Safety Practice in the Rain

On Sunday RIC/KA had its annual safety practice. I was desperate for some kayak time, so I was willing to risk rain.
Fortunately it wasn't too rainy. It was cold though. So nobody really wanted to swim which made rescued hard.
Instead of a safety practice we did a strokes and boat control practice. It was a nice substitute.
I needed the practice. My turns were off and my hips were sore for days afterwards.

One Speed Wonder

Last year I finally got tired of the pounding my body was taking from my bicycle. I was commuting to work on an old Marin road bike. The aluminum frame sent every little bump straight through me. The Shimano Tiagra gearing needed constant fiddling to keep in tune. Too often I'd be peddling up a hill and the derailure would slip into a higher gear.
I wanted to get a steel cyclocross frame with Shimano 101 gearing an a carbon fork. I also wanted to keep the price around $1000.
It quickly became obvious that my desires and reality didn't mesh... The bikes I looked at were all closer to $1500. I saw a few that were closer to the right price, but they were just newer verions of what I already had. I was looking an upgrade.
When I thought all was lost I saw an '08 Redline cross bike for under a $1000. The only catch was that it was a strange thing called a single speed. After getting a brief explanation about single speeds from the sales guy, I decided to pass.
Shortly after passing on the Redline, I was talking to a coworker and said he commutes on a single speed. He was a total convert. A few days later the VP of engineering at my company, who is an avid biker, was raving about his new Masi Special single speed.
I decided I had to get more information and go on a few test rides. The Internet and Google delivered a cornucopia of information. The best site I found was Sheldon Brown's. It listed the pros and cons of single speed cycling realistically.
Finding single speeds to try out proved to be a little challenging. Despite the buzz growing around single speeds there are not a lot of suburban bike shops that carry them. Landry's on Rt. 9 in Natick had a few. One was a very inexpensive Swobo that was all steel. It was a nice ride, but the low quality of the steel scared me.
Belmont Wheelworks had several different models. I tested out the Redline 902, the Masi, the Specialized Langster, and the Specialized Tricross. The handle bars on the Redline were terrible; the Masi wasn't a good fit; the Langster was comfortable and well mannered; the Tricross comfortable but not so well mannered.
After waffling between the Langster and the Tricross for a few days I decided that the Tricross was a better match for what I wanted. I don't go off road a lot, but I do like to be able to hit a trail every now and then. The roads between my house and my office are also pretty crappy.
A year later I love my single speed! It took a few rides to adjust to the lack of gears. Now that I'm adjusted, I don't miss the gears. Peddling is more soothing without needing to think about shifting. The chain doesn't slip; the gears never skip. I never feel the need for speed. I also feel stronger in the saddle.
I don't mind the trade offs. In fact I sort of enjoy some of them.
The single speed will never sustain 19 mph. It cannot climb long steep hills. It cannot haul heavy loads. The gearing is just not right for any of these things.
I kept the multispeed bike, but I haven't ridden it once. I did a few 30 mile rides on the single speed and enjoyed it. I cannot see going back to the multispeed bike anytime soon.

A Quick Fix

On the trip almost to Graves light I put a ding in the side of the Q-Boat that caused a leak. It was just a brush that knocked out a little gelcoat, but it was on a point in the chine where there was only a single layer of glassfibre and a thin layer of gelcoat. It is a spot of shoddy construction that reminds me that quality control is not one of the British virtues.
Needless to say I was not looking forward to paying for the repair, or for having the Q-Boat out of commission for a month or more. to fix it right would require pulling out all the gelcoat where the glassfibre was thin, laying in another layer of glass, and reapplying the gelcoat. I figured it would cost between $500 and a $1000.
Fortunately JS told me to just patch it with SolarRez. It doesn't need to be mixed and sets in the sunlight. According to JS, an idiot could use it seal a leak and that it should last for the rest of the season - at least.
I've never seen an easy repair I couldn't screw up. I have a hard time getting the squeeze tube gelcoat to cover up scratches. I'm still smarting from the Marine Tec debacle. Needless to say I was skittish about doing the repair work myself, but I figured if I screwed it up Carl could just fix it....
It turns out that the repair was as easy as JS said. It took two applications to seal the hole completely, but it was a piece of cake. Each layer dried in a few hours. The whole repair took a single day.
It isn't the prettiest repair. The SolarRez dries clear so it sticks out. It works though.
Now I just need to get the Q-Boat in the water to see if it is waterproof. As it turns out I could have waited a month or so to get the repair done.....

Eastern Horizons

I'm not a big fan of long form kayaking movies. I find them to be little more than a bunch of shorts that show off exciting kayaking footage. I can only recall one film that had a real narrative thread.
I, however, have seen long kayaking movies that I've enjoyed. There was one about extreme white water kayakers that followed one group around the world for a season of BIG water. The "This is the Sea" series typically delivers as well. The segments are well done with either great action or a good story.
Friday evening we saw "Eastern Horizons". It is OK. The beginning and the end are good. Unfortunately, the middle doesn't deliver either action or story.
The movie opens in Newfoundland. The narrative and commentary is lackluster, but the scenery more than makes up for the lack of narrative. They kayak with icebergs and there are really nice shots of kayaking in fog.
The movie then jumps to Tybee island and the Outer Banks. The segments don't really offer a good flavor of the locations. There are too many scenes of flat water paddling and they often repeat the same footage. The commentary is bland. The few action scenes are too short and felt disconnected.
From North Carolina the movie jumps to New York City. This segment was better than the previous two, but it is still uneven. It is to choppy and the film doesn't spend enough time at any one thing. The scenes at the boathouse sparked my interest, but was cut short to launch into a story about circumnavigating Manhattan. That also promised to be interesting, but was also truncated.
From New York the movie jumped to the Bay of Fundy. (There was a brief interlude in Maine, but I honestly cannot remember a thing about it.) Once back in the northlands, the movie heats back up. The kayaking in the crazy tidal races is awesome to watch. The segment about kayaking in the tidal bore is also fantastic. The scenes with the whales makes for a nice ending.
Overall "Eastern Horizons" is middle of the road kayak movie fare.

Not Quite Ready for the Graves

Early last week JS posted his interest in paddling in Boston Harbor and looking for interested parties. My first inclination was to jump at the opportunity, but then the whisper of reason murmured: you are a fat, out of shape, and not sleeping well. Its been six weeks since I'd been in a kayak. It's been nearly as long since I've used the cycle trainer. I've been playing some Wii Sports and Wii Ski Jump, but that is of dubious fitness value.
H and I also ran into a roadblock in our efforts at building a family and that triggered some non-ideal stress responses. My diet exploded. My sleeping withered.
JS has been paddling all winter and the outer islands in March is no place to be pushing the fitness envelope. So, I decided to stay dark and see how things shaped up. I figured if the weather was perfect and the group right, I'd go. If not, I'd wait for a less strenuous outing.
On Friday morning the forecast looked perfect: 50s, sunny, minimal wind, small seas. The group, however, was still just JS. Around 10am, PB e-mailed me saying he was going and wondering if I was also going. Things looked perfect. With some reservation, I said sure. H, sharing my concerns, told me to be the voice of reason...
I slept well Friday night. In Waltham the Saturday morning weather was as advertised: sunny, clear, and starting to warm. The traffic to Hull was light. I didn't get too lost driving out to Windmill Point.
Driving into Hull along Nantasket Beach I noticed that the surf was rocking. At the point, there was some wind and not enough heat. Still, things looked pretty good for a nice leisurely paddle.
JS' plan was to paddle out the Graves. On a warm day in the summer, padding out to the Graves is an ambitious plan. it is a five or six mile paddle into deep, unprotected, open water. Still, the forecast was perfect and the group was made up of skilled paddlers. So much for being the voice of reason or an easy paddle....
We started off like gangbusters. There was only moderate swell and the headwind was just enough to cool things off a bit. I began to feel the effort just a little, but it felt good. The muscles were warming up and starting to feel energized. The roll of the kayak balanced my spirit. I started feeling confident that getting to the Graves and back would be reasonable.
We made it about half way out before things started getting unreasonable. The seas went from one foot to four feet. BH asked if the light was getting farther away.
JS checked with us to see if the plan was still OK. The alternative was to divert to Green island. Everyone agreed that we should continue to the Graves. I mentioned my concerns about paddling back from the Graves in big following seas and being pooped, but also agreed that we should continue to the Graves. I was feeling good and believed that I could make it back without issue.
After another half mile of big swells and increasing wind, the whisper of reason found its voice. I was no longer sure about the wisdom of the plan. There is no place to rest at the Graves and no safe harbor in case of emergency.
Since it was an all or nothing plan, the group turned towards Green Island for lunch. Turning in four foot swells and paddling breach to the swells was interesting.
We enjoyed a long lunch on Green Island before deciding to head over and check out Shag Rocks. Lunch was so long I forgot my gloves on the beach. BH was kind enough to toss them out to me so I didn't have to land again. While putting on my gloves the little beach swell pushed the Q-Boat up against a little boulder. It made a crunch, but I shrugged it off. It takes more than a nudge into a small rock to do any serious damage to a sea kayak. It was nothing more that a gel coat ding.
We paddled out along Middle Brewster Island. The channel between Green Island and the Brewsters had calmed down a little. The swells had diminished to reasonable levels. There were some waves to be caught, but you had to look for them.
We rounded Middle Brewster and returned to the big swells. It was big enough to keep us interested, but hardly enough to make us worry.
The action around Shag Rock looked pretty, but no one was tempted to explore too closely. The cold waves pounded the rocks. Maybe in the summer....
Once around the rocks we headed home past Little Brewster Island and Boston Harbor Light. The wind was at out backs and the current was with in our favor. We made good time, but I was feeling tired. I was looking forward to stopping and stretching my legs.
Back at the put in we carried the kayaks up the beach to the rocks and enjoyed being done. PB and BH took the opportunity to lay back for a little bit. I popped the day hatch open to get my keys and discovered the lunch bag floating in several inches of water.... I grabbed the bag holding my wallet, keys, and phone from the bottom of the hatch. I didn't notice the stream of water that leaked out as I pulled it from the water. When I opened it to get my keys, I panicked a little. Everything was wet even my keys... Fortunately the lock fob was not shorted out and the doors unlocked with a reassuring beep. Once the car was open I turned my attention to the phone. So far I'd suffered from a double failure. The phone is in its own Otterbox waterproof casing inside the dry bag, and it had held. The phone was fine.
At first I thought the day hatch leaked because I hadn't sealed it properly. Once the Q-Boat was on top of the Egg, I spotted the real leak. There was a chunk of gel coat missing along the chine. I popped the day hatch open so BH (I'm too short) could inspect the inside to see if the glass was damaged. From the inside it looked fine, so it was back to the unsealed hatch idea. When I put the hatch back, however, we could see air bubbles pushing out past the gel coat crack... The gel coat was covering a section of the hull where the fiberglass is very thin and not entirely water proof.
Despite the minor damage to the Q-Boat and the hassle of drying out my wallet, I was glad to get on the water. It was tiring and little strenuous than was prudent for a paddle, but it felt great. My sense of balance was strengthened. My spirit energized. Hopefully, the weeks to come will offer many more days on the water.