Torrent
Published August 13, 2011 | 
As I said recently, I love the rain. Yesterday, I certainly didn’t expect the crazy downpour that caught me out on my local lake, but it was certainly a nice surprise. The trick at Devil’s Lake is that you simply can’t see very far into the horizon in any direction, so you’re never sure what’s on the other side of the hills. While I knew there was a chance for rain, I didn’t check the radar… Boom! Of course I wouldn’t have missed it for the world anyway. 10 minutes into my paddle the sky quickly turned dark and the torrents began. A fog quickly built up over the lake, and a sudden wind turned the water choppy as well. It was a fantastic experience.. Of course, then the lightning came! Continue reading
The Fantastical Sea Sock
Published August 12, 2011 | 
O.K. I know what you’re thinking. Don’t worry, it’s been said before. Some folks do call them kayak condoms and worse, but on the other hand it’s always wise to practice safe sea kayaking, right? So if you’d like to try your hand at slightly off-color sea sock jokes, please feel free.. I’ll be in the other room reading, “The City in the Sea” by Poe….
…. There open fanes and gaping graves
Yawn level with the luminous waves;
But not the riches there that lie
In each idol’s diamond eye-
Not the gaily-jewelled dead
Tempt the waters from their bed;
For no ripples curl, alas!
Along that wilderness of glass-
No swellings tell that winds may be
Upon some far-off happier sea-
No heavings hint that winds have been
On seas less hideously serene….
Done yet?
Now, where was I? Oh, that’s right, Sea socks… Continue reading
From The Peter Strand Collection
Published August 11, 2011 | 
Saw an ad in the newspaper that caught my eye
I said to my baby this sounds like the ticket for you and I
It said volunteers wanted for a very special trip
To commune with Mother Nature on a big wooden ship
If you’re like me and you couldn’t put two boards together to save your life.. (Well, I did build a porch once. . but.. oh, nevermind!) and kit boats and classes just won’t save you from your own lack of time or talent, that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying the experience of paddling your own hand-made skin-on-frame kayak. The trick of course, is finding someone to build it for you that won’t make you feel like a second class citizen for not doing it yourself. To make things even more challenging, if you try googling (a verb??) something like, “skin-on-frame kayak (or qajaq) builders”, you’ll get lots of links to information on building your own, but almost nothing about buying a pre-made or custom boat. If there are a bunch of commercial SOF builders out there other than Cape Falcon Kayaks, there’s some serious search engine optimization to be done. Well, one builder that I can recommend is Peter Strand. In fact, I had one of his kayaks come visit me yesterday. Continue reading
Posted in Kayaks, Paddling, People, Traditional Paddling | 
Peter Strand, skin-on-frame, SOF, Traditional Paddling | 
3 CommentsToday
Published August 10, 2011 | 
Today is Wednesday, August 10th, 2011. The heat wave that has gripped my little part of the world has broken. Well, It’s changed anyway. The Costa Rican humidity has passed and average high temperatures is back around 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Today I’m meeting a new rolling student who’s driving down from LaCrosse for a bit of coaching. I love private classes.. I also feel a bit humbled by the fact that someone would drive so far to hang out with me for a couple of hours. I’ll tell you one thing, I want to see her rolling before the days out. Now here’s a few more thoughts that popped into my crazy head this morning… Continue reading
One Ditch At A Time…
Published August 9, 2011 | 
Thinking of the movie Blue Velvet yesterday, brought back to me the idea that under the veneer of our normal life often lies a dark, seedy underbelly. These days however, the dark and seedy are much more vocal than they used to be. It’s hard to ignore the calls to gut the Environmental Protection Agency, to roll back clean water regulations here in my state, or to defund programs for the poor, sick and elderly all across the country. It goes on and on. I’m not the least bit surprised that AL Gore went a little off the note cards to call “bullsh*t” on climate deniers during his speech in Aspen. He’s been at this for years, and let’s face it.. It’s been like trying to teach a lemur geometry. When people don’t want to know something, they’ll perform amazing acrobatics not to know it. These days this serious issue, like so many others, has descended into a fruitless game of “gotcha”. It’s frankly a waste of time and energy. When it comes to the environment, the bottom line is that if you are arguing for the right to pollute and pump chemicals into our air.. you’re already on the wrong side of everything decent about humanity, even if global warming were a bunch of hogwash.
SeaBird Kayaks On The Way
Published August 8, 2011 | Rapid Media TV did an interview with Aljona Jurgens of SeaBird Kayaks while at the Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City last week. Although SeaBird makes all sorts of kayaks, here at Quix I’m most excited about the Greenland designs by legendary designer Björn Thomasson. Can’t wait for their arrival here in the Great Lakes Region! Stay Tuned! Without further ado, here’s the video from Rapid Media….
Posted in Kayaks, Paddling, Traditional Paddling | Björn Thomasson, Black Pearl, SeaBird Designs | 1 Comment
As a sea kayaking coach I see lots of kayaks & gear on the water each year. I have the opportunity to see how students actually use their gear, how it works for them and how sometimes it really fails. Take these Cam-Clips for instance. I’ve ranted about them in the past, but they never seem to go away either. They’re like a bad dream that just lingers in your memory and ruins your day. Why? Well, the first time I was introduced to these Current Design’s hooky-strappy things, a student was working on a layback roll. When they rolled the kayak, they put their back against the hull, slid a bit, and hooked the shoulder strap of their PFD under the cam lever! They were stuck. It was a really scary moment for them and not a very pleasant introduction to rolling a kayak either. Even after I rolled them up, they couldn’t just sit up. They had to slide back off the clip, (after we figured it out.) then sit up. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine that under duress and upside down, a person may never realize they have to slide to their left to get free.. Then what? Continue reading →