Sea Kayak With Gordon Brown V2
Published August 19, 2011 | 
As with my review of the first edition of Sea Kayak With Gordon Brown, let me cut to the chase here. Volume 2 includes a new trip, a bit of a history lesson, and lots of new skill work in real world conditions. V2 is a fun, tight presentation that will add to your skill set and keep you sitting in front of your TV from beginning to end… Well, unless you find yourself impulsively loading up the kayak to rush out and try something he’s just presented. For my part, I was able to take away and apply one new-found method to a class almost immediately. The new (to me) gem gave 2 students a much quicker success than they would have otherwise. For one student, it was the only answer that worked. As she was sitting back up in her kayak and smiling ear-to-ear.. I told her, “You have Gordon Brown to thank for this one.” I don’t think I can give the DVD a better compliment than that. There’s a lot of good stuff in there, even for us coaches and more experienced paddlers to take in. Continue reading
Posted in Learning, Paddling, Reviews, Video | 
dvd, gordon brown, Rowland Woolven, sea kayak with gordon brown, Simon Willis | 
6 CommentsI Went Paddling Yesterday…
Published August 18, 2011 | 
Thoughts meander like a
restless wind inside a letter box
they tumble blindly as
they make their way across the universe
- lennon
I went paddling yesterday. I drove down to Lake Wisconsin which is about 15 minutes from my home. It wasn’t anything, just a paddle. Just burning some stress… I took my GPS and it told me I went 9 miles. 9 miles of paddling over 2 hours or so. Funny, I can’t really remember much of anything in all that time. But I did take some pictures I can share with you. One thing though, regardless of what you may have heard, 2 hours of empty-headed paddling is a very valuable thing. Continue reading
Dark Side of the RSS
Published August 18, 2011 | 
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more. – pf
So today I want to make a little technical comment, that I’m sure will meet some resistance. Um, that’s putting it mildly. It’s about RSS (Really Simple Syndication). RSS allows news and blog type websites to share their content across the web. It allows people to get your information in whatever format they like, wherever they like and even include it into their own website. PaddlingPlanet.com is a perfect example of how you can actually create a website using little more than RSS feeds from other websites. In my business life, I recommend taking advantage RSS to most all of my clients. Providing an RSS feed is just good marketing and good business. So what’s not to like? Continue reading
Is that an orange bunny in your pocket?
Published August 16, 2011 | 
I’m sure you know by now that some of the quirkiest things catch my imagination sometimes. Take the Kokatat Bahia Tour PFD for instance. I was wandering around the shop at Rutabaga last Sunday when this caught my eye. It’s PFD with a bit of officious looking paper and big orange rabbit ears in the pocket. On closer inspection, I realized that what I was looking at was a demonstration of how the Bahia Tour allows you to keep your fishing licence quickly accessible for when the game warden shows up. I don’t fish, but if I did I could imagine it being a pretty nice feature. In fact, maybe having it displayed so prominently would save you from having to talk to the DNR guy at all. Of course, where’s the fun in that?? On the other hand, that still doesn’t explain the rabbit ears. Quite the conversation starter… “Is that an orange bunny in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? ” Continue reading
Qajaq Rolls
Published August 16, 2011 | 
Time once again to take a break from my own endless chatter and recommend another blog worth checking out. Since I’ve spent a lot of time on traditional stuff recently, now is a good time to send you over to check out Minnesota resident, Christopher Crowhurst’s Qajaq Rolls. I really like what Christopher is doing with his Roll of the Day series. I’ve always thought that one of the best things about the internet is that we can go online and learn just about anything. Of course for this to happen, other people have to go be generous enough to share what they know with little to no financial reward. Continue reading
Posted in Learn To Roll, Learning, Paddling, Traditional Paddling | Christopher Crowhurst, dubside, Helen Wilson, Maligaq, rolling | 1 CommentApp To Run
Published August 15, 2011 | 
I love to run. Well, I didn’t at first. Well, I didn’t for the first 2 years.. It’s only recently that I really started to LOVE to run. Maybe it’s that I didn’t run through the most hot and humid days of July as I had in the past. Maybe it’s that at 46 and just over 200lbs I’m happy that I can still run at all! One thing is sure, I’m really loving this new iMapMyRUN App I bought for my iPhone.. Amazing what you can get these days for just a couple bucks! Continue reading
Posted in Fitness, More Gear Reviews, Outdoor Recreation, Quixotica, running | iMapMyRUN, Reviews, running, trail running | 3 Comments
Modesty, propriety can lead to notoriety
You could end up as the only one
Gentleness, sobriety are rare in this society
At night a candle’s brighter than the sun – sting
I can’t review P&H Sea Kayaks new Delphin. Yeah, I did get time to paddle one this summer when I was teaching in Michigan. Thing is, the Delphin is purpose-built. It’s a surfer. In any other conditions it simply will not be at it’s finest. Funny thing though, all the hype around the Delphin has a lot of folks who’ll never actually go surfing salivating, regardless of how it may or may not paddle on flat water. If nothing else, it does show that P&H Sea Kayaks is simply destroying their competitors when it comes to marketing their products. Hey, somebody should say it. In the last couple of years P&H has been dusting everyone in their wake. When you’re talking big waves, P&H is riding it and at the moment, from the cockpit of the Delphin. Continue reading →