[Paddlewise] Paddling the Sea of Galilee (Trip Report)

On Thursday and Friday my wife Jacqueline and I paddled the Sea of Galilee
with the Terra Santa Kayak Club, led by Omer Singer and Sagi Nehushtan.  We
started out on the Jordan River (which is neither mighty nor cold), near
some very important Christian sites (Loaves and Fishes, Sermon on the
Mount), and near to where the Pope held his mass on the Mount of the
Beatitudes.

We first headed up stream for a kilometer or so, which was a bit tough in
the Romany Explorers, as the slightest rough water caused the kayaks to
turn.  At some very modest rapids, we played a bit, heading upstream into
them and then performing a brace as we were pushed out.

We then headed lazily down the Jordan and finally entered the Sea of
Galilee from the north  We followed the northern shore for a while, seeing
many birds and jumping fish (mostly St. Peter's fish).  Druze fishermen
were out in force, deploying their nets and then pounding water to drive
the fish into them.  Since we were beginners, and had not paddled for about
a month, it took quite a while to get our strokes back.

We camped Thursday night at Kursi, on the eastern shore of the Sea of
Galilee and at the foot of the disputed Golan Heights.  We could not help
but wonder what it would be like with the Syrians once again on the
towering cliffs above us.  That night, most of Israel watched basketball,
as Maccabi Tel-Aviv defeated Paf Bologna to move into the Final Four of the
European Cup Championship.  We kept abreast of the game's progress by cell
phone.

On Friday morning it was time for the crossing.  We were to cross the
entire breadth of the Sea of Galilee, from Kursi to Tiberias.  At one of
our rests, Omer had Nicky demonstrate an "eskimo rescue."  Nicky capsized,
leaned forward, and pounded on the hull of the boat.  Omer paddled over and
placed his bow in Nicky's hand, and Nicky rolled up. It seemed a bit scary
to me, but one could always wet exit if the rescuer did not show up in
time.  We practiced other rescues as well.

Our strokes were better on Friday, as we tried to keep the bow pointed at
Tiberias, ten and a half kilometers from Kursi.  I discovered that it takes
time to "find" one's stroke.  I think I'm correct in concluding that if my
thigh and pelvic muscles ache, I'm stroking properly; if it's my shoulders,
I'm not.  I was using a Lendal paddle with a Nordkapp blade; I think I'd
like to try the narrower Archipelago blade next time.  This might have been
a good occasion to have Lendal's Paddlock system that allows you to switch
blades.

In short, one placid paddle.

Thanks to Omer and Sagi for a great trip.

Take care everybody.

Josh

==============================================================================
Dr. Joshua Teitelbaum, Research Fellow               Tel: [972] 3-640-6448
Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and        Fax: [972] 3-641-5802
  African Studies                                                       
Tel Aviv University
Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978  Israel
E-mail:teitelba_at_ccsg.tau.ac.il
www.dayan.org
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