Spin Cycles
Published May 5, 2011 | 
I will shape myself into your pocket
Invisible
Do what you want
Do what you want
- radiohead
I’d learned what I do know of traditional rolling from the cockpit of my old blue NDK Explorer. Later I moved on to a Valley Anas Acuta. Step by step I was progressing. There came a point though, when I felt I wasn’t getting any further. I’m not sure if it was the volume of the kayak or just me hitting a wall. I stopped. I walked away with most of layback rolls in place up to elbow rolls.. and just starting to work on forward rolls beyond a storm roll & reverse sweep. At the time I was really feeling like the volume of the kayak was beginning to raise its ugly head. That can real, or it can be a psychological limit. Sometimes when you feel something, it doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. It becomes true simply because you feel it to be so. Continue reading
Shake Down
Published May 4, 2011 | 
What a piece of work is man! How noble in
Reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving
how express and admirable! In action how like an Angel!
in apprehension how like a god!
While you may be tempted to look at your reflection in water and consider how angelic you are, sooner or later your toggle rope will break and all that wing-flappery will come crashing right back down to earth. As coaches, we tell folks all the time that they need to regularly check out the condition of their gear. Toggle ropes come up most often. Well… (see above). Yeah, but that wasn’t the worst of it. In addition to the broken toggle rope, the strap on my paddle-float tore in half and I lost a clip on my contact-tow. This all happened in the comfort and safety of home. I simply hadn’t done a serious spring inspection yet and figured I’d get by for a day. Bad choice. How like a god!! You can usually get by with these little inconveniences in a tiny lake without as much pause, however you can also see what sort of hell you could be in for if you take your weather worn gear out into more serious conditions. So.. for today.. If you’ve not done it yet. Check your gear. Rope, fabrics, rubber gaskets, and all that other stuff that goes from wet to dry regularly simply do not last all that long.
BTW.. that is ICE!
Deesta
Published May 3, 2011 | 
One of my goals here at Quix this year is to take time to feature some of the other paddle blogs around the world. I mean, let’s face it.. sometimes I’m just dead boring and even I’d rather read someone else!! So with that in mind my first featured blogger is Deesta in Sydney, Australia. I’ve chatted with Dee on an off for a few years now, but oddly only came across her blog by accident. Dee gives you a pretty good run down of paddling events in her part of the world, posts some nice pics and shares some insights in her own learning experiences along the way. Dee has a new Tahe Marine Greenland and been learning traditional rolling recently.. She has a great post about that here.
I enjoy Dee’s blog.. especially when it’s cold and snowy around here… (Well, when I’m not feeling jealous!) If you haven’t yet, check out Deesta.. one of the many wonderful paddle bloggers around the world. Stay tuned…
Photo by John Piotrowski.
Great Students, New Boats, Harsh Winds
Published May 2, 2011 | 
If you’ve got the hutzpa to take a sea kayaking class in Wisconsin in April, you’re probably going to do OK. That’s been my experience every spring when I head down to Rutabaga to teach that first sea kayak course each year. It’s almost always cold and certainly wet. This time it was ridiculously windy as well. I can’t say this is my favorite time of year to teach. We find ourselves working around a lot of interference & distraction that we wouldn’t be facing once the season warms up and the weather settles down. On the upside though, the students that do show up this time of year are particularly keen to “just go for it”. Continue reading
Casio G’zOne Commando
Published May 2, 2011 | 
Has Casio finally made the sea kayaker’s dream phone? Well, probably not.. but they’re coming close. Charlie White over at Mashable posted a review of the new “hardened Casio G’zOne Commando” that’s worth a read. Casio says the new can withstand 30 minutes under three feet of water, exposure to salt water spray, 95% humidity for 24 hours, drops.. Oh and exposure to 15,000 foot altitude for an hour as well. Bwuhahaha!! Monster Phone!
The Casio runs Android 2.2, is 3G or WiFi capable and can be used as a hotspot. The phone also offers a 5mp camera and a selection of special “G’zGear” features designed for the outdoor type including: Earth Compass with a GPS function showing distance & direction to landmarks and national parks, Walking counter, trip memory, tides, adventure trainers, thermometer, star gazer, and more. Obviously we’ll have to turn to 3rd party apps for nautical charts! The price of the phone at Verizon is $199.00 with 2 year contract.
Now to be honest, I’ve never met a piece of “all-weather” electronic gear that I really trusted. Yeah, I’ve been ranting on about a true adventure smart phone for some time.. I can’t say I’m not a bit excited by the Commando.. Still.. I think I’ll hold out awhile and see some “real world” reviews. Here’s to hoping! What do you think?
More:
- Nice Overview at Mashable – Including whirlpool video
- Solid look at G’zGear features from PocketNow.com
- Casio G’zOne Commando Official site.
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