Friday night was apparently to be my only decent night of sleep during my long weekend. Saturday morning, 6 am, I shambled around like a coffee-starved zombie still somewhat befuddled. Eventually I managed to get my act together and head out to my second all-day class Intro to Rough(er) Water with Brian Blankinship and Paula Hubbard. During the intro briefing we learned we had picked up a third instructor, Chris Raab.
Brian and I live in the same neck of the WDC woods. I know him and have taken a couple of short strokes classes with him. I had met Paula but had not paddled with her, and Chris was brand new to me.
I like to take lots of photos, but this particular day we knew we would be getting plenty wet so my camera only came out once or twice. Hence, a lack of many photos.
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| Chris Raab in blue on the left |
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| Sonya in pink on the left |
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| Gary in the foreground had a very interesting kayak-life story to tell: he had never paddled a kayak before owning his current kit-boat. Being a professional wood worker, he agreed to build a pair of boats with his sister as a project. This sturdy wood boat arrived at the Symposium with a damaged stern. A van had hit the boat during Gary's trip down. The boat swept the van's cargo racks clean off the top of the vehicle! And yet, the boat needed only a couple of duct tape bandages to make it through the Symposium. Now, that's a sturdy boat! |
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| Best shot I have of Gary's boat's band aid |
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| Getting ready, once again sharing the launch with another class |
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| We knew we would be wet so we all packed pretty carefully |
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| Lunch on a protected island. We carefully avoided walking above the sand-line. |
This day the waves had swelled into "almost conditions." We played in the water for hours, practicing strokes, and catching some rides on waves. I received a bunch of quality instruction this day. In fact, I felt like Chris gave me one or two little nuggets of wisdom that will shine for years as I buff them against my growing experience.
We switched to rescues in the last hours of class and I opted out. My shoulder was hanging in there but it is always on the edge of becoming a problem. I just wanted to avoid making it worse when I was only half-way through my weekend. Yeah, I am sometimes a wimp. Lastly, the class switched to towing. I caught a tow from (argh, I hate when I forget names!) with the sunburst Chatham.
After she took her tow line off I literally surfed all the way back to the launch due to the following seas, winds, and perfect little rollers pushing me along. I had a super day.
I enjoyed all three instructors, each for a different reason. Paula seems thoughtful and asks students perceptive questions. Brian is enthusiastic, encouraging, and has a lot of interesting anecdotes. Chris gave me spot-on advice that helped me catch the waves better. Oh, yeah, it was a super day.
Just want to finish up mentioning this black boat:
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| Alexa and her friend who gave me the tow, at lunch |
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| Alexa's Necky Chatham 16 is carbon. All carbon. I remember this boat when it was brand new. James and I took Potomac Paddlesport's "bombproof roll sessions" during the winter of 2011-2012. When she unloaded this boat on the pool deck everyone stood around admiring it. It is a shiny jewel of a boat. |
I continue to be somewhat skeptical of the all-carbon boat. My only experience with carbon is as a cyclist. Carbon frames are generally considered trashed after 3-5 years of riding. This is especially true of the light layup road bikes. Alexa said she has had not one problem with the boat, leading me to wander mentally down the path of future boats...
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