Do you know?
Published May 19, 2011 | 
Just for fun… Can you tell me who’s singing, what does she have to do with sea kayaking.. .and where was the picture taken? For extra credit, what year was this taken? Oh, and Keith, you can just belt up. LOL!
Paddling A Thin Line
Published May 18, 2011 | 
This is major Tom to ground control, I’m stepping through the door
And I’m floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today
Here am I floatin’ ’round my tin can far above the world
Planet Earth is blue and there’s nothing I can do – bowie
I was flipping through a copy of CanoeRoots Magazine a few days back and I came across this Old Town Canoes & Kayaks ad. Actually, I’ve scanned over it a few times. Something was buzzing away in the back of my crazy mind, but it wasn’t until this morning when it finally came into focus. The ad shows dad (?) and daughter canoeing. Above it says, ” Your stock as a parent just skyrocketed. In an age of electronic gadgetry and instant-connectedness, it’s the real moments you spend with your kids that make a lasting connection. Like your outings in…” and it goes on to sell the product. Later it continues, “…Back on shore, It’s a return to nonstop texting and emailing, but for now, it’s just the two of you creating endless memories.” O.K. I get that. Now let’s look at the bottom of the ad… Continue reading
Posted in advertising, Commentary & Rants, Outdoor Recreation, Paddling, Quixotica, Random Thoughts | 
Facebook, social media, technology, twitterRopes & Knots
Published May 17, 2011 | 
Putting deck lines on a skin boat near the cockpit is a pretty simple process. Putting the lines in near the bow and stern are a bit more complicated, especially if you don’t have any clue what you are doing. Only a weird, stretchy alien could get up that far inside the kayak to tie things off. It seems you have no option but to tie the ends together on the outside. In the end I think I may have worked it out. I’m a little concerned that the knots won’t hold very well until the rope ages a bit, but even now they don’t seem to be going anywhere. All-in-all, I do have to say that the kayak is looking pretty sharp. I can certainly see where I am going with it. Continue reading
Sidetracked In Black
Published May 17, 2011 | 
And if the night runs over / And if the day won’t last
And if your way should falter / Along this stony pass
It’s just a moment
This time will pass – u2
Today was the day I was going to tell you all about properly wearing and testing dry gear… but then I got distracted. I had my skin boat out anyway, (The one that’s for sale actually) so I decided to get all the new leather deck lines installed. That was a good idea, (I’d been putting it off since last spring.) but then I got distracted. I realized that I still needed to give the canvas another coat of paint. Having originally been painted white, a bit of missing black paint shows right through. Thankfully it only takes a can of black exterior paint and brush to give it a quick retouch whenever I like. Continue reading
Posted in Kayaks, My Paddling, My Weird Life, Paddle Gear, Paddling, Quixotica, Traditional PaddlingNo Wake!
Published May 16, 2011 | 
Welcome to Monday! The great adventure around here over the weekend has been suffering more unseasonably cold weather and testing out my fancy new dry duds.. Well, not exactly… The Big, BIG adventure was heading down to Madison, Wisconsin to watch my daughter graduate from the UW. Seeing her get the diploma was the good bit, surviving 2 hours of pomp and circumstance was a challenge of to the very depth of my soul! Another challenge to the very depth of the soul is swimming in fifty degree water without the proper gear. Worse, thinking you have the proper gear only to find out it leaks when you need it most. That’ll “WAKE” you up! (Boo! Hiss!) This is why you never simply toss on new gear and go paddling. You need to get out and play with it awhile…
How’d it go? Well, right now I have to step away from the computer and run a child off to school. More to follow. 
Dry Comfort
Published May 13, 2011 | 
The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you get one more yard
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part – petty
I had a student in a class recently who told me a story of the new Gore-Tex dry top his parents bought him last Christmas. From there it didn’t go well. Whenever he put on the dry top, his head and his hands turned red and swelled up like balloons. He’d lose feeling in his fingers. He complained of not being able to breathe very well. His parents wanted to return it right away. He didn’t. He’d read on the internet that dry gear could be uncomfortable and he simply needed to “get used to it”. Finally though, his parents won out. They sent it back. Continue reading
I gave the doctor my description / I’ve tried to stick to my prescription
Someday I’ll have a disappearing hairline /Someday I’ll wear pyjamas in the daytime
Afternoons will be measured out /Measured out, measured with
Coffee-spoons and T.S. Eliot –
I’m sorry I’m old. Really. I didn’t start out this way. I used to be much younger but then the sun came up and went down a bunch of times and I got older. Now I’m 45 for some reason. I’ll be 46 in about a month. I’m sorry for myself too. I’m sorry that there are probably fewer years ahead than behind. I’m also sorry that I’m pretty much on the young side of your average sea kayaker. I didn’t even start in the sport until I was in my late 30s. By then I had a business that was doing OK and the ability to buy the stuff necessary to get into sea kayaking. (Well, barely!!). Come to think of it, I’m sorry we’re all old. What will become of us? Continue reading →