Archive for the ‘Paddle Gear’ Category

And I quote, “The Excalibur Kayak paddle is the ultimate coaching tool…….. It’s onboard strain gauge and positional sensors record every aspect of your stroke……  You are are sure to benefit from this cutting edge technology…….”

I’m not even sure what I want to say about this.. other than if I ever wanted to beat Ben Lawry upside the head with it, I’d have a good grasp of how committed I was when I did it…  (sorry Ben, you were just the first guy to come  to mind… not sure what that says… but, well…

Read More About the Excalibur Paddle Here.

Now I’ve been having a bit of fun with the Gear Pods Adventure Gear System I was sent to review. (Especially since the company seems to have sent them out to every blogger in the known universe!)  Still my strange little oatmeal test does express the point that the gear we take along on a serious kayaking trip is only as good as its water resistance.  After a couple weeks on the water, keeping things dry and free of sand can become a hellish obsession.   But let’s come back to that…. Read the rest of this entry »

The suspense is terrible… I hope it’ll last. – Willy Wonka

If you’re on my Facebook (s)  or twitter, you’ve already seen this video and you’ll know I pulled the the GearPods from the back yard rain barrel last night  (I couldn’t very well keep them in the tub for 3 days!).  How’d they do?  Well, this morning I need to run up and meet with a client about 30 miles away, then I’m going to come back and fill in those last blanks on the review which should be posted a bit after lunchtime. Yeah, I have a real job too!!

Video – Next week I’ll be doing a review of Gear Pods, the cool new modular adventure gear kits.  This weekend I’m running the final and maybe most important (to me) test.  It’s called “The Oatmeal Test”.  Just how waterproof are Gear Pods anyway?  In my kayak filled world, I’ve found my waterproof bags and cases can sometimes spend hours in and under the water.  It happens.  It happened to me last weekend in fact!! Nothing sucks more than when you realize that your first-aid kit got soaked because the “waterproof” case leaked.  How Gear Pods hold up to sitting in standing water for a couple days will tell me a lot about how appropriate they are for sea kayaking.  Next week, we’ll talk a bit more what Gear Pods have to offer as I review their Backcountry kit.  AND by Monday morning we’ll know just how they stood up to the dreaded Oatmeal Test as well!

Here I write a red poem,
Sophie Tucker red,
‘The last of the red hot mama’s red’
It is a hard Tap Dancing Red,
St. Valentine’s red…
Cinnamon Apple scented red…
Georgio sweet smelling red,
Victoria Secret Red,
Morning sunrise red,
Red Hot lipstick red,
The blush on your cheeks red,
Happy Go Lucky Red,
Written with my flaming Pink Craylo Pen,
On this October day…
Oh you kid!
- Dorthy (Alves) Holmes

Read the rest of this entry »

And we decided that one big pile is better than two little piles,
and rather than bring that one up
we decided to throw our’s down. – arlo guthrie

I was just reading David Johnston’s post all about Lendal’s return to the UK under the helm of Nigel & the gang at Sea Kayaking UK.. I won’t bother to quote it, you can read the post here.  In the process of reading David’s fine update, I clicked over to the Lendal Website.  I hadn’t been there in some time.  Funny thing, I never noticed their tag line before;  “LENDAL. THE BEST PADDLES. THERE AND BACK. “  Read the rest of this entry »

I was hungry and I’m hungry still
And now it’s pouring rain
I look o.k. but I’ve been feeling ill
And now it’s pouring rain
– bob geldof

Yesterday we had flash flood warnings in our area, but that didn’t stop us from getting out for a bit of a paddle!  Heavy rains and flooding are getting to be typical for early June in our part of Wisconsin.  It’s defiantly a climate change, but I’d be hard pressed to tell you why.  Whatever the reason it’s been flooding pretty regularly since the ’90s in our area.  The local lake has been so flooded that the state DNR finally incorporated a permanent drain!  Read the rest of this entry »