they all blur together. In fact it is often when paddling that the seeds of a non-paddling post begin. It’s all mixed together. It’s who I am and how I process the world. Certainly if I were writing for a magazine I could produce an occasional article about kayaking that would fit right into the format. But KayakQuixotica on the other hand is nothing more than a blog by a guy who paddles. . .
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One Response to thinking about paddling
I know there will be a mob of hooded figures, tuiliqs, cags, anoraks, etc. at my door at midnight ready to keel haul me with my own tow rig, but here goes anyway: There’s more to life than kayaking. Truth is, there’s more to kayaking than kayaking, and maybe that’s the point. If you want to understand one’s passion for paddling, it may serve you well to understand one’s passion for life as a whole.