The J-lean is Dead!?
Published September 30, 2011 | 
So Nancy Salsbury of Rutabaga is working on ideas for next year’s Canoecopia. She sent out an email asking paddlers for ideas for workshops. In amongst the hundreds of good ideas was a reply by a great coach which said, “How about one called “The J-Lean is Dead!”. OK, so I must have missed a meeting. Now, I’m not hot on names.. I usually tell students, “Were going to make the kayak do this.” or “We’re going to make the kayak do that.” I only use names as an afterthought. I don’t want students to focus on names as much as focus on skills.. So, just to be sure I knew what I was talking about I went to our favorite Kayak Wiki and read, “In the J-Lean, you use your hips to tilt the boat, but maintain your center of gravity over the center of buoyancy by keeping your upper body upright and perpendicular to the water surface. Its called a J-Lean since if you look head-on at someone doing this move, their body is in the shape of the letter J.” I think I call that edging myself, but um, why don’t we do that any more?
Bone Head Paddling
Published September 29, 2011 | 
A kiss on the wind and we’ll make the land – k. bush
You could probably guess I was running a bit scattershot the last few days. It sure showed up this morning I can tell you. I ran the morning obstacle course out the door with the intent to be on the lake for day 8 of my 100 mile paddle. Getting to the lake was the easy part. Yeah, I was wearing my sexy base layers.. but what I didn’t do was bring my outer layers. Oops! Well, I was there wasn’t I? So with the sun shining through some broken clouds to the east I figured I could get away it. Continue reading
impossible walls
Published September 28, 2011 | 
oh then it’s alright
when with every day another bit falls away
oh but it’s still alright, alright, alright
and like words together we can make some sense - Gabriel
What if you were the last person alive on earth? You could be standing out in a prairie somewhere watching low clouds scrape across the distant hills, feeling the chilled air of an autumn morning tingle at the tip of your nose. You could stare all you wanted to. You could try to lock every line, color, sense and sound into your mind with deep concentration. You could will your eyes to pull out every last detail of the panoramic image before you. It wouldn’t matter though. With the passing of just a few minutes, a few minor distractions, and the moment would fade. The problem with moments like these, is that they have to be experienced in their fullest as they happen and that can’t truly happen when you’ve got no one to share the moment with. Continue reading
Pour
Published September 26, 2011 | 
You know what they say about cross-country skiing don’t you? It’s fantastic as long as your dress for it! It’s the same for paddling of course, especially when the floodgates of heaven open up over your head! I’m seriously loving my Kokatat GOR-TEX Anorak. (I’d really be loving my Romany as well, if it weren’t getting about 3 cups of water in the back every time I paddle!!)
Today, by 8am I was again heading out into Devil’s lake to take a few more miles. 82 to go. I got started on this silly quest when the local Friends of Devil’s Lake State Park held a summer long “Hike 100″ event to celebrate the park’s centennial year. Hey, I’m all for anything to get people out and exercising, but how could they leave out paddling?? Grrrrr! Well, Day 6 is in the bag… a wet, drippy bag!
Pay Attention Idiot!
Published September 24, 2011 | 
Pay Attention Idiot!!! Has anyone ever yelled something like that at you? Maybe they did but you just weren’t paying attention? I can’t remember ever taking that sort of abuse when I’ve paddled, but I’ve had my share of one finger solutes when driving I’m sure! Most of the time, the shouting has to do with simple human error being witnessed by someone of low intelligence, but sometimes, well, we should pay more attention.. Continue reading
A Tale of Two Undergarments
Published September 23, 2011 | 
I read recently that one big advantage to having bloggers review gear is that they can look at a product over time, and not just talk about stuff when it’s still all bright and shiny. So with that in mind I wanted to talk about 2 old shirts.. or two old bit of paddling gear… whatever. One thing is sure, the fact that I can still wear this stuff after 5 to 10 years speaks a lot to the quality of both. Continue reading
Variations on a Contact Tow
Published September 22, 2011 | 
The other day a coach that I was paddling with showed me his fancy new quick release on his contact tow. This is certainly a heavy-duty bit of gear. Just what I was looking for to connect my Jeff Allen throw tow to my PFD. I’m sure there are probably lighter quick release clips out there, but these are available locally at the old Farm & Fleet store. Now what you also might find interesting is how this system was set up.. See the pic below; Continue reading
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