It is interesting to see who we are. I am Bob Phillips (59) and came to yakking by a circuitous route. As an adult at UC Bezerkeley, I got into sailing on the bay through the Cal Sailing Club and built an International Fireball. This is a sailing dinghy that weighs about 220 lbs all -up with a crew of 2. One of the crew trapezes, and the boat has main, jib and spinnaker. In the strong sea breezes funneling through the Golden Gate, *Balls will do an exciting 22+ MPH through the chop. The Fireball is plywood (or should be), and with only the back 4-ft wet while it is planing, it is like motorcycling without the risk of skin loss in a capsize. When my family got its life together in the mid-80s and moved to the foot of Mt. Hood Oregon, we aumented our cycling with cross country skiing. Here, In Michigan (don't ask --it has to do with peace breaking out), snow season always finds me with decent aerobic fitness, useful legs and a weak upper body. Usually, by the end of the Michigan Cup season, I have gotten the upper bod in shape. Anyhow, with my background in plywood and fast boats, I decided that off season kayaking would be just the ticket to keep my shoulders and stuff in shape. So, I built a Pygmy Golden Eye and started to learn to paddle. My local lake is small, and it soon got to be confining. The GE started taking my to bigger and more remote waters, and I got so excited about slipping quietly throught he water and watching nature that it sort of took over. Now, I have to be really serious to take the bike for a ride with Michigan's dangerous, shoulderless roads, motor-city brained drivers, ... The yak has a permenant home on the top of the bungalow truck, and with my bikes goes everywhere. Vacation is time to take the yak somewhere and poke around. It has been wet in 4 great lakes, 1000 islands, ... I love to share the water with Loons and get them to yodel to me. My son taught himself to roll by reading the book and persisting in our local lake. I swear to learn to roll this season. Kayaking is a great thing to do, and I am paddling this year because of advice and problem solving help from you, my aged colleagues from WaveLength. Thank you Bob Phillips *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Feb 09 1999 - 11:56:31 PST
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