The Achilles Stroke
Published June 15, 2010 | 
And a bearded lady said to me –
if you start your raving and your misbehaving –
you’ll be sorry. – Tull
It’s O.K. to suck at something. Kayakers often forget when they were afraid they would fall over on flat water, but most of us have been there. Over years we learn all sorts of fun, fascinating, and “cool” kayaking skills. Even so, there are always things we’d like to be better at, and certain skills that we can never seem to perfect, our “Achilles Stroke”, if you will. Mine is using sweeps to turn-in-place. I struggled perfecting it for so long I think I developed a mad case of sweep-on-a-dime-o-phobia, I can do it, cleanly, smoothly and the rest..but I never and I mean NEVER feel comfortable. It’s that one move that still makes me break out in sweats when I have to demo it. As I said, we all have those moves that drive us crazy. For some it’s an offside roll, for some it’s side-sculling, for others it’s a hanging draw. What’s you’re Achilles Stroke? What’s going wrong? Maybe someone around here can offer some tips!
Preventable
Published June 11, 2010 | 
As I write this 16 year old Abby Sunderland is floating somewhere in the Indian ocean on a sailboat without a mast. Apparently she’s fine out there and will need to hold out another 24 hours or so for rescue. Here in Wisconsin, 9 year old Sofia Khan of Chicago was not so lucky. The search for her on Lake Michigan was suspended and reclassified as a recovery yesterday. Abby was in the middle of the ocean, alone, and taking on terrible risks. Sofia was with her family enjoying a day at the beach. Continue reading
Back To Point Beach
Published June 10, 2010 | 
Say you don’t need no diamond ring and I’ll be satisfied
Tell me that you want the kind of thing that money just can’t buy
I don’t care too much for money, money can’t buy me love
-beatles
I don’t know about you, but I need a vacation. Thankfully tomorrow morning we’ll be heading back up to Point Beach State Forest on the coast of Lake Michigan for a few days R & R. Sounds like the weather may be mixed, but hey, if we get some waves out of it I’ll be happy.
The Point Beach event called, “Kayak Week” is hosted by a group of paddlers from the Two Rivers, WI area. It was this annual gathering of area kayakers that actually brought me into Wisconsin paddling “fold”. Back then there was an amazing diversity of paddlers who showed up for a variety of local paddling events. There was always something going on, and someone to paddle with or learn from. Of course that was back before the days of liability paranoia that put a choke hold on social kayaking. I hear all the time how these sort of free-wheeling gatherings have fallen victim to the hemorrhoidal area of lawsuit fears, insurance & sanctioning debates that often burn more energy in a group than actual paddling.
Posted in Commentary & Rants, Events & Symposia, Outdoor Recreation, Paddling | 
aca, lake michigan, liability, point beachAmy’s Roll
Published June 8, 2010 |
This is Amy rolling her kayak in Milwaukee a couple weeks back. Amy is a fantastic kayak coach, photographer and owner of Climer Consulting in Madison, WI. I have absolutely nothing to add, other than it’s a rainy day here in cheeseland and I’ve got to get on the road to take my son to visit the doc. So.. well, enjoy Amy’s roll.
Shhh, It’s A Secret
Published June 7, 2010 | 
You are the sunshine of my life
That’s why I’ll always be around,
You are the apple of my eye,
Forever you’ll stay in my heart
-stevie wonder
We live in a funny world these days. A world were everyone has something nasty to say about everything while at the same time everyone else is busy being offended or avoiding offending.. (Fear and offense make for some amazingly deep conversations. Snark!) In the kayaking world for instance we’re not supposed to say anything negative about about anything, especially when it comes to kayaks. Kayaks fall under the “One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure” rule. The result is that if the thing floats and has deck lines.. it’s got to be a good boat.. for someone. Fine. But let me say this.. Continue reading
Certifiable
Published June 4, 2010 | 
Oh You Pretty Things / Don’t you know you’re driving your
Mamas and Papas insane / Oh You Pretty Things
Don’t you know you’re driving your / Mamas and Papas insane
Let me make it plain
You gotta make way for the Homo Superior
– bowie
Well, I’m not sure how it happened.. Well I am.. I had someone keeping me on task.. anyway, I’m first-aided, CPR’d and ACA’d and ready to teach my first 2 day sea kayaking class of the new season tomorrow at Rutabaga in Madison, Wisconsin. I don’t even want to think about how long I’ve been doing this now. I mean, how many years can you do something before you can no longer play the “outsider” role? I start getting weird chills when I start thinking I may be becoming part of the establishment.. ooooooh….. Continue reading
We told each other that we were the wildest
The wildest things we’d ever seen
Now I wished you would have told me
I wished I could have talked to you
Just to say goodbye – springsteen
The city of Two Rivers, Wisconsin has a Current Designs kayak on every corner along the main street. Kayaks also decorate the fronts of a variety of businesses in the area as well. The city even dedicated a park to the local kayaker’s called appropriately “Paddler’s Park”. Two Rivers is a kayaker’s town. Paddlers have the tireless advocacy of local businessman and kayaker Phil Rohrer to thank for the city’s attentions. Thanks to Phil and the local clubs he inspired Wisconsin had a paddler’s mecca in the making… Continue reading →