Someone on Paddlewise had requested I get back to them on night paddling lights. I can't remember who. I had mentioned a light I'd picked up used, a 15W NightRider. I didn't use it in the end ;last Friday. I felt the risk of shorting it out, outweighed the advantages of the reasonable amount of light the fully submersible 4AA PrincetonTec headlight put out. As it turned out, I didn't use it while actually paddling, now agreeing with Duane S. that keeping one's night vision tight, without dilating-producing light sources messing things up. When the dark wind squall hit, it got really, really ink black (made be a bit edgy). I turned on the light, but it only helps you see the wave slope immediately infront of you, not enough to make a huge difference. Once your eyes dilate a bit, its hard to make out any remote details left of landmass, nearshore zone, etc. So for now, I'll just keep the PT unit attached to the surf helmet (and use the NightRider for cycling/ night-mountain biking). The LED scanner in my van was the saving grace for the evening. One off a bike, left on the dash, would work well too, for finding one's way back to shore. I see Gordin got out this Friday with the guys for a 3-hour night paddle/Christmas lights viewing. The weather held off. My van got a flat tire as I motored on down the street, out of my driveway. The spare was rusted in, so I missed out on a nice, normal paddle with some nice, normal guys. As I didn't want to leave my kayak on the roof of the van all night, I had to carry it home. I found a new way of carrying my heavy boat. With the paddle blade shoved into the cockpit all the way, and the other end web-strapped to the back deck, it was very easy to do a shoulder lift of all one-hundred or so pounds and more importantly, very easy to walk with by simply holding onto the middle of the paddleshaft. (Gordin, off course, figured the weight of my boat had caused the flat in the first place. -) ). It's storming again tonight, part of a continuous stream of windy, wet weath er this season. Seas are up to 8 meters tonight on the south coast of VI. No paddling though, as family dragged me out for the Nativity play. As usual, no one showed any conviction or passion about what they were doing. Then again, so of us show too much. Doug Lloyd Victoria BC *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
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