Big step taken this weekend. I got a brain bucket for kayaking.
Most folks don't wear helmets unless they 1) whitewater or 2) surf kayak. I'm doing the surf part.
However, on my visit to Zoar Outdoors on Saturday, I did realize that I might not be giving this whitewater thing the attention it could deserve. So what if there isn't salt in the water? Looks like the Deerfield River would be a lot of fun.
My bucket is called "Vixen" - the model of the Shred Ready helmet I'll be sporting as soon as the water gets warmer (probably late april at the Earliest...sigh). It is the color of wood and looks like a helmet made of wood. Makes me laugh.
What struck me during this experience was how much I had learned in less than a year - what kayaks I like (and don't like). How jellyfish still scare me a little. How important it is to look up when the start of duck hunting season is in Rhode Island (where we paddle). The importance of filing a trip plan - even for a couple of hours - with someone.
I'm sensitive to PFDs - I feel that if you are in a boat (kayak, surf kayak, canoe...) you should wear a PFD. I hear too many stories of "experienced boaters" just going to their sailboat who drown - I'm too respectful of the elements to know that you could still get in trouble in still water (did I mention the jellyfish?)
February is almost over, and I've started dogearring the Canoe & Kayak buying guide for 2009. If I had my way, in addition to a kayak, I'd also like to try SUP (stand up paddling). The good folks at Osprey have been fooling around with a discarded windsurf board and a sweet Werner stick. I was able to stand up on it and make it move without falling. Looking forward to seeing it action at one of the Surf Expression Sessions. I'm making a commitment to go at least 1X per month during the season. I will schedule my work around it - I work 12 hour days all year including some weekends, so a little work/life balance will be in order once that water turns warmer!
Gear builds up just as knowledge about the sport. I have brand names and jargon at the ready. I also know my "weakest links" in the boat so far which include 1) thinking too damn much 2) using that death grip on the stick 3) not relaxing (with so much to learn, this is sometimes hard to do). I have learned a couple of things, too - 1) I get edging 2) active sitting instead of Barkalounger 3) I have wet exits - Down cold! 4) I'm so close to rolling I can taste it.
What I have also realized I've entered a culture, too. More than one. We've been quite fortunate to learn from the Osprey folks and introduced to what I consider the best kayaking culture has to offer - a sense of fun, a sense of responsibility, and sense of stewardship, and a sense of awe and willingness to learn more. If you read some of the magazines, kayaking might seem like a machismo culture in which the next trick or squirt is something with which to notch your stick by - I dislike many of the magazines for this reason - with few articles about women kayakers nor many women writers or photographers, it sometimes feels like a wetter NASCAR.
Thank goodness I have met people on the water and in the world who are not representative of these types of magazines.
Not sure where I'm heading here - just looking forward to Spring and for the next things I learn.
Posts
