12/30/08 Ken was nice enough to join me on may 100th paddle today. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day. We were able to squeeze our two cars into the last parking spot near the sand and set off a little after 1pm. After a warm up paddle around the Little Isle we headed for BAR. Along the way we stopped to check out the upside-down boat moored by the channel. We're thinking it was the boat that had been floating out to sea a while back and causing trouble. It was unbelievable how badly crusted the upturned hull was with barnacles. It was hard to even make out where the keel line was on the boat and I'm sure it had to weigh at least a hundred pounds. On our way out, we stopped at Pirate's Cove so Ken could try out his new storm paddle. It's a nice hunk of wood, hunk being the key word here. Ken has carved a fireplug of a storm paddle, but with a bit more work he'll have a keeper. He rolled with it on both sides, so he must have done something right! We had a rather low tide with hardly any swells, so we followed my path from the other day. We snuck as close as the rocks as we could and when we got to Little Corona, there was a class out observing the tide pools. I was hanging out waiting to try to make it through a tricky part of the reef and once I made it through, I looked back for Ken, but he wasn't around. I paddled back around and found him out of his boat close to the reef. Turns out, he'd put on his mask and rolled over to check out the reef through the crystal clear water. Rolling up, he got fouled by the unusually large amount of kelp and had to bail. I helped him back in, but he realized his mask was no longer on his face. We searched the area hampered by all the kelp and the fact that we were about as close to the reef as we'd ever like to get. I got hung up on a couple rocks looking for the tell tale yellow float that Ken had added to his mask just to make sure he would lose it. I could only figure the tide had swept it away, or it was being held under by the kelp-until...Ken calls me over and as he lifts himself out of his cockpit he asks me to reach in. Turns out he'd been sitting on his mask and didn't realize it! Who knows what nook or cranny it had been hiding in in there! We continued on to BAR and since it was too shallow to pass through, we tried some more rolls in the cove. I tried Ken's Stormy, but as I came up it slipped out of my hands and Ken had to come in with a bow. I tried two more times with the same result. The problem was the blades are so beefy, I couldn't hang on choked up a bit from the loom. I thought I needed to hold it there to get more leverage, but when I came down to the loom, I was able to roll albeit with a forward flourish at the end to help me out. We continued rolling back at PC, but the cold water quickly finished us and we head back to the cars. Ken came about as close as he could to taking a dip when he realized he can't exit on the dock on his offside, but we got him turned around and all was OK. To finish off the day we went to Starbucks, where the lady commented on Ken's cold hands when she took his money. We told her we'd spent most of the last two hours under water in our kayaks. When she took my money, she said my hands were much warmer and I told her I usually warm up fast. She said it probably also had something to do with the age difference between me and Ken!! Way to earn that extra tip!!! One hundred days on the year and a great day to spend it. Mark Sanders www.sandmarks.net # *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Way to go Mark!!! Craig Jungers Moses Lake,WA *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Mark reaching his goal of 100 paddling days on the water last year is certainly an admirable accomplishment. Congrats Mark! However I would like to point out that so far I have been paddling EVERY DAY this year! I'm coming at you and your record Mark :-) Scott So.Cal. PS; I have been rather enjoying the discussion on global warming. I especially liked Craig Jungers most recent posts. I don't really have an opinion one way or the other on the topic, but I think the discussion, while it is still a discussion, is rater interesting. *************************************************************************** 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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