Sea Kayak Specialists Blog

Kayak delivery! Unloading the truck.

Here are 16 sea kayaks being delivered this morning after a phone call saying ‘santa has arrived’.

Thanks to a grant at the Y, I got to order over $20k of kayak gear including these 16 sea kayaks. Thanks to the folks at Down Wind for their support. Putting the order together for the Y’s kids kayak program was something else. Questions like how many wetsuits/wetshoes/paddling jackets/etc and in what sizes was an interesting and challenging puzzle with no answer sheet.

But that has been june, a busy time by any measure. Here are the numbers for kayak training/instructing: 2 Instructor Development Workshops with 11 people, 1 Instructor Certification Exam with 10 Instructor candidates and 2 Instructor Trainer candidates, YMCA staff training with 15 people, Bay Cliff staff training with 14 people, 4 Bay Cliff pool sessions with 15 campers and 2 lake sessions with 8 campers. Then there are the Y programs that other staff lead but are programed by myself, massage and time for sleeping, eating and traveling 1500 miles.

Note the cracked windshield, where is William Nealy now?

This has been one of the busiest months for me ever. This type of pace is not sustainable or even desirable. There are moments when it is like surfing, one needs intense focus. The other thing that happens is you are not really in control, just riding the face of a wave going where it is going and hoping it isn’t going to dump on you. When water is so involved in one’s life, there is inevitable water damage. The photo above is one of those moments. Yes a kayak did that, just like in a William Nealy cartoon. Fortunately the kayak wasn’t damaged…

Kayaks stacked up and ready to be used.

Looking at all the boats stacked in storage, it certainly seems to make all the efforts worthwhile. Just imagine all the dreams these boats will produce and/or fulfill…

The other thing that makes it all worthwhile is the people. This year I’ve encountered some great folks. I must say that is typical though the previous years have been marked by a few people with very challenging attitudes.

A camper at Bay Cliff I’ll call Carl really exemplifies folks this year. I first met Carl two years ago through kayaking at Bay Cliff. Chatting with him, he is a very good young man and very determined to go kayaking. Campers there have disabilities, so we start in the pool and if they want to paddle on nearby Lake Independence, they need to do an independent wet exit. For some folks this is no problem, for others it can be a challenge. For Carl, this is challenging, you see he is not a swimmer. Just putting his face in the water, you can see fear displace his usual calm but he will not back off. He is determined to do whatever necessary to go kayaking on Lake Independence.

This was a unique situation for me. I’ve instructed kayaking, but never worked with someone to build comfort in the water at this level. With Carl, he would grab on anytime his feet got off the pools bottom, he would grab tighter anytime his face got near the water. Fortunately Carl’s determination and trust made building comfort easy. Whatever I asked he did. Watching if he grabbed stated his comfort level. Initially deep water was too much. But by the end of two hours in the pool he was floating by himself in the deep end. All on his own he could float on his back, pull his legs underneath to go vertical, dip his mouth in the water and then return to floating on his back.

There is more work to do and there is no promise that Carl will be able to do an independent wet exit. Just like there is no promise that the Y kayaking program will be a success. The only promise is more work, more water damage, more dreams and more visits by santa claus.

sam

First launch from the beach on Middle Bay

This weekend saw two significant ice events. First, the ice foot opened up at Middle Bay so one can launch from the beach there. Second, the inland lakes opened up. Warm temps and high winds from the south melted and mashed up any ice that had survived the spring till now.

Up until now the winds have been slight and the weather stable, unusual for the time of year. This week there has been strong winds and this weekend there were very noticeable seiches occurring due to the winds or fast moving pressure systems.

Also noticed that the gulls appear to have started their nesting season. They are not aggressively protecting their nest sites yet, but there are numerous birds laying on the rocks while the majority are standing about.

All good signs of spring and more good paddling weather to come.

sam

Sometimes, there’s a man, well, he’s the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that’s the Dude

It all started one saturday night in the fall. I enjoyed a barbecue and went to bed around 10:30pm. I woke up hearing voices. Given I live in a place where college students live as well, that sometimes happens on weekends. When I open my eyes, my place is lit up as if a car is shining its lights on it. I get up to make sure my neighbors are behaving themselves and not standing on top of my car or some other harmless (to them) late night activity.

Well, imagine my surprise to see a person standing and gesturing in front of flames just outside my window. Time to hurry get clothes on and get outside.

Stepping out onto my porch I say ‘Thanks Dude!’ and look around. The table my grill was standing on is now a few charred pieces of wood. Leaves on the ground are burning in a 20-30 foot area, some within a few feet of my neighbors car. Worse, the stern of my kayak, Old Red, is on fire as it leans up against my house.

The Dude is incoherently babbling and gesturing wildly, kinda similar to someone dancing at a Grateful Dead concert.

Definitely time to act. I run inside to get a pot and fill it with water. Running outside, I pour it on my highest priority, my burning kayak. Another pot full put the flames out and then I started on the flames near my neighbors car. Within five trips, the flames are under control. Another five pots has everything shaken, stirred and out.

The table’s gone, the neighbor’s car unscathed, and the kayak? Well, not bad. The gel coat had burned off the rear 12 inches or so but the fiberglass is still intact.

There is an immense relief and thanks. I came close to climbing out of a window of a flaming house that night and worse, lost a kayak completely to fire.

And what of this person called the Dude?

The Dude abides. Once he did his job, he left never to be seen again. Gone to that fuzzy space between wake and dream. I don’t know about you but I take comfort in that. It’s good knowin’ he’s out there. (click here)

–

Below are pictures of long suffering Old Red and the fire damage.

Thanks Dude,
sam

A week ago some friends and I headed north. On a piece of property we build tent pads for a Hiawatha Water Trail (click here) campsite. Here are some photos from the day:

We drove the lumber into the site.

One of the two sites. Given the soil, it was thought best to build tent pads to minimize the impact.

The framing for the first pad going in.

Decking being screwed on.

A complete tent pad.

Looking from the other tent pad down the trail to the lake.

Working on a post for the sign and steps from the cobble beach to the woods.

This work was done by volunteers with money donated by people regionally for this purpose on a campsite that is privately owned by a paddler from the Houston area who bought it for this purpose.

Paddlers are a wide ranging group and thanks to the internet, connected together.

Check out the water trail website for further information.

sam

Fall colors are at or near peak here in the Marquette area. Combine the beautiful scenery with a mild fall – warm, dry and mild wave conditions – makes for some very nice paddling.

Presque Isle’s Pavilion.

Presque Isle’s black rock’s.

Near Wetmore’s Landing.

It continues to be a great season, one that is full and fun. This weekend was the first one at home where there is no teaching or preparing for a workshop/impending travel since the season started back in May.

I can remember being at the Drombeg Stone Circle in County Cork Ireland. The stones line up with the sun in the fall and was thought to be a gathering place for the locals thousands of years ago. Gathering, heck this is Ireland, it was a party, one that I figure celebrated the bounty of the summer.

Here in the Midwest, we don’t need stone circles to tell us when to celebrate in the fall. We have trees celebrating a great summer all around us.

sam

Returned mid week from staff training at Bay Cliff (click here), in Big Bay, MI. Ever since I’ve been in the UP, I’ve been volunteering or working at the camp’s kayaking program. Nancy took the program from almost it’s start and has developed it into what it is today – one of the few programs nationwide that brings kayaking to kids and adults with physical disabilities in a camp setting.

Bay Cliff is a different place. With a very dedicated staff that is focused on the campers, they go beyond what I believe is possible. Someday someone will write a book or make a movie about it. But until then, those few people familiar with it know it is a place where things are right in this world.

One of the things about Bay Cliff for me is learning about the population that attends as campers. As you get to know them, you realize what spirit truly is as well as challenges life can bring. In my life, that has come very close. The picture is of my nephew Mike in the front seat of the tandem with his counselor Jonathon. His father, my oldest brother, Denny, is in the background. Denny got the call that every parent fears – ‘your son has been in an car accident, get here quick as he is not expected to survive much longer’. Brain injuries, as Mike proved, exceed what the experts understand or can make predictions about. He survived his severe brain injury but it has left him with a set of challenges. Among them, he has hemiplegia (paralysis of one side of the body). In the Bay Cliff pool, he’s done a wet exit independently and was rescued in deep water demonstrating the required skills to paddle on Lake Independence, the local inland lake. My brother once told me, ‘All year is a struggle except for the one week at Bay Cliff. Then, everything is right with the world.’ It has to be noted that my brother struggles to find a nursing home that can give Mike the quality of care Bay Cliff does.

Bay Cliff sponsors an American Canoe Association Adaptive Paddling Workshop (click here) as part of its mission. This workshop brings together paddling instructors, recreational paddlers, program directors and people with disabilities to learn about adaptive paddling in a setting where everyone works together as a team whose goal is to learn adaptive paddling.

One of reasons I instruct is to share kayaking. There are rough water lessons, beginner lessons, instructor workshops, etc but Bay Cliff is the place that makes me realize how much what I do means to people. The Camp Director Tim has often asked me how much do I want to get paid for working at camp. I can’t give him an answer, for the shared experience pays me back in a way that makes money seem useless and unnecessary.

Getting out on the water is something magical, something that in this crazy world provides a place of peace and a connection to something beyond ourselves.

This happens irregardless of one’s ability and helps to make things right in the world.

sam