curmudgeon loosed
Published March 4, 2008 | 
Well, I’ve got to start getting myself presentable. You know, unless I’m paddling or something really unique comes up, I don’t leave here that often. It’s just part of working from home. Most days that’s just fine with an old curmudgeon like me, but sometimes just getting out the door feels like a holiday. . So while I get ready to head out, here’s a collection of bits and bobs for the day. . .
- The Picture Above
This hand-crafted Outer Island Kayak will be raffled off at Canoecopia by the Breast Cancer Recover Foundation. Tickets will be on sale at Rutabaga until thurday and then at Canoecopia through the event. The drawing is on Sunday at 3pm in the lobby of the expo center. Tickets are $5 each or $5 for 20. Hey, it’s a good cause! Here’s more pics - Shock Jock
Just a reminder that you can catch Darren Bush and myself on Wisconsin Public Radio today at 11:45 warming up for the big show. If the radiowaves don’t reach you just go to www.wpr.org/webcasting/. There are 2 main links. Choose the “Ideas Network”. I suppose I should wash my hair. . .
- Just another reason Aussies make me smile!
“It will probably break all of us at one stage I think… you just spit the dummy for an hour and get over it, you just keep trucking.” ah, ‘. . “Spit the dummy” that’s funny! Anyway you can follow that here. - Kayaing for Whales
Remember that video of the guy getting crushed by the killer whale? Well, JB sent me this. It’s a bit more plausible. Thus a bit more cool. - Resuces & more rescues
Have you been watching the “Kayak Headlines” on the left sidebar? Seems like lots of folks are getting into trouble in their kayaks recently. . . - Saving you, saving me . . .
Silbs offers a great post on group safety. - Survey
At this moment 59 people checked in to say what they needed this year. Join us. - Time to be heard
It’s like “Horton Hears a Who” for those of you in Rhode Island, Vermont, Ohio and Texas today! “Sound off, Sound off, it’s time to be heard!!” Enjoy!
Canoecopia Part II – Two Boats In Every Pot
Published March 14, 2005 | 
On Friday we were much too busy to be able to see much of the show other than by passing glance as you ran for a snack. The day was spent ordering kayaks for customers, having them shipped from the warehouse over to the Expo building, re-identifying them on the computer and then getting them loaded and tied on the customers car. On average a person would have to wait about an hour or two to get their boat from the time they paid for it. Which means ordering your boat should be the first task of the day. By evening were were pretty wiped out and happy to drag our sorry carcasses from the Exposition Center. A snow and Ice storm rolled into the city and made escape a dicey proposition. Luckily we were staying at a motel just block or so away.
In the evening we walked from our motel over to the Sheridan Inn to join our friends from the North East Sea Kayakers group. In just that 50 yard walk we were frozen and covered in wet snow and were glad to get inside. I noticed
Wayne Horodowich chatting at the bar when we came in so we were pretty sure we had found the “canoecopia” bar. We found everyone squashed in a corner and happily warmed up. I think we spent about 2 hours there until we called it a night and returned through the snow back to our room. ( 2 Heinekens and I was toast) I’m sure we were lousy company. I kept feeling my brain taking little cat naps in the middle of converstations. . . . By the way Alex, I really envy your new Valkyrie!
At one point I counted around 60+ boats sold in 20 minutes or so. Wow! Again we had little time to see the show itself other than in glimpses. My oddest moment was when I met a paddling friend who had blown up a picture of me in his kayak that he is selling and plastered it on his truck. Not that I minded, but it’s pretty weird to see a picture of yourself stuck to the door of a truck! By the end of the day we were just happy to be on highway 12 heading north back to Baraboo. I really think that was one of the hardest drives I have ever had. I needed duct tape to hold my eyelids open.
Sunday was our free day. We were up and back in Madison by the 10am opening bell. Our main goal was to finally go get a good look at the
VCP Qajariaq. Frankly we were surprised by it. It is certainly not a high volume Anas that we were expecting. See the Canoecopia Photo gallery. There had obviously been some major design changes along the way. In the end I would like to get out and paddle it, but I still wish they would build a proper Anas HV boat. The most talked about boat was the Outer-Island by Impex. The new Kevlar version was certainly the star of the show.
Next Sunday at 2 pm we are planning to go out for a “play day” at
Lake Columbia. A chance to test out my new waterproof camera! I can’t wait to get back on AND IN the water. Even if it is a little heated lake!
Maybe things will settle down and I can take a bit of time to put together a more useful post or two. Stay Tuned. . . .
-dm
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