What a piece of work is man! How noble in
Reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving
how express and admirable! In action how like an Angel!
in apprehension how like a god!

While you may be tempted to look at your reflection in water and consider how angelic you are, sooner or later your toggle rope will break and all that wing-flappery will come crashing right back down to earth.  As coaches, we tell folks all the time that they need to regularly check out the condition of their gear. Toggle ropes come up most often.  Well… (see above). Yeah, but that wasn’t the worst of it.  In addition to the broken toggle rope, the strap on my paddle-float tore in half and I lost a clip on my contact-tow. This all happened in the comfort and safety of  home. I simply hadn’t done a serious spring inspection yet and figured I’d get by for a day.  Bad choice.  How like a god!!  You can usually get by with these little inconveniences in a tiny lake without as much pause, however you can also see what sort of hell you could be in for if you take your weather worn gear out into more serious conditions.  So.. for today.. If you’ve not done it yet.  Check your gear.  Rope, fabrics, rubber gaskets, and all that other stuff that goes from wet to dry regularly simply do not last all that long.

BTW.. that is ICE!