Category: Kayaking

I ordered some new kayaking gear, and I’m going to use a picture Vicki took of it as an excuse to brag.
Last year, prompted in part by a discovery that I was too fat to ride on the zip line at Whistler, B.C, I decided to get serious about weight loss. That was the wake-up call, but the motivation was the realization that if I ever wanted to get back paddling after my shoulder recovered, the only way I could make sure I didn’t re-injure it immediately like I’d done after the first surgery was to start off being lighter than I was before I injured it in the first place. So thus began the journey.

Vicki and I have done Weight Watchers before, but before it was her idea and I didn’t really care that much. This time, I had motivation, and the Weight Watchers iPhone apps make it so much easier to to charge of your own diet. And after 12 months of counting points, thinking “when I hit this milestone, I’ll reward myself with a big plate of wings” and then not “rewarding” myself (or on one occasion, “rewarding” myself and then feeling sick afterwards), I can proudly say that I’m lighter now than at any time since about second year university. The kayaking clothes pictured above are size “L”, after decades of wearing XL, 2XL or XLT. A few weeks ago I bought some jeans with 34″ waist and discovered that they’re a little loose. I was wearing a 40″ waist 12 months ago.

When I was kayak racing in 2010, I weighed 240-250 pounds. When I had that revelation in Whistler, I was 275. As of yesterday I was 208, and I’m thinking I could get down to 200 if I keep this up. I have loads of “fat clothes” that I’m hoping I’ll never have to wear again. I think Men’s Wearhouse is going to make a fortune off me.

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.

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So in the last week I’ve paddled three times with other people, for a total of 15 miles. That’s probably more than I paddled the entire month of August last year. And it felt so good. Not just to be out paddling, but to paddle with friends and re-experience the camaraderie and fun.

My shoulder is pretty sore after each paddle, but the recovery the next day is pretty encouraging. Yesterday Dan and I worked on a change to my technique that kept my hands lower to keep pressure off my shoulder – it used different muscles in my core, and they hurt while I was paddling and they feel quite tired today. I’m going to keep at this to see if it helps.

This morning I went for a little paddle at Bay Creek in my Thunderbolt. Last week I went for a paddle at Dan’s in my surf ski, but it was too early – I had to stop paddling because my shoulder was sore. This time, I had to stop paddling because I’m a fat out of shape lump. I made about a mile, in about 15 minutes (so it took me nearly twice as long as it would have taken me when I was in shape). I didn’t actually feel any soreness except one little catch when I picked up my boat. And I’m still feeling ok now, 12 hours later. Fingers crossed that it stays that way. If I don’t have any contra-indications, I would like to try another paddle next weekend. (Yeah, I’d like to go earlier, but I’ve got to do this slowly and carefully.)