So long and thanks for all the Kayaking!

I have bought a canoe paddle and will mostly be using this unless I am surfing or trying to learn to roll.  Some of my friends say I am canoeing whenever I use a paddle like this, so my Kestral is now a canoe!

If you want to try a "canoe paddle" in your kayak I recommend a shorter one.  For me a 48 inch bent shaft works very well in a kayak.  In an actual canoe I like a bent shaft between 50 and 52 inches and I like 54 in straight shaft paddles.

I've only used this 48 inch Harmony shadow bent shaft one time so far but I loved it.  I wonder how they will rate me for the Lumber River Challenge.  Will it be Recreational Kayak,  Sea Kayak, or Canoe.

It think it will help me to have a goal so I am shooting for 5 hours for the race plus five minutes for each drag over.  If the water is about average this would be a very good time for me.  

I think it was the great Verlen Kruger who said you get more miles per flapjack with the single blade and I think he was spot on.

Help! I need a hatch cover!

Here are pictures of the hatch cover I need for my New Wave Kayak Products - Buzz.

Yoga Strikes Again!

I just saw this link to the Yoga poses all of us should be doing to be paddlers:

http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/water-activities/paddling/The-Best-Poses-For-Kayakers-Revolved-Utkatasana-20120615.html

While I really do admire the skill, flexibility and fitness level of these Yogis. I don't think this is the way to begin increasing your flexibility.  After doing easy Tai Chi warm up exercises for about a year or so, I think I might be able to pull of some of these poses, but only after I have really worked at limbering up.

Just once I'd like to see some Yoga that is practical for the beginning paddler.  None of the strong paddlers I know do these poses before a 20 plus mile day.

If you know of some beginning Yoga to try before a paddle I'd love to learn about it!

ACA Levels out of whack?

Recently, I had reason to review where I was in skills and determined that I am pretty solidly in the beginner range.  This seemed about right to me as I have received ACA level 2 training and the levels go up to a 5.  However I noticed here on level 4 training at the ACA site:

http://www.americancanoe.org/resource/resmgr/sei-courses/l4_ck_tidalcurrents_skills.pdf

the following information:

"Course Location / Venue: Ideal location will have a moderate current not to exceed 4 knots, a short crossing of 1 to 2 miles, and a tide rip with a large well-defined eddy. Current should not be moving into an area of danger and there should be a variety of landing options down current. Winds should not exceed 10-15 knots"

It seems pretty weird to me that 15 knots is considered advanced level 4 conditions as I paddle in those conditions with regularity. I'm thinking these should be considered level two conditions.  Certainly I'd want a level two instructor to be trained in these conditions as they commonly occur without warning.

It appears that the BCU does it like this as well.  If that is the case maybe they should realign the conditions to go with the level of skill.  Or maybe I should not go out whenever the wind is over 15 knots and the waves are over 4 feet?  It seems reasonable to go out in these conditions but I do tend to self rescue a few times on every surf day.

What do you think?  Are the condition levels out of whack with the skill levels being taught?

UP Michigan - Rec Boat and Canoe Heaven!

Recently I went up north and was able to spend some time seeing the sights and naturally I got in some time paddling.  No sailing this time, but I got to go flying which is just as good for me.

I thought all these planes would be useful for scouting out new places to paddle, but I was wrong.

To find a new place to paddle you merely have to turn down a road you have not traveled and there will be a new to you lake or river.  I think it is impossible to get more than a few miles from a good place to paddle.

So we did a lot of that in between scouting for future trips.

Summer camp with the family was a fun break, I hope to go back there every summer.

Shame on you Current Designs!

OK guys, this is the second time you have done this to me.  I emailed you that I needed a boat part that had broken.  It is no fault of yours that the parts break; nothing lasts forever.  Immediately, I get an automated response thanking me for me email. Then I wait and nothing happens.

Last time I did this the local dealer was able to contact you, but you sent him the wrong part.  So this time I ordered the new rear hatch from a dealer from Hurricane Kayaks.

I love your boats, but if I can get something similar to what you make in the future, my preference will be for almost any other brand.

It is a shame you do not even respond to folks who own your kayaks!

Good bye old boat; hello new boat.

Recently I sold my Tarpon 160.  It was a great paddling and sailing boat and it did everything well and a lot of thing wonderfully.  But I had a faster boat, a lighter boat that surfed better, and no short boat for really twisty creeks or whitewater so I decided to let it go.

So long to my old friend the Tarpon:

In it's place on the boat rack is a new to me but very old kayak made by New Wave Kayak Products called  a Buzz. Here is a picture of the Buzz:

Please call me when it rains.