Flood
Published March 3, 2009 | 
But Mr. Horrible says, “I don’t mind
The thing that bothers me is
Someone keeps moving my chair”
- they might be giants
It’s great when I have a bunch of stuff to write about. It certainly feels better than those days when I sit down here at the keyboard and realize that the only thing standing out in my mind is the ticking of the wall clock. On the other hand, if you’ve got lots of bits to write about you tend to either overlook the important stuff while getting lost in the manushia or find yourself distracted by the cool stuff at the expense of the boring but useful. . oh, and speaking of boring . . .
CaulkU
Published February 23, 2009 | 
A flow as subtle as a summer breeze. / Like the whispering winds and
The talking trees. / To big to be boxed in, it bobs and weaves.
It evolves, it solves, it gives and receives.
And everything I say is / calculated appropriated
Written and arranged in Feng Shui!
– gnarls barkly
The weekend came and went as weekends often do, beginning at the end of a week and ending at the beginning of another. This weekend I set about doing the final repair on that bulkhead. One had to wonder what caused me to have such a collection of items stacked on a bit of cardboard. There was a plastic knife, a caulking gun, a rubber glove and a mirror, a pencil and a jack knife and a cup of coffee just to keep the nerves up.
the fix is on
Published February 15, 2009 | 
We’ve gone deep, deep down into the bowels of the ship. Well, on the inside of a kayak anyway. You have to take a bit of pity on the poor guys who spend their days with their heads jammed inside a hull breathing fumes and bending every which way to seal a seam or a bulkhead. What a job. It reminds me of that bit about knowing what’s in a hot dog.
So yesterday I continued on my self taught kayak repair course. Continue reading
Shear Force
Published January 9, 2009 | 
Today was the day I think I finally repaired my cockpit combing. Up until this point none of the old ways would work. It was simply an issue of force. The problem was finding an adhesive that worked. While epoxies may solve some problems this was not one of them. What did work in the end was a product called Plexus MA 310.
Hot Summer Sun
Published August 10, 2008 | 
You’re turning me on, you turn me around
You turn my whole world upside down
- 6 cycle mind
What is your annual summer tradition? Well, one of mine is turning my old Current Designs “Breeze” upside down, setting it on a brick and baking the warp back out of the hull. It works a treat too. . . well, other than the fact that I’ll be doing in again in a few months when the warp returns.
As I’ve said many times the Breeze, which Current Designs calls a “Transitional” kayak is one of those boats you just have to have. It’s a great learning boat and perfect for those friends and family members who occasionally may want to come along with you in the water but are not quite as skilled. The Breeze is 13’6 and 25″ wide. Perfect for someone who wants to feel stable on the water, yet still quick enough not to be left too far behind. It’s also the boat that ends up going down the rivers since I don’t care if it get’s run up over the rocks. The only bad bit is that constant “oil canning” that is really common with older plastic boats.
With the Breeze, the warp always seems to appear right under your legs which with this fish form hull is at about the widest spot. If left unattended for some time, the warp will create an area about one foot square that will dip in and inch or more. When paddling the water rolls up into the divot creating a nice gurgling sound and a bit of drag to go with it. When it finally bugs me enough to do something about it I drag out an old concrete block and set it on end. Then I flip the kayak over placing the cockpit over the brick, and the divot directly on the brick itself which pushes the dent out. After a couple days baking in the hot summer sun the dent will be gone. For awhile anyway. . .
gettin yer groove on. . .
Published June 28, 2008 | 
Then turn around
Stick it out
Even white boys got to shout
Baby got back
- Sir Mix-A-Lot
As there are each year, multiple discussions of seat replacements and back rests are going on in the newsgroups and on the boards. I went through that experience a couple times myself. These days though I’m free of that stress. I’ve become a nudist. Yeah, the reality is that with most well designed kayak seats today and a bit of good posture a back rest is like your little toe, a lost remnant of evolution.
Really I sort of knew a couple years ago that back bands and back rests were generally more a hindrance than a help. It’s logical when you think about it. Good posture requires you to be upright in your seat. So unless your back band is pulled so taunt that it actually is over your seat pan, you’ll never actually touch it. The proviso of course is that the seat in your kayak has a nice lip on the back that provides the small bit of back support you actually need. Basically enough to keep you from slipping backwards when you press your feet against the peddles.
Right before I prepared for my big trip last year I found myself fiddling with the back-band in my Alaw Bach. For some reason I just couldn’t get it just the way I wanted. After spending more time than I want to admit to on that back band and never getting it to “feel” right I sort of sat there next to my kayak in frustration. Then while my eyes wandered over the seat of my kayak I suddenly had a vision. . . a vision of Homer Simpson wiggling away on his couch trying to mold the perfect ass-groove. Oh man, is this what I’m doing!?, I thought. Suddenly I could see all the hours I’d spent over many years fiddling with back-bands and foam backrests. I felt sort of silly. This had to be simpler. . and of course it is.
It all comes back to proper posture. We all have the tendency to lean a bit back, especially if you are built like me with a bit of extra pudge! However, the proper posture is of course sitting upright. Vertical. No leaning backwards or slumping shoulders. If anything you may tend to lean a bit forward as you reach for those strokes. Once you stop leaning back you’ll find you need very little support, just the tiniest bit, right at the lowest part of your back. Most seats will provide that. Most, maybe but not all. Of course to every rule there are exceptions!
Correcting your posture will also give you more power in your stroke. You will reach further ahead and dig deeper with your paddle. You will achieve better mobility and better torso rotation. Removing the back band also tends to help with rolling. You can twist around much easier and lean back much further. In addition you’ll find those recoveries to be a snap. No more crawling over or sitting on the back band.
In the end that day, I just removed the back band completely in my Alaw Bach. I paddled around Puerto Rico comfortably and have not replaced it since. Give it a try. Remember each person and each boat are different. However, in many cases just removing the back-band will feel like a bit of freedom. It’s worth a shot. After all, you can always put it right back on.
Everybody I know has to face the trains
Everybody I know makes the same mistakes
– the vapors
One of many life experiences most of us share is that of walking the railroad tracks. Often walking the rails is simply a quicker way to get from point A to point B on the hoof. Sometimes the tracks are just thankfully new scenery on the way to getting to the same old place. Sometimes the tracks are simply a place to walk off the demons of the day. On a few occasions while walking the tracks I’ve had to climb a poison oak laden slope or crawl through bramble to get out of the way of an oncoming locomotive. From a position of safety I could just watch the train go by. In real life we are hyper-focused on the subject of the day, the walk. Meanwhile all sorts of little things flash by us in the windows of the passing trains. They flicker by us so fast our conscious mind has little time to itemize what we are seeing through the passing glass. Then hours or days later we suddenly realize something obvious that we should have seen right off. . . “Was that goat in the window wearing a pink tie”!!?
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