----- Original Message ----- From: <JSpinner_at_aol.com> > I'd love to hear some of the more "interesting" stories others have. I > get a kick out of seeing that others can embarrass themselves as well as I > can. It was about 10 years ago and I was organizing a mini-symposium for folding kayaks on a small pond in Connecticut that leads to Long Island Sound. A fellow offered using his house and property for the event and I went to check it out for feasibility (I only expect a couple of dozen people for the eventual event, so I didn't need much really). He suggested we go paddling and try out his small dock's suitablilty for getting boats into the water for the event. It was a little larger than a door or two nailed together and totally free floating, i.e. not secured by posts, just lines to the shore. I made my Klepper single on land, dropped it into the water. Just to show him the stability of the Klepper, I decided to just step into it from the dock, something that I have done quite easily from other docks...the boat is that stable. But I hadn't counted on that old principle in physics that "for every action there is a reaction." As I stepped off the dock, my trailing foot pushed the dock away. I lost my balance. My other foot planted itself firmly into the boat but my body was now in full flight and I went clear over the boat and into the drink on the other side. There I was underwater trying to figure out what had happened and not wanting to surface out of sheer embarassment. When I finally came up and pulled myself back on to the dock, the fellow asked "Ralph, is that how you usually launch?" ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Mar 14 2001 - 20:00:12 PST
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