[Paddlewise] Who we are

Yet another lurker emerges....

First, I must say I'm impressed with the creditentals of the
contributors of this list. I'm nowhere near as accomplished.

I found about Paddlewise about 3 weeks ago on rec.boats.paddle
where I also lurk.

I was first fascinated by kayaks in grammar school when I read
about a Eskimo? or Greelander?  details are lost & not important,
but the image of a skin boat and icebergs have stuck in my mind
ever since.  Can't wait to 'yak amoung 'bergs and whales!

I finally took an introductory course at "Charles River Canoe
and Kayak" outside Boston, about 8 years ago,  I was hooked.

I bought an Easy Rider Cormorant that first year.  I demo'd it
in the the previous owner's swimming pool.  I have learned from
that experience to always demo in the conditions one expects to
be using in. I'm not sure I would have bought it if I knew
then what I know now.  That baby weathers cocks something
terrible, it's prone to "skidding" too.  It did keep me paddling
several times a week on the Ipswich River and several other
inland waters in the greater Boston area while I searched for
the boat I really wanted.

Two summers and many demos later I purchased a Seaward Quest.
It's nineteen feet long & 22.5 inches wide & really screams. The
length and subsequent speed are really fun when alone.  I have
to hold back and/or wait a lot when with others in shorter boats.
I spend most of my time kayaking alone.  No, I don't have an offisde
or an onside roll.  I have done the paddle float thing a few
times, not in the last two years however.  I know when  to stay home.

I've paddle many lakes & rivers around Boston & southern NH, Plum
Island Sound and vacinity in MA, Penobscot Bay & Mt. Desert Isle
in ME.  One of my favorite experineces was 4 days and three nights
island hopping between Stonington and Isle Au Haut in Penobscot Bay.
I got out a few times in the 5 rainy months I spent in the Puget
Sound area before moving to the SFBay area.  I currently live
coastside on a hill in El Granada, overlooking Half Moon Bay
and Pillar Point Harbor about 25 miles south of San Francisco.
I paddle in the Harbor, the Bay, Elkhorn Slough, Monterrey Bay
& my favorite place so far in CA Tomales Bay.  I really love kayak
camping.

I too am a computer geek, programming DOS and NT applications.  I used
to hike and bike and XC skied a lot, before getting fat and lazy.

Oh yeah I'm an Old Fart too, 42.

rb

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