Posts Tagged ‘wmcka’

So why’d you come home to this sleepless town, It’s a lifetime commitment, Recovering the satellites, All anybody really wants to know is… when you gonna come down? – Counting Crows

The symposium came to a quiet, contented and sleepy end. Everyone scattered back to their homes or to other events, some to homes just minutes away and others to far flung destinations such as Florida or Newfoundland. I passed the lighthouse on the Muskeegon breakwall one more time as the high-speed ferry jolted out into the darkness to take me home. . . .

So, I got back to Wisconsin in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, carried across the momentarily calm inland sea we call Lake Michigan. After days of sun and blue skies, winds and rain, cormorants, shipwrecks, lighthouses, sand dunes, students, teachers, music, wine, and automated weather reports, I find I’m still disconnected and out of focus. I am awkwardly working to slip back into daily life of phones, deadlines, engine noise and shopping malls with limited success.

I have galleries coming from our trip and from the West Michigan Symposium. Hopefully I will post them this week. Maybe even later today. I am also working on writing down the stories for journal reports in the coming days but for the moment I just want to thank everyone in Michigan for their warm welcome and support as I navigated my way through this first multi-day open water trip and busy symposium to follow. Thank you!!

More to come. . . .

dm.

Old Michigan steams like a young man’s dreams, The islands and bays are for sportsmen. – g. lightfoot

Ok, so I’m still a little stiff this next morning. But I did want to get out on Lake Michigan one more time before leaving for Michigan proper on Tuesday. It’s actually a pretty nice paddle from Seagull Marina in Two Rivers north to the lighthouse at Point Beach and back. As Mary mentioned along the way it does look very much like the Atlantic coast near Huntington beach in South Carolina. You glide along sand beaches framed in grassy dunes laid against a forest back drop. The big difference is the big pine trees and the total lack of Spanish moss and palms.You certainly couldn’t complain about the weather either. Saturday we had a temperature of around 65 and the negligible bit of swell was under a foot. The only fly in the ointment was a silly bit of following wind waves that were nipping at our sterns. You know the type, they’re weak enough that edging the boat tends to over-correct, so you end up doing a “rhythmic paddle, paddle, paddle, sweep, paddle, little sweep, paddle, paddle, paddle little sweep” thing all day long. About half way along the route north we discovered a blood red stream flowing out into the lake. This red color is pretty common in northern Wisconsin and it is my understanding that this is due to heavy iron content in the soil. However a big bloody red patch in the lake can be a bit un-nerving until your eyes are able to follow it back to it’s source.

And speaking of “Big Bloody red patches”. (Bet you’ve not heard that too often). We took advantage of being at the Seagull Marina to stock up on flairs and dye markers. If you have not heard about these before, they are basically a little rubber container filled with power that when poured into the water will create a nice (florescent green in our case) colored trail with the water current. The claim is that they can be seen for miles from the air. Note the “from the air” bit. A dye marker is not a good choice to be seen from land. Ok, you can go ahead and try it if you like but I’m telling you, It’s not going to work. . .

I’m pretty sure this will be my last post until I get back from the WMCKA symposium on June 2nd or so. ( It’s fun to see all the kayakers suddenly dropping off the web to gather at various shorelines around the world) Today I need to run down to Rutabaga and make a couple last minute purchases. Yes, really, the last. I’ve had a couple things written down for some time but I never remember to actually get them. By now I have to accept that if I don’t have it, I don’t need it. I’m no longer adding to the list. I’ll just be content to have clean clothes. Well, at least the first day out. After that “Clean” is defined as “least aromatic”.

I’m a bit intimidated by the variety of very skilled sea kayakers going on our pre-symposium Manitou trip. (see previous posts regarding performance anxiety) I guess as long as I stay vertical I’ll be content. Usually when I know I’m out-skilled and out-classed I just keep my mouth shut. “Safety in silence”, as it were.

I’ve got a nice group of classes to assist with. Rescues, Boat Loading (well, I’m getting there), Euro paddling strokes, night paddling, and even a children’s class. Cool! I got a little confused by my schedule so I created a new chart where I could just color in boxes and write the details in. This way I can visually see the class times and free time. The chart lays out the hours from 7am to 7pm and goes from Wed to Monday. I converted a blank version called “My Symposium Schedule” to PDF and included it in my handouts page. If you are attending a symposium this year and need a more visual schedule feel free to grab a copy.

So, well, I think that’s about it. See after the holiday weekend. Be well. Be safe.

You’re packing a suitcase for a place none of us has been, A place that has to be believed to be seen – bono

Ok, so it’s one week until I head off to Michigan. So I’m suddenly experiencing that quick shallow breathing that comes with not being even slightly prepared for the trip. Not to mention the fact that this is the first “solo” trip I’ve taken in many years. Normally Mary and I make most of our trips together but this time schedules did not match up. Especially if we want to make a fall trip together to the Georgia symposium.

So the big plan is to leave next Tuesday morning and drive up to Manitowoc WI and ride the SS Badger across the Lake Michigan over to Ludington, spend the night there then rise at 6 in the morning, drive north to a beach I’ve never heard of by 9 am for a 10am launch. From there a group of around 13 of us will be paddling the 6 or so mile crossing to North Manitou Island and spend the next couple days exploring both North and South Manitou Islands. Then Friday morning we have to get back to the mainland and get on the road to Camp Pendalouan in Muskegon County MI. I keep having this feeling I’m going to get totally lost in Michigan in not turn up again until 25 years later when I walk into a little diner asking who the president is. . .

Since I’ve done very little camping out of my kayak I’ve been digging through a lot of information about cook stoves, tents, sleeping bags, etc., mainly concerned with size and weight. I could certainly bore you with hours of details in this regard but not this time. I ended up getting going to MSR for a Windpro stove, Ventana Tent, and Miox water treatment system.

I’ve found that a sleeping bag has become the bane of my existence. I’ve been putting off buying a new sleeping bag for quite some time. Hey, we already have sleeping bags. The problem is that they are classic old fashioned bags that we’ve been zipping together for almost 9 years now. I knew trying to get one of these cotton dinosaurs in my boat was futile, especially if I wanted to take food. However buying a solo sleeping bag has a certain amount of negative connotation. It’s an odd thing that when you don’t share a double you are suddenly in a “mummy” bag. I keep going back to this animated film I saw many years ago called “When The Wind Blows“. The movie was based on a book by Raymond Brigs and follows an an elderly British couple as they follow government pamphlets to prepare for an impending nuclear attack. After the attack on London the couple who are located some miles away, begin to feel the effects of radiation sickness which they assume to be common maladies of pensioners such as themselves. Near the end when you know they are dying of radiation sickness, the couple crawl into potato sacks as prescribed in a civil safety leaflet, secure in the knowledge that, “The powers that be would get to them in the end. . .”

Synthetic sleeping bags hold their warmth even when wet. Not that getting your sleeping bag wet is a good plan mind you. So I could skip looking at “down” altogether. Personally I am not going to spend $300 on a sleeping bag. Sorry, it’s just not going to happen. Even then the choices are most overwhelming. My personal favorite was the expensive bag with no insulation in the bottom because you have to buy the pad separately and insert it into the bag. Sorry boys, I’m not going to pay extra to, well. . . pay extra. What a daft proposition this is! Especially when there are so many other choices out there in the same price range that did not skip putting insulation in the bottom. So 4 stores and 3 cities later, I spent about $150 at REI for a bag that will get me through late spring to early fall. I will actually stuff the bag into a dry bag instead of the amply large stuff sac it comes in. I also bought a 42 inch self-inflating 1 inch pad. Again the main consideration is packing space. Depending on the length of the trip a sleeping pad of any size could end up being left behind.

Thanks to to everyone who has wished Mary and I a happy anniversary. On May 20th it will be 5 years since our wedding at 6am on the south shore beach of Devil’s Lake State park. We have actually been together for 9 years since our first “date” which was on my birthday (June 29th) so long ago. (I’m pretty sure it was a pity date since I would have otherwise been on my own for that occasion). I took her down to Madison for the evening. Poor Mary was all dressed up for a night on the town and it certainly started out that way. However when the rain began falling in torrents only seen in Akira Kurosawa films things changed. Hey, I love rain. After dinner we stood in the doorway of Stillwaters for a few moments watching shadows scattering under slipstream light pouring from the streetlamps. I suggested we go over to the Memorial Union where we could watch the storms come in over the lake. Unintentionally I left out the distance we had to run (about 7 blocks or so) and that we would NOT be under a shelter of any sort while watching the storms. It wasn’t until we got back into a warm, well lit area that I noticed what kind of damage rain can really do to eyeliner! Since then there has been a lot less eyeliner and a lot more water. . .

This year we will spend our Anniversary taking our First Aid & CPR certifcations in Madison. How bloody romatic is that?

-dm

I can’t help but at least mention the new Liquid Logic Blog at http://www.liquidlogickayak.blogspot.com/. I’m sure they will have good success with it. In fact I see a lot of folks find my blog by searching for reviews of the LL Hoss. You may remember that some time ago I was talking about my search for a WW play boat. Anyway, all the best with that.Another Blog of note this week is Justine Curgenven’s over at Caclketv.com. Last weekend was the sea kayak symposium at Anglesey, North Wales and she has a great bit on a little excursion into the tidal races at Penrhyn Mawr. Her blog is at http://www.cackletv.com/blog.html

See, I have to send you to others when I have nothing useful to contribute! Oh, and by the way the result of my physical is that I get to live a bit longer!! So now I guess I can plan in earnest for our trip to the Manitou Islands at the end of the month. I also received my assignments for the West Michigan Symposium. hmmm, I better not tell them I forgot which side of the paddle goes up! If you’re going we’ll see you there!Ok, So it looks like there is still enough time to get out on the lake today, so . . . .

-dm