I'm Karl Coplan. I paddle a Guillemot Coastal designed by Nick Schade and home built with a great deal of e-mail support from Nick. I built my kayak last winter. Until then, most of my paddling life has been in canoes. I am a firm believer that you can never have too many small boats. Right now, we have the Guillemot, an Old Town 18' tripper canoe, an Alden Ocean Shell, two tupperware keowee kayaks that we use for swamp mucking and as landing craft for our Tartan 30 sailboat, an Optimist sailing dinghy for our children, and a windsurfer. I can't usually justify taking weekend family time for a solitary activity like kayaking, so I have tried to work my kayaking into my morning commute. Last year I managed to paddle across the Tappan Zee (Hudson River) to Tarrytown and bike the rest of the way to my office in White Plains about 2-3 times per week between May and October. I quit when I started arriving home after dark, because it wasnt fair to my wife who didnt know if I was ok, even if I did. (I actually tried cell-phoning home once when I delayed my crossing to let two tug and barge rigs pass, but found bracing with one hand while digging out and dialing the cell phone with the other a frustrating experience). I have a reliable onside roll (about 95%) which I practice at the end of my paddle every evening. Havent ever even tried an offside roll (maybe next year). I figure on a paddle float re-entry and roll to save my butt in extreme conditions if my roll fails. For family paddling, I still like our Old Town canoe, which can carry our family of four, the dog, and a week's worth of camping gear. When I first bought that canoe, its rated carrying capacity (950 pounds) was more than the car I drove it around on ( a Honda CRX). The canoe has long outlasted the car! For work, I have the best legal job in the world. I co-direct the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic at Pace Law School in White Plains, NY. We take ten law students each term and turn them loose prosecuting pollution and other environmental cases against polluters on the Hudson River and Long Island Sound. While I am mostly a lurker on this list, I really enjoy hearing the comments and the controversies. Keep it up! --Karl Professor Karl S. Coplan Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic, Inc. 78 North Broadway White Plains, N.Y. 10603 kcoplan_at_genesis.law.pace.edu (914) 422-4343 *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
My father got me into paddling when I was 13 by entering us in a canoe race. A memorably long 13 miler. I'm now 36 and looking forward to coaxing my 2 year old out into the boats more often. My wife and I both paddle. She started paddling after meeting me but was the first to purchase a sea kayak. She got a Nordkapp as her "beginner" boat, after trying dozens of other boats. We've currently got about 8 paddlecraft including marathon flatwater canoes, a racing surf ski, a VCP PinTail, her Nordkapp, and a skin/frame baidarka (I'm the admin for a skin/frame boat mailing list). Last year we decided we were having too much trouble deciding what to take with us for vacations so we bought a canoe trailer so we wouldn't have to decide ahead of time. I greatly enjoy paddling any boat people will let me try and I'm always interested in improving my skill set. I'm currently in the midst of an 8 week pool session, where I mooch whitewater boats so I can practice rolling. The pool is much too crowded to try and fit in a sea kayak and we don't (yet) own anything short. I'm looking forward to spring/summer so I can try out some of the hand rolls that I've learned in a sea kayak. As for location, I work in New Hampshire, doing fairly technical computer programming, and live in Massachusetts. As for preferred paddling, it all depends on the day and the company. Some days it may be poling a canoe across some tidal flats on Cape Cod with the family, other days it might be a 20+ mile solo day trip, teaching acquaintances to paddle, or off exploring some local stretch of water. I've done next to no multiday trips, something I hope to remedy. kirk *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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