Conditions were mild. Less than 10 knot winds, four foot swell (slightly over my head) and a bit of chop left over from higher winds earlier. Cruising at my usual 4 knots, the bow of my Solstice GTS would go under slightly every once in a while. As usual I did not pay much attention to the floating kelp in front of me. But a larger than usual swell coupled with a small but rogue wave put my bow just under the kelp. I came to a sudden and complete forward whiplash stop with several thousand pounds of kelp draped over my bow. Luckily, in my emergency kit, between my marshmallows and 1956 Rothschild/Lafitte champagne and long stemmed glass (which I always carry strapped to my body so I have access to it even if I lose my boat), was a Laser Kelp Atomizer of my own design. Unluckily, I had not checked the batteries so I was forced to back out from under the kelp. This turned out to be more difficult than I would have thought. The kelp liked sitting on my bow. In fact it refused to get off for a good 2 or 3 minutes despite vigorous backing and forwarding. Now, if I were in my Mariner Express this would never have happened since the bow of that boat almost never goes under. (Especially going into the wind, as I was.) But still the Solstice GTS is a vast improvement over previous Solstices in that it is actually quite dry because of much added flare in the bow. So if you have a slicing rather than lifting bow, beware of angry kelp. Jerry *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
-----Original Message----- From: Gerald Foodman <klagjf_at_worldnet.att.net> Subject: [Paddlewise] Suddenly Kelped <Big Snip> >Luckily, in my emergency kit, between my marshmallows and 1956 >Rothschild/Lafitte champagne and long stemmed glass (which I always carry >strapped to my body so I have access to it even if I lose my boat).......... How long was the stem (in centimeters)? Wouldn't want to get caught with the wrong gear! Bob Volin *************************************************************************** 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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