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 ============================================================================== *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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