I went to the doctor about my sore wrist. he sent me to a specialist who told me i’ve torn the sheath on one of the tendons in my wrist and it must be immobilized. so i’m in a cast up to my armpit for the next two weeks, and then a smaller cast with strict orders to keep it pronated for another four weeks. no flying, no kayaking, minimal driving, and typing is very difficult. this fucking sucks.
Category: Kayaking
What a weekend!
Saturday, I woke up to an email saying that my waypoint generator had a bunch of Canadian airports with US-style identifiers (instead of CYRP, Carp was KYRP). I fixed that first. Then Vicki and I replaced the outside front floodlight which had a wonky socket. And we replaced the floodlights over the garage, which supposedly had a light sensor (although it was more of a randomness generator) with one that had a motion detector. Since we can’t find a switch for these lights, I like the idea that they won’t be on all night. This involved hacksawing off a bit of iron pipe conduit that was sticking out too far to put the box where I wanted it and some simple wiring. Or at least it would probably be simple wiring for somebody who isn’t scared of ladders and electricity (gee, my brother used to shock me with electricity and throw me off barn beams – see a connection?). But we got it done – I’m so domestic it hurts.
Sunday, I got up bright and early to be a safety pilot for Paul P. He’s been my safety pilot in the past, so it was only fair, even if it did mean getting up ungodly early. I took some pictures while he was buzzing around, but most of them sucked. Here are a few that didn’t suck too bad.
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Back at the airport, there was an ancient Dornier flying boat re-engined with modern turboprop engines. Cool!
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After that, I went kayaking again. This time I went a little slower, and went up all the way to Blossom Road. The river was still quite shallow, and fast. I lost track of the number of times I had to put down my paddle and push down and forward or backward on the bottom of the river because I was bottomed out. (Try that with a canoe!)
On the way back I took one of the other branches because this canoe full of girls can careering across the river and rammed me without making the slightest effort to slow down or avoid me – after they saw they were on a collision course, they all stopped paddling – and when I got to the fork there was another one of these canoes full of girls sideways in the river. But it worked out well – there was a Great Blue Heron on the bank of the river that I got a couple of shots of, and then some “ducks in a row”, and then a Green Heron, which I ‘ve seen very few of over the years.
The best pictures from today’s paddling.
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Unfortunately on the way home I noticed that I had a really badly sprained wrist. Unfortunately it’s my left one (I’m left handed), but I suppose the right would have been worse since it would be hard to shift my car like that. It was literally a big pain trying to put my kayak away afterwards.
Long kayak trip
I went kayaking this afternoon. It was quite a long trip because I had nobody with me to make sure I didn’t do something stupid. The Google Maps Pedometer (sometimes you have to fiddle with it to get it to show my course line) shows I went 5.7 miles.
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It wasn’t the most exciting trip I’ve ever taken, but the creek was sure different after the Katrina-spawned rain we got a few days ago. Not a lot higher, but way, way faster. Going up stream, there were places where I was paddling as hard as I could and barely making any progress at all. Lots of people on the river today because of the great weather and the Labour Day holiday. When I got into the bit upstream of Browncroft Boulevard, the bit I’ve never been to before, there were a lot of people in the park, most of them throwing sticks and balls into the river for their dogs to retrieve. Luckily none of them mistook me for a stick. One person did annoy me by throwing the ball right to the opposite side of the creek just as I got there, meaning that both I and the dog had to take evasive action to avoid hitting each other. |
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On the way back, I stopped to take some pictures of a couple of swans that were preening and feeding. One of them did a big display, unfortunately I paniced a bit because I thought he was going to come after me, and didn’t get the picture. |
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Later on, I met another couple of swans, one of whom had a neck tag. Man, those things must suck to carry around. |
More kayaking pictures
Here are some pictures from last weekend’s kayaking.
Nothing too artistic or cool, but I like them. It was a beatiful day, but unfortunately the river was quite low because of the lack of rain, and the weir was 95% blocked by a gigantic tree – I probably could have pulled myself through the gap, but I didn’t have any confidence in Vicki’s ability to do the same so we turned back instead.
Paddle softly, and carry a light stick.
After Saturday’s paddling with Rob, he decided to buy the Tampico XL. Tonight was his night to pick it up, so we agreed to meet at Baycreek and break the new boat in.
When I got there, he was getting fitted out with paddle and PFD. He got a really nice PFD – one of the triangular ones that give you lots of room around the shoulders. Much nicer than mine. He also had a very light paddle with a carbon fibre shaft and composite blades. Extremely light, with a blade shaped for high angle paddling (which is my style). I figured it was about a $250 paddle. He said it was used, and he was getting it for $80! I was jealous as hell, especially since there was no visible sign of it being used. But the guy behind the counter corrected him – he said it was $80 off, and so it was $160. Rob recoiled visibly, and started to put it back on the rack. I quickly grabbed it for myself.
I took my old paddle and broke it down and slipped it under the straps on the back of the kayak, and went out for a spin with the new one. The more agressive blade shape meant that every pull rocketed me forward far more than the old paddle. And the lighter weight meant that I could paddle harder for longer.
Rob and I paddled for about two hours, up almost to Browncoft and back. His kayak seems as good as the Merlin he tried on Saturday when it comes to ease of paddling, but maybe with a bit more initial stability. It also seemed like it might be a bit easier to turn, without a pronounced keel line and a bit more rocker. He seemed very happy with it, and I think it’s a good choice for him.
I was very very happy with my new paddle, too. At the end of the hours, it still felt light in my hands, and two quick strokes would get me up to a breaking wake on the bow. I had lots of energy at the end.