WMCKA

Just got back and settled in from the West Michigan Coastal Kayaker's Association Symposium. Here is a link to a few of my photos. Above is Derrick, describing how big......something was. Getting late, gotta go, enjoy the photos, I plan to add some in the days to come.

First Time Out

This season anyway. Last night was perfect paddling weather. I paddled on the little lakes near the house for about an hour and a half. Drifted a lot too, just listening to the geese. Almost had the lake to myself, just a little fishing boat way off to the southwest. Found a tick while I was paddling. The big brown kind, some call em dog ticks or wood ticks, anyway not the little deer ones with lime disease. He hadn't dug in yet, so I flicked him out into the water, fish food I hope. I hate the things, every time I find one, they give me the creepy crawlies for the next day or two. Speaking of itches. Silbs has a good post today. Every time I read about rolling, I get the itch. It always sounds so simple when you read about rolling. Then when you try it, you seem to forget everything that you were thinking was going to work. I have plans to clean up my extended paddle sweep roll at the WMCKA symposium over Memorial weekend. Lots of great talent and knowledge there to draw upon. May have to see if my roll still works this month before I go. It was dependable but ugly the last time I rolled, and it has been awhile. There's that itch again.

Symposium Time

I made it onto the front page of The West Michigan Coastal Kayaker Association's web page. This is a picture that was taken at the 2006 symposium. I'm the good looking guy in the middle with the blue ball cap and sun glasses. That's Simon Osborne on the right.

I just got the OK from my wife yesterday to go again this year. She was scheduled to work on Sunday night to Monday, but was over-staffed. I don't know how many times I will get to go in the next few years with the little ones under foot, so I am going to make the best of this year. The kids program at this symposium is one of the best, but only for kids between 7 and 12 years of age, so it will be at least six years before Maddie is ready, and seven before Claire is ready. I say under foot with tongue in cheek, I do love my kids and really enjoy spending time with them.

Here is a photo of Maddie and myself on the bike tonight. Finally got the seat, and a helmet that fits, and then some warm temps, so that we could try it out. Now all we need is a small kayak and a short paddle.

Not much kayaking being done.

Long Overdue Update

Short list:
New baby on the way.
Just got back from vacation.
Photography is not a substitute for kayaking.
Zooomr rocks.

Details:
Yep, we have a new baby on the way. Due in January.
More details to follow as they become available. I know it is quick after the last baby, but we aren't getting any younger, we want two kids only, and might as well get through the diaper changing stage as quick as possible.

Vacation was a learning experience. We chose to rent a cottage for a week, only a couple of hours drive away, to make it as easy as possible with a little one. The cottage was a quaint little affair.Clean with lots of great amenities, short walk to the beach, access to an association swimming pool, what more could you ask for? How about air conditioning on the hottest week of the year. Temps every day were in the low 90F. This made for a very cranky baby. She did better than we expected at the pool. She didn't freak out, but was still only good for about twenty minutes tops. Probably just as well, we wouldn't want to have to deal with her getting sun-burnt.


I just got a new super-wide lens for my Canon 10D. A Sigma 10-20mm. I have been learning how to take some wide angle shots, and finding it to be a real challenge sometimes.


I did get out an paddle a little bit on vacation as well.


I think that I have made up my mind on the Zooomr vs Flickr debate. I like Zooomr a lot. I have formed a large group of contacts and some of my photos have found a little notoriety.

Holiday Paddle

I got out of the house finally this evening, and paddled to the east, down to the yacht club. I spent about two hours total on the water tonight. It was much more subdued on this little cottage lake than I had expected. I could hear a lot of powerboat traffic all weekend long. Must be everybody packed up and went home earlier today. It was good to get out of the house for a little while. Being a holiday weekend, my wife was scheduled to work, and the baby has been feeling a little under the weather, so I spent the last four days taking care of her, so mommy could get plenty of sleep. This is a nice picture of the small sailboats at the yacht club.

Jackson Area Paddle and Wildlife Viewing Session

Beautiful weather this morning on my paddle to the west on my local lakes. I was on the water by 10am and spent about three hours total. I paddled to the west toward the less developed lakes, so as to hopefully find more wildlife to view. I was rewarded well for my choice.

Mute Swans: Several pairs, some with signets swimming along with the adults.

Canada Geese: Can't walk without stepping in their "leavins".

Red Tailed Hawks: Chased everywhere by crows and red-winged blackbirds.

Blue Herons: They go unnoticed until they jump into the air.

Sand Hill Cranes: Huge birds with almost silent flight, but a real alarm klaxon for a voice.

Muskrats: Lazily swimming in tight circles, completely aloof to my presence.

A little snake: I don't know what kind, but it liked swimming around my kayak when I took a break at the halfway point.

Tom Turkey: I didn't see him, but I heard him and by the location I believe him to be wild.

Rooster Pheasant: Didn't see him either, but could not miss his crow.

Total distance today was only about five miles, for three hours, a very leisure pace.

Paddle Season has Begun!

Well for me at least. The water temp was about 60 deg F...too cold to go for a swim, but survivable, if I did. I had a chance to try out my new NRS Mambas. They work really well. My hands stayed very warm. So warm in fact, I took them off after a while.

I paddled for about three and a half hours total today. I didn't break any speed records, but I did paddle further than I had originally planned. I investigated a part of Michigan Center lake that I have not paddled before. It was like paddling at a totally new lake for me. I almost had the entire place to myself today. I saw a couple of fishermen, a small family out in a little Zodiac, and two teenagers in kayaks. Of course the teenagers were dressed for the air temp and not the water. I remember being young and stupid....how did I survive?

I felt pretty good today. My back didn't start hurting, and the kayak didn't feel unstable to me either. Both were concerns when I planned earlier this week to go paddle today. The kayak did however feel very tight. The back band and foot pegs were still in the same locations that I had left them in from last fall. Like Alex, I felt very slow and heavy, after a long cold winter.



I did see a lot of wild life today. Spring is in full swing and there were a lot of birds on nests. I saw a Sand Hill Crane sitting a nest...a first for me. There were also Mute Swans and Canada Geese sitting nests as well. While paddling I had to be very careful not to get too close to them.

Mambas

My wife is pretty cool. I got these in my Easter basket this year. With the weather being as cold as it is so far this spring, I am probably going to get a lot of good use out of them too. Thanks, dear.

Quiet Water Symposium

Unlike the much heralded "kayak show" in Wisconsin. The Quiet Water Symposium is a much smaller, more intimite setting. I attended the show this year on March 3rd on the MSU campus in East Lansing, Michigan. I had intended it to help relieve some of my cabin fever, but I think it had the opposite effect. I purchased the video Greenland Rolling with Dubside, and I have viewed it only once so far. I plan to study it much more closely in the near future. I really enjoyed the shot of Dubside rolling the huge triple cockpit kayak. It looked like he really had to "put his *ss into" the task of dumping it over to begin.

There were many booths this year with water conservancy groups, and artists, photographers, writers,instructors, and clubs that all have one thing in common. They all enjoy the lakes and rivers in there own unique way - they don't use motors. Kayaks, canoes, dog sleds, ice boats, snowshoes, fly fishing, there were even some hiking and mountain climbing groups there.

I really want to get outside now. It was 5 degrees F outside this morning. Only three more weeks till April.

Fall Paddle on Hudson Lake

I made it out paddling again. The colder weather and water hasn't chased me indoors yet. I met up with some friends from Indiana and paddled an old familiar lake again. Before I moved to my new house, I used to paddle Hudson Lake quite often. It used to be close to my old home, and its a PWC free, no-wake lake that is surrounded by state owned woods. This is the lake that Wes Boyd paddled very often, and wrote about on his web site Kayak Place. I have paddled with Wes numerous times in the past, but he was not there yesterday.
The fall colors are fading fast.
It started out as a gray day with a few rain drops, but we were all dressed for the occation. There were nine of us all together. We circumnavigated the entire lake, but took a break in the middle to heat up some chili and have a hot lunch.
This is a picture of my friend Barry. I met Barry in the summer of 2002, when a group of six of us took a trip to Drummond Island in northern Michigan. I also met up with Barry again in 2004 at Drummond.The sun did come out later in the day and warmed us up nicely. It was a great paddle day. I don't often get to paddle with others, and yesterday was a great change of pace for me. I think I am going to have to find some paddlers closer to home that I can meet up with more often....maybe start a club.

Last Paddle?

I hope today is not the last paddle for the season. The air was cool, but the sun was hot. The water was not unbearable to wade in, but I don't want to go swimming in it. Thermometer read 65 deg F water temp. There has already been a little frost on the pumpkins on a couple of mornings.

Our baby Madeline, is on the way, only five more weeks to go. Winter is just around the corner. I had better make the most of every day like today.

New Wheels

Well, I didn't make it through the season before my cart broke. I had to fix it so that I could go paddle. Here is a picture of the new and improved version. I was able to reuse some of the old parts, and the new wheels make a lot more sense. They don't weigh as much, they don't need to be inflated, and they don't take up as much space. I simplified the design a little as well. The first test run today, worked out real nice.
Here are some pictures from my paddle today.

Freak

Paddle by your refuge.

Yeah, I set the alarm and got up early on my day off.

Yep, loaded the boat and drove an hour and a half, one way.

It was all going really well, until I showed up at the registration desk. That's when it hit me. There were about four times as many people as I had expected, and it looked like a three ring circus in the staging area and launch site. I don't do well with crowds, and I started feeling really anxious. I stepped back, and then went for a walk around the park, trying to calm down, and to let the crush at the desk let up a bit.

Big water spooks me as well, and the wind kept building.

Paddling with strangers kinda scares me too.

I know, they are all just excuses, but I freaked out anyway. I kept telling myself, that these are my kinda people, but sometimes it is easier to just hide behind the camera.

At least the pictures turned out well.

No. I didn't go paddle.

Paddlin' in the Rain

This post is a day late, because Blogger was being persnickety yesterday.

My wife thinks I'm nuts for paddling in the cold rain, but I told her that I was no more wet, than if I had rolled the kayak only once. I went paddling in the rain mostly because of the post that Bonnie had about her day in the rain. It was really enjoyable. I never heard a single boat motor for the entire three hours that I was out. I only saw three people, the whole time. I had the whole lake to myself.

When I got home I was treated to a fantastic post by Keith Wikle about his trip to Qajaq Training Camp. As a new father-to-be, I was particularly interested in what Keith said about family. For a long time I used to be the guy that was single and going where ever I wanted, and spending money on what ever I wanted, while all of my friends were at home with the kids. Now its my turn, and frankly, I am really excited about being a daddy. All of those bachelor years seem really hollow when I look back at them today. What did I accomplish? Being married and expecting a child feels like a much more rewarding way to live. Let's face it, even when I was single, I wasn't going to go paddle around South Georgia Island, or Newfoundland, or Madagascar. All of my paddling is a lot closer to home, and that's the way it will stay. As for my wife, she doesn't paddle, but she knows that I need to paddle, and provides me with plenty of opportunities to do so. I look forward to one day taking my daughter paddling with me. The hardest part will be leaving a nervous mommy on shore. =8^}

Thunderstorm Racing

I paddled a leisurely three miles on my local lake tonight. I stopped at the county park and used the porta-can. After I stowed my sunglasses and hat, I donned my goggles and nose plugs and performed three extended paddle rolls just outside of the swimming buoys. I think that I have reached a plateau in my pursuit of rolling excellence. I need to seek out some expert advice on how to improve my rolling. I'm positive my rolls are not pretty, but they work. To steal a line from the movie "The Firm"- "It ain't sexy, but its got teeth." Oh well, I can work with teeth.

The total distance tonight was six miles however, and the return trip home was not so relaxing. After the rolling, I heard a "Thunder-dunder" off to the west. So I took a big swig from my water bottle and got down to a serious forward stroke. Heading westward, straight into the dark sky, I concentrated hard on a loose grip and lots of torso rotation, the good kind of torso rotation, from the core, below my navel. I covered the last three miles tonight in 35 minutes. That's a sustained average speed over 5mph. I even got a blister on the ball of my foot, from "peddling" the kayak, trying to fully transfer all of my forward motion to the hull. The cool part is I don't even feel sore now. I must have been doing it right!

I made it home before the bad stuff arrived. Just a few sprinkles, and the worst of the storm pasted to the north anyway. It was a good workout.

Garbage Scow

Out paddling today, I picked up some trash. I guess it is unavoidable on lakes with so many cottages around them. Any time you have a lot of people around, you end up with a lot of trash too. I just wish people would be more careful, or would make a bigger effort to retrieve their trash. I can't help but remember the Pollution Prevention: Keep America Beautiful -- Iron Eyes Cody PSA

Evening Paddle

Sunburn

A nice day for a paddle. Plenty of sunshine. Five and a half hours paddling.
Lilly
Green Heron
Laying on my back deck looking up. A good picture for FH2O. =8-}
Drip, drip, drip.....I love relaxing on a Saturday.

Holiday Paddling

Here is a picture of the tennis ball for Derrick. There really are deer at the edge of the lake, and I tried to get a picture of them, but as I got closer, they just melted into the grass.
I started to make some changes to the rigging on my kayak. I had wanted to get a new, fancier (read more expensive) compass that would at least look more professional, but as I got to looking around for a new compass, there really are not very many choices for kayaks. So I kept looking to see what everyone else seems to be using just for ideas, and I found out that some pretty big names out there are using the same little Suunto Orca as me. Not only do they own one, but they have been using them on some pretty big kayaking trips. Renata uses one, Wendy uses one, and sometimes you can even find them on some pretty nice looking creations as well. So the compass stays, and I'm a little more proud of it as well. I have also added some beads to bungies as well as deck lines to make stuffing things like paddles and fingers under them a lot easier.
I went for a long paddle this morning. About five hours total. I wanted to get in some quality holiday paddling before the lakes got totally crazy with high speed power boat traffic. I was on the water by 9:30 am and paddled west under the little stone bridge, and the kayak felt good. I started out right with my best forward stroke, including straight arms, loose grip, and plenty of torso rotation. I amazed myself with the speed. As I exited the "tunnel" I was reminded of the Cadillac commercial where the car explodes from its tunnel with a bang, and we are left only with the sound of a brass shell casing bouncing on the concrete.

Oh yeah, watching three "red-neck" ladies in string bikinis (two of which were very pregnant) back a boat trailer down the boat ramp this morning was particularly entertaining as well. I know dey was red necks by tha way dey talked, tha cussin required, an by tha quantity, quality, an location of dar tatoos. Makes me smile just to think about it.