Fellow Paddlewiser Natalie Wiest, from the Lone Star State of Texas, e-mailed me a year ago that she would be in Victoria the first week of October for an IAMSLIC conference (she is an Aquatic Science Librarian)...could I take her paddling for a few hours? My wife gave a cautious yes -- after all, she's "only a librarian". I e-mailed Natalie back, and the date and time was set -- and then I got a little post-script back that said "I might just change your opinion about librarians!" Oh boy! Well, the big day came, and I met Natalie at the plush Harbor Towers, identified by my pre-arranged kayak cap. "Hello, you must be Doug Lloyd; hmmm, you weren't what I was expecting." "Well, no, I'm not George Clooney with a yak hat, I'm just me. Wanna go paddling, or what?", I said to myself. Natalie wasn't exactly tall or Olympian either, which I had pictured her as. Funny how we never look like people think we are going to. But Natalie had to carry out her part of the bargain first. In exchange for the tour and equipment, I was invited to attend the last seminar of the day, which turned out to be an excellent special slide presentation by Peter Brueggeman, Director at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego.I was overwhelmed by the beautiful shots of 6 foot sea sponges, orcas, leopard seals, strange exotic sea creatures, 6' worms, and the endless array of life in what I thought was a lifeless ocean under the ice. An underwater photography team had dove out of the US Antarctic Program's base at McMurdo Station, on Ross Island in Antarctica. A PBS special is due out next year, and we were shown the still photographs from around Ross Island and also on the Antarctic mainland across McMurdo Sound. The web site is at: <http://scilib.ucsd.edu/sio/nsf/> Next, we slipped out, as Natalie disappeared to done her paddling attire. Natalie had even brought her wet suit up, no doubt expecting some horrendous Doug Lloyd incident, complete with CG rescue. I assured her a wet suit was not necessary for the nearshore route I had proposed. Natalie did indicate she would bring her heavy-weather paddling jacket along. I told her she couldn't miss me outside the hotel - a red van with two British sea kayaks atop. Out she came, garbed in the usual mismatched array of Goretex. Gone was the business skirt. Gone was my uneasiness. Natalie started immediately to talk a lot. We left the beach from the inner harbor at five'ish, after adjusting the foot pegs in the "maybe I might buy" McNulty Huntsman (16' X 22"), which was a bit different from her narrow Eddyline Falcon 16.' And, Natalie didn't get a hernia helping me carry 'The Nordkapp' to the beach. To finish off the scene, I made her paddle with an old Lendal Seamaster paddle. Still talking non-stop, Natalie put on her "heavy weather" jacket. It was just a regular lightweight paddling jacket for these parts. A stiff quartering stern wind blew us out the harbor. We had to follow a certain path out to avoid Zodiac whale watching boats and landing float plans, on a route laid out by the harbor authority. I was very impressed with Natalie's proactive paddling skills as she kept her course. I commented on her paddle stroke, but was rebuffed by a comment that she doesn't let anybody srew around with her technique, unless she really knows they are an expert in that field. Yes maaam! Still talking, I learned much about Gulf paddling, alligators, murky and waist deep waters that extend for miles out to sea, and the fact that their biggest problem down there is hyperthermia, not hypothermia. We finally made it out to more open water and waves, and moved along at a good clip to head for some islands where the local seals haul out, before darkness set in. Still talking without a hit of oxygen depletion, Natalie's purposeful, yet natural kinetisism was absolutely infectious and impressive. Indeed, this was no ordinary librarian. Natalie told me about the 6 boats she's built, hair-boating on American rivers, and her towing feats of strength in Texas. I tried to wax magniloquent to this obviously intelligent lady, about the beauty and supernaturalism of west coast paddling. My inability to get many words in edgeways didn't matter: Natalie was experiencing directly what I was trying to say. The seals were unusually cooperative for close-up shots (end of season desensitization to paddlers?), and Natalie also shot a couple of pics of me. She wanted proof of having paddled with the great Doug Lloyd. Oh brother, please. If anything, she was drawing the curtain open, and exposing the frumpy, middle-aged man claiming to be the Great Wizard of Oz. I did a tight reverse sweep 360 for her, smashing my stern into a rock (the low sun was blinding you know!). "Ouch! Don't you care 'bout that boat?" "Oh, na, its a tough boat you know. Hit it all the time." I sheepishly told her I'm no hot-shot technical paddler with finess and 20 differnet rolls. Nope, just me, who likes to be on the water all year 'round. Well it was time to head back to "Kansas". Paddling back, the winds had eased after two hours (as I knew they would) so we made good time back to the beach without a head wind in the gathering darkness. Still talking, I tried to listen to everything being said, but my ribs and back injuries were killing me, not to mention my shoulders felt like some Inuit was piercing them with his "ooloo". It was my first paddle in a month, and I wasn't really ready, but didn't want to disappoint the lidd'le lady. I had a hard time keeping up with her at the end. The cool night air had a nice fall bite to it. It wouldn't be long before the yuppie paddling season was over. I thought forward to better health and the relatively boat free waters that would soon come when "my better season" starts. We hit the beach in time for me to try my intended used boat purchase out. Nice little boat. Now it is up to my wife to approve it's purchase, as it will be ostensibly hers. After Natalie's e-mail, my wife said maybe she should start spending more time on the water with me. (I love it when a plan comes together!). Still talking, I dropped Natalie off, back at her hotel after discussing Paddlewise personalities from her neck of the woods (I got the dirt on all of you), and having a laugh over her comments on the "Yum Yum Yellow" debate last year on PW. With warm felt good-byes done, I headed home to two days of ice pack nights and Advil. But, it was worth it all to meet someone from the other side (the bottom-end) of the continent, and realize how wonderful it is to paddle along side another person who instantly shares all the values and delights that all of us on Paddlewise share in common. And oh yeah, good things do come in small packages. One heck of a fine person and paddler, Natalie is. And I wish I could met more of you. BC'in Ya Doug Lloyd *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Doug wrote and i snipped big time: >I had a hard time keeping up with her at the end. doug, well written great experience. last week, i also had a nice time with Natalie. relative to my age, she is a -20 yr. Natalie Braun is from Hamburg, Germany (grad student with Prof. Alpers). we didn't have time for a paddle, so we went biking in a restricted (as no bikes) area of Assateatgue National Park in Virginia. she lives in cities so has no drivers license... bikes everywhere. yes, she talked all the time. i huff and puffed and kept up my manliness by nodding and grunting. after awhile, i saw an owl in the woods and we hiked in. came out to meet mr ranger, who thru our butts out of the park - but didn't give us a ticket. as we approached the 20 mile Chesapeake bay bridge tunnel to norfork (dinner on the bridge), she says that something seemed to be biting. i respond that i thought it was sand beneath my wet socks (it started raining as we finished our ride). NO, after we parked at the bridge restaurant at sundown, i saw that it was Chiggers!!! hell i got 300 bites. Natalie went back to Germany with many new friends. we should have gone paddling. bye bye bliven *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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