Hi! I've been lurking for about a week now and have been impressed, amused and entertained by the information and congeniality. I guess it's time to at least say hello, introduce myself and throw in my 2 cents on a few subjects. In the spirit of the old "who we are" thread-- I'm Ed Bean, 45, live in an out-of-the-way part of eastern North Carolina known as Pamlico County, in the little town of Oriental. The dictionary defines hydrophilic as: of, relating to, or having a strong affinity for water. Based on that I guess I'm a "hydrophiliac". We have eleven small boats in the family including 3 kayaks, all roto-molded. We've coined the area here as the Hidden Coast because most people think of the Outer Banks when you say the coast of North Carolina. There is a wide range of paddling available here, everything from large open bodies of water to slow moving rivers and creeks. PWC's - On a recent weekend my son (14), some of his friends and I were preparing to launch some of our fleet as a couple of PWC's passed by. After some discussion we decided that PWC stands for Prodigious Wake Creator. I was proud to see that none of the kids thought much of these vessels. Tents - We've had great luck with a Kelty Vortex 2. It's free standing, 3 season, reasonably small and packable, good protection, fair ventilation, nicely priced (bought previous season model), and not too bad for two people if you REALLY like each other. Water - I've grown some of the finest science experiments yet in hydration systems and closed containers holding "Ades", juices and concoctions. I have come back to multiple quart size plastic bottles. I save the "sport caps" off bottles and fill my collection with spring water. I keep one bottle on deck at the ready and the others out of the way. It is easy to transfer water as needed or hand one on to the many people that amaze me by not bringing liquids. I don't mind warm water but have a neoprene sleeve the bottles fit into if I did care. Best of all, when the bottles wear out I just toss them in the recycle bin. Feather Vs Non-feather - I don't claim to be an expert but I have observed that people tend to stick with what they learned first. I personally use the feathered approach in all circumstances but think people should use whatever works best for them. There may be some great scientific support for one method over another but that isn't part of my reality when I look up at the big wave I have to punch through. So far this looks like a great group of people with a great common interest. I'm looking forward to participating! Ed Bean Discover the Hidden Coast... pamlico-nc.com edbean_at_pamlico-nc.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:32:58 PDT