Monday, April 30, 2012

A hiatus on posting but not on paddling


Sometimes you blink and six weeks go by. The innocuous question,"What have you been up to?" is completely overwhelming. "What haven't we been up to?" you want to reply. 

In situations like these, a picture truly is worth 1,000 words. Especially if it includes captions.

So catching up...

We spent a lot of time loading and unloading boats, both whitewater and sea kayaks.
April started out warm; water at the Marge Cline Whitwater Course rose to 62 degrees at times.

Lake Michigan remained cooler -- in the mid to upper 40s -- but what little ice we had was long gone .
We were fortunate to borrow a Delphin 150 for a few weeks. This low-volume version of the hot "new genre of free-ride sea kayak" is a blast in waves, and a good fit for smaller paddlers.


We were also able to do some training on the Menominee River in long boats...



...including the Delphin 150...


...where we benefitted from some top-level coaching from Ryan Rushton...


...and Scott Fairty...



...who make everything look as easy as it should be and as fun as it is.


Alec took a detour to Cumberland Island, Georgia, where he helped guide a circumnavigation.




That's pretty much what we've been up to. That, and failing to post to our blog. And a few other things. But more about that later.