Many of my friends have been following my trials and tribulations with my garage and boats. Just before Christmas, Robin and I made the decision to replace our old one piece wooden doors on our garage with the more modern sectional roll-up. This of course necessitated cleaning out our garage. Then I found out that we would be losing some overhead space and I might not be able to hang all of our kayaks. I naively suggested that we could keep our SOT's in the backyard or along the side of the house next to Robin's roses. That idea was quickly shot down and I then suggested that Robin's car could stay on the drive next to mine. She informed me that we hadn't spent "X" number of dollars on doors for a BOAT HOUSE. So two weeks ago, I reluctantly sold our two almost new condition Necky Dolphins. At least they went to a good home with a very active paddler in Santa Maria. I then figured out a way (with some help from Robin) that I could double deck my surf boat and my Shadow and still be able to walk under them. Finally I realized that I probably wouldn't paddle my Gulfstream even though it was my first kayak love because it is very similar in purpose to my Shadow. I did start to think that maybe I could sell/trade it and get a plastic Brit style boat. Well it sold very quickly to another CKF'r and Jon Brindle contacted me and said he had a P&H Capella RM 166 that he would sell me. He had the same problem in his garage-too many boats. Today I met Jon, and bought the boat. I then took it to Channel Islands Harbor to see how it paddled. Knowing how my wife feels about me paddling solo, I decided on a few extra precautions for what I thought would be a harbor paddle. I brought my SPOT and stuck it in a drybag under the front bungees, shoved my VHF into my pocket, put on a tow belt in case I needed to tether the boat to me and also attached a "Roll-Up" back-up device to my deck lines. My pump, signal and repair kit, and paddle float rounded out the rest of my precautions. I got into the boat and launched and tried a few edged turns and sculls to find the boats primary and secondary stability limits. Then I started out and turned SOUTH towards the open ocean. I headed out to the pond against a 15 knot wind. Since the wind wasn't completely head on, the boat started to weathercock a little, but the skeg stopped that. I kept telling myself that I was going to The Pond to avoid paddling against a 15 knot wind that was building when I was on the home stretch in the harbor and probably getting tired. At the pond, I surfed a lot of swells coming in and found the boat surfs nicely. Not quite as good as my 18' Shadow, but almost. I also found that although the Gulfstream doesn't surf as nicely as the Capella, it was easier to turn when on edge. This is a maneuverable boat, but not as nimble as the GS. I was impressed with its speed though. I did not have a GPS with me to measure speed, but it felt faster than my GS but slower than my Shadow. All too soon, it was time to head back in. I surfed the swells coming in as a sail boat came within 4 feet of me from the rear. The guy wanted to talk about kayaking! After I landed, I took a seat on the Len Goodman Bench and had a conversation with my old friend. This was the first solo paddling I've done since he died almost a year ago and although I enjoyed it, I did promise my wife that I would only do very safe solo paddles because I know she would prefer that I not do any. I'm trying to uphold her wishes - but getting a new boat was just too much. Anyway see you all on the water soon, Steve *************************************************************************** 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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