Adriene Levknecht 9th
Published September 12, 2008 | 
Adriene Levknecht our crazy kid from Michigan took 9th in the Women’s World Cup Freestyle championships. Read More at the Liquid Logic Ladies Lounge.
Sign up has begun
Published September 12, 2008 | 
Light the beacons in the street
And sing this song with me.
Tomorrow all our dreams come true,
We’ll greet the day with glee.
We’ll see a thousand doves of peace
Taking wing up high.
The sun will rise with golden light
Into a cloudless sky.
- David barak
Registration is now open for the annual sea kayaking symposium held on the beach of Sdot Yam in Israel from October 30th through November 2nd. Guest instructors this year will be Jeff Allen, Phil Eccles, and ah. . some un-known chap who’s just happy to be there. The 4 day event will be offering half day clinics as well as BCU awards and training. I’ll be spending my time working with folks who are interesting in knowing more about traditional paddling and rolling. It should be a lot of fun and look forward to putting faces on all the names I’ve come to know over the years.
Of course there is a lot more to kayak symposiums than training. The symposium in Isreal takes us to one of the most unique places in the world where a mix of cultures, natural wonders and history offer so many opportunites to those who want to get the most out of the event. I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am to have the opportunity to take part.
* photo Optimist Kayak Club. Used by permission. Thanks!!
Feckin’
Published September 11, 2008 | 
Well, “Feckin” is an Irish thing. “Whisky” on the other hand is universal. I was in this local pub a couple weeks ago (I do get out occasionally) and saw this little place card on the bar. On the card they list all the drinks they suggest you make with Feckin Irish Whisky. My favorite was “Feckin UP” which I do regularly. Just as the Canadians who recently pointed out quite rightly that there is a difference between US and North America. Something I quickly corrected. Well, I’ll take the blame for that one if they take the blame for Bryan Adams! (just teasing of course. . .)
Tricky, Touchy & Skunked
Published September 11, 2008 | 
From the mailbag comes an advert from SWA. Small World Adventures tells us that they wrote the book on kayaking in Ecuador. . (No, actually they did) Apparently they have a few spots open on their November itinerary. Never having heard of Small World Adventures I clicked the link through to their website. “Whitewater!. . . oh.” I could feel that weird out-of-oxigen sensation in my chest. Class 1V+/Class V-. Yikes! I was just about to bail out when I saw the heading. . “Not Convinced?” I thought, “nope.” and clicked. . .
Right there under “We Know the Good Spots” was this. . . “It can be tricky picking the right run when the water levels get touchy. Don’t sweat the high water, we’ll help you not get skunked.” “Tricky”!?, “Touchy”!??. . . “Skunked”!??? I found myself looking for the next “still not convinced?” button. I kept having visions of Adriene Levknecht dropping into a giant caldron of white froth. . But then I found the lodging page. Suddenly I was thinking I could just hang out there with Eduardo & Lily. I could spend quiet days weeding gardens or pealing potatos while we prepared for the brave adventurers’s return. In the evenings I could sit in a corner nursing a beer while listening to paddlers share stories of near death experiences and use words like “Tricky”, “Touchy”, & “Skunked”. Now of course if you’re really into whitewater you may want to check them out. (As for me, anything over class III and I’ll just watch from shore.)
Here’s an interesting look at Kayaking in Ecuador from Canoe & Kayak Magazine.
Gustav Who?
Published September 10, 2008 |
“Perhaps nothing impacted the people of Louisiana more than the ongoing political machinations toying with their backyard, especially that particular convention where “Drill Baby Drill” became a very vocal theme. The people we are meeting are not the ones who will profit from any new drilling, but they will bear the brunt of its reality – spills, leaks, empty promises and, ultimately, abandonment.” - Jon Bowermaster Dispatches from New Orleans. Read More.
Lost At Sea
Published September 10, 2008 | 
On Monday September 15th National Geographic will air the story of Andew McAuley’s trip. There is a preview online which you can watch here. Honestly, it’s hard to watch.
UPDATE: Here are comments from Vicky McAuley on the NG Blog.
The monkey sat on a pile of stones
And stared at the broken bone in his hand
And the stains of a Viennese quartet
Rang out across the land
- roger waters
George Carlin had a thing about words. As we know when he ranted on about the 7 words you can’t say on television, (yeah, I know them by heart) he was making a much larger statement about not only censorship but also about the power of words. Maybe more precisely the power we give them. Sometimes we’re just overly silly about words. I can remember in the mid-nineties when “power-words” came on the scene. I was fascinated.
Continue reading →