By -
Hello everyone.  I ended up not going to Seattle Saturday and stayed home on the island.  It worked out great as I met up with a group of friends and went out to eat at Steps Wine Bar and Cafe.  If you are ever in Friday Harbor it is a must if you really want to taste the best food the island has to offer.

This morning I got up and went for a little walk.  It was raining but I live in the Pacific Northwest, rain is part of the game.  I decided I need to go clear my head.  At least it is my form of meditation.  So I loaded up my kayak and headed for the water.  I was less interested in paddling and more interested in trying to breath the salt water.  Upside down in a kayak for some reason is a very strange and quite place.  It is moments of a new world where I am truly a momentary passer by.

I had fun doing rolls, butterfly roll and playing with my half paddle roll.  Then simply paddling and capsizing in various body positions then rolling back up.  The water was really cold.  Dark clouds started to move in and rain fell.  But it was what the soul needed.  I decided to come to shore when my teeth were chattering and fingers numb.  It was what I needed for the day to bring a smile to my face.  

I did not get a lot of photos.  The ones I do have are not the best due to water on the lens cover. But I did take a video.  It is not much.  But I am just starting to play with the feature for future use.


This is how it starts.  Loading the Previa with kayaks.  Previas rock by the way.



Here is a ok photo.  You can see the water is nice and calm.  By the time I was heading back to shore the wind had picked up and added a bit of texture to the waters surface.



Like I said it is not much of a video.  But it is still fun.

Hope everyone is having a great day.  I am putting together a training class for out local paddle club.  We are going to do an overnight kayak trip.  I will be teaching them many techniques to planing routes and crossing channels with lots of current.  Plus rescue work.  Yeap, we will be getting cold and wet.  Got to love it.  That is Nov 15th.  So I hope to get some good photos from the trip.  But I am sure I will be updating the blog way before then.  So check back.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Astral Greenjacket Review

By -
Image
I have finally spent a bit more time in the Astral Greenjacket and I have decided it is time to go ahead with my finally review of the product. My previous jacket was a Stohlquist Brik .  Which is a side entry style jacket.  I was really happy with performance and fit.  I did have a zipper problem which was a not really taken care of by Stohlquist.  I was teaching a class and was performing a "Cowboy/Back Deck" rescue and the zipper broke.  When I contacted service dept to get it fixed they wanted me to pay shipping and charge for the repair of a new jacket.  I passed on the factory repair and did the best I could do. I do not recommend that.  Next issue I had was there is simply no storage on the vest.  Not that big of a deal since I try to not load myself with stuff.  Overall it was a good fit and a clean front making it snag free while messing about the deck of my sea kayak. On to the Greenjacket !   My use of the Greenjacket is for sea kayak guiding and personal kayaking
Read more

Morning Kayak Lessons

By -
Image
A good start to the day when you wake up and see the sun and having to get on the water to teach kayak lessons.  Though it was cold outside, I could tell it was going to warm nicely once the sun had time to do its work.  After a cup of coffee it was time to meet Lauren (my student for the class) and load the gear and get on the water.  The water was perfect, flat calm and good for learning the basics.  Lauren has taken classes before and it pretty up to speed on self rescue.  So we were out to work on kayak handling skills.  Mainly driving home proper edging, body movement and blade placement. After the lesson it was off to grab a bite to eat and get back outside.  I of course headed out to check in the Red Tailed Hawks (RTHs).  I ran into Monika again,  http://orcawatcher.blogspot.com/  , who once again got great images on the RTHs in flight. She got some images of the pair together.  I was able to locate the Rufous Morph further south. There was a visitor with me in town from London
Read more

Seward G3 Passat Kayak Review

By -
Image
Our good friends at Seward Kayaks on Vancouver Island build amazing kayaks with attention to detail.  As a Sea Kayak Guide for Discovery Sea Kayaks , I have been around the G3 Passat tandem kayak for over 5 years. Overall my preference is a single kayak but for tours, we put all clients in tandem kayaks.  So by default, I have had the chance to get to know the kayaks really well.   The first impression you get when you unwrap one of this kayak is WOW!  They are very pleasing to the eye with great lines and beautiful profile.  The finish of the kayak is great.  Typically really smooth without any pockets or imperfections in the gel coat.  There is no denying they are one of the best looking tandems you can buy. Specifications: Length: 22 feet Width: 26 inches Weight: 90 pounds Looking at the specs you can see that the long waterline combined with the narrow beam (width), for a tandem, that this is a fast kayak.  At first, we were a bit worried about the wid
Read more