So I’ve been neglecting my blog a bit in favor of Facebook, but good things have been happening.
Last week I went out and paddled 10 miles, for the first time since 2010. I felt really good and didn’t have to stop and rest at all, and more importantly I wasn’t horribly sore the next day. To me that felt like “I’m back” and I’ve started thinking I might have a racing “career”, or at least a year or two, ahead of me.
Unfortunately, a few days later I tried it again with much worse results. This time I went out expecting cool temps and overcast skies, but as soon as I hit the dock the sun came out and the temperature soared, and I “died” on the way home. I ended up frustrated, sore, and with a horrible sun burn. My shoulder is telling me that maybe 10 mile grinds are actually a bit too much for me at this stage in my recovery.
Meanwhile, Epic Kayaks announced a new V10 Sport. My V10 Sport is old and battered and has had many owners. The new one has some nice features and I’d be proud to paddle a bright shiny new boat. But then I got thinking that instead of buying pretty much the same boat as the one I’ve already got, why don’t I buy something faster? So then I started thinking about the Epic V12. I went and paddled one and found it twitchy as hell, but definitely something I could master over time. But meanwhile, I also thought if I was going to get a new boat, instead of trading up my V10 Sport, I should probably get rid of my old Looksha, since I never paddle it any more. So I took a free listing on paddling.net figuring that as a fairly specialized kayak I’d get more interest from a specialized crowd than you’d find on Craigslist. But Craigslist allows pictures and a longer description, so I figured I’d give it a try there before spending money on a premium listing on paddling.net.
And that’s when I found it. There was a listing for a Think Legend for what I’d consider a dirt cheap price. The pics looked good, and the guy said he’d reduced the price from a previous listing. A bunch of reviews said that the Legend is nearly as fast and less tippy than the V12. It seemed like too good to be true. So I made the arrangements and drove off to take a look. The owner lives on the river in Cato, NY. He’d evidently bought it because it was one of the fastest kayaks in the world, but not realizing how much more skill a faster boat takes. He was pretty impressed by my ability to keep it upright and drive it at a fairly fast pace. And I can feel that someday I’m going to e pretty fast in it. So of course when I came back in and he helped me carry it up from the dock he asked if I wanted it back on his rack, or on my roof rack. I wanted it on my roof rack.
