[Paddlewise] All Harbored Out

I hit the beach yesterday at 2 planning on doing some rolling practice.
Problem was I spent the day before cleaning out my garage and finding a
place to hang all my kayak goodies. Without it being in its usual place,
splayed out on the floor, I forgot my new fancy spray skirt and had to
settle for a harbor paddle. To solve that problem, I'm gonna stick my old
nylon skirt, Old Yeller, into my hatch just in case.

I've complained in the past about paddling in the harbor, but that's because
when you want to get to the ocean, it's just in your way. When you decide to
make it your destination, it's not a bad place to paddle. I guess it's about
as far removed from wilderness paddling that you can get paddling past rows
and rows of multimillion dollar houses, but it's still pretty. It's hard to
believe that as a kid, I lived right on the bay; back when a car salesman
could still afford to live in this area. It's a different world now, but in
my kayak I belong as well as anyone.

As I pass all the boats, I wonder how many ever even leave the harbor. Even
the rich have to choke a bit when they try to fill up the tank for a small
cruise. There aren't many any more, but there are still a few rotting crates
bobbing at their moorings that I can still imagine being MY mother ship some
day. Perhaps it would never leave the harbor either, but at least I could
store my kayak closer to the water.

This morning, I again headed out for a harbor tour. At 8am, I met Duane, Bob
and Kathy for a pre-turkey paddle. The idea was to kick things up a
notch--and this a group that is no slouch to begin with. Duane was the TAKS
race champion this year, Bob got probably the fastest boat around and Kathy
is known to keep a good pace. I've heard, though I've never seen it, that
she has a tattoo on her bicep of a hand giving the finger with the words "No
Slow Pokes" printed underneath. With all that flat water, there was a bit of
macho posturing going on and we all warmed up despite the overcast sky.

So we all took advantage of the harbor to burn a few calories to allow us to
throw an extra slice of turkey or pie on our plate tonight. Of course, if I
sleep through dinner, I'll have wasted a good paddle.

www.SandMarks.net
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