So according to the New York Post, this guy was taking kayak lessons when he fell out of his kayak. 17 minutes later he was rescued from the Hudson river by a water taxi. A report that begs the question. . . Where the hell was the coach? - Read The Story Here.
This is interesting! I remember thinking last year that an expedition to the North Pole by sea kayak could’nt be far off. The racing kayak is an interesting choice. I’m not sure I’d like it in bad weather, but it would certainly be convenient when stuck in ice floes. - Read More.
Here you go. Here are 101 photographs from our 2008 trip to the Qajaq Training Camp in Michigan. For some silly reason they are in reverse squence but to be honest it was more work than I wanted to change it. Anyway, I hope the gallery gives you an impression of the event!
Just when you think it’s safe to return to Wisconsin, Michigan comes to you! This weekend Keith Wikle and his family came from Kalamazoo, MI to hang out at Devil’s Lake State Park. We spend our day out paddling among the sandstone cliffs of Mirror Lake. Would’nt you know we ended up rescuing a family who had flipped a rec boat in the middle of the lake. Man, no one should be forced to haul a rec boat up on your deck. Between Keith and I we managed a two boat “T”. . . or if you like a 3 boat rescue!
Kung Fu do what you do to me
I haven’t been the same since my teenage lobotomy
- ash
Gryphon get’s Kudos today for really working hard for his new Orange Belt. He had everything down but was struggling with One Pinyan. For those of you who are not exposed to daily martial arts this is basically a fairly long (for a 7 year old) coreographed set of movements. Behind the movements of course is a very ridged body form that must be maintained. Bent knees, exacting hand &foot placements, and so forth. Up until 2 days before the test he did not look like he was going to make it. In his class however, you don’t take a test unless your master expects you to pass. So there was this poor kid knowing he was expected to pass, and struggling. Suddenly the day before the test, after hours of moves & Kiais it seemed to come together. In the test he was perfect. His instructor looked at us with a broad grin. I think he was almost as amazed as we were. So . . . Contrats to the kid! Great work & lots of practice do pay off. A great lesson when growing up.
I want to live alone in the desert
I want to be like Georgia O’Keefe
I want to live on the Upper East Side
And never go down in the street
- zevon
Symposiums are a time to learn and socialize. They are often a bit of a break from the real world as well. I often try to balance that out with somewhat mixed results. Often when I attend symposiums I take a bit of time to scope out my “thinking spot”. Some place where I can just stare out into a deep green wood, long sandy shores, or endless seas reaching out to the horizon without the hint of another human in existence. Each day or often more than once each day, I take off for that little place to recharge and refocus.
At the Qajaq Training Camp in Michigan I found myself going out to the coast and wandering south along the shoreline. Unlike the Wisconsin side of the lake, the Michigan side takes the brunt of the prevailing winds. Large sand dunes rise from the beaches as the surf roars away in a more ocean like character.
One afternoon as I wandered down the beach I was lost in a metaphor I could not quite grasp. The message was there in drift wood and waste. It was on the lost horizon where fishing boats paced to and fro like feeding sharks. In the tall grass that waved along the shore or gave way to the erosion of the sand. The message had something to do with existence. How on this seemingly desolate beach there were stories in the lost shoes, headless birds and cigarette butts. A message was there in the heavy haze that obscured the distant lighthouse I’d been told was out there somewhere. I sat in the sand and tried to bring it all into focus. But then sometimes there is no focus. The world just is, and it overwhelms you. In the end, you just get up and wipe the sand from your jeans and head back to camp. Someone asks what you’ve been up to. For a moment your mind reels through the scattered thoughts looking for a way to explain what you had just been feeling. In the end though you often just respond with, “Not much. How about you?”
Of course the folks at ACR Electronics would take notice the SPOT messenger’s sudden popularity. They “See Spot Running” as it were. (Sorry I had to). So I found it interesting when I came across this advertisement “Bad Things Happen” which basically trees out your options in an emergency and tells you why the 406 MHZ Personal Locator Beacon is your best choice. In addition to pointing out that a GPS can’t contact anyone, Cell phones are sketchy and that you can’t build a shuttle craft with leaves and a pocket knife, they also take aim at Satellite Messengers. Not mentioning SPOT by name of course, they point out that the signal may be too weak and that you may forget to pay the subscription. Well, that sounds just like you doesn’t it?
As you know I have a bit of a fixation on advertising. I love to see the ways companies talk to us. In this case I was thinking they may have a point about the weak signal thing. On the other hand if I were daft enough to forget to pay my subscription before I went out on an expedition I’d be just as likely to forget to charge my $500 PLB’s batteries. Putting that aside I think most of us agree that a PLB is the way to go in most circumstances and there is probably a place for the SPOT as well. I’d tend to lean toward ACR’s Aquafix myself. At least at this point where we are still learning how the SPOT works in real world situations. On the other hand when someone describes a distress signal as a “Ray of Righteousness”, I’m just a tad concerned about what actually happens when I hit that button. I suddenly hear the voice of Jeff Foxworthy saying you know you’re an atheist when you push the button on your PLB and nothing happens. . . . Yikes!
