Greg Barton up for US Olympic Hall of Fame - Hey Paddlers, Let's VOTE!

image swiped from Epic Kayaks

Just a quick lunchtime post to pass on word that originated with Connie Hagler, secretary of the USA Canoe & Kayak - Greg Barton is one of the 18 nominees from which the 6 2008 inductees for the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame will be chosen.

Voting is open now!

Go Greg!

p.s. I "Heart" my Epic wing!

p.p.s. thanks Nancy for passing the word!

cross-posted at Frogma

Sweetwater Kayak BCU Week

Tony, John, Don, Walter and Dot took a road trip last week to Fort DeSoto Park in Florida to attend Sweetwater Kayak's BCU and Greenland week. A wonderful time was had by all. We received great instruction and made new friends. We didn't have time to take too many photos, but here's a link to a small slide show. http://www.picasaweb.google.com/Kayaker824/SweetwaterBCUWeek

Horse Gate

This is also the Paedergat, on a day far more congenial to paddling!

I had cross-posted the stormy day photos on Frogma, and a gentleman from the Netherlands left a comment asking if the name was a legacy of the early Dutch settlers.

A question like that was far to much fun to just answer in the comments - the answer became a post in it's own right

I was going to tailor to the Sebago blog but the work day turned into yet another marathon & I'm just too tired - but I thought Sebagoites and anyone else who's even slightly interested in NY names would enjoy reading both the post AND a most interesting section in a book I found while using Google to verify that I was recalling the story a fellow Sebagoite had told me (Paerdegat = "Horse Gate") correctly. Really, that's made me kick up the response from a comment to a full-fledged post. Fascinating stuff!

So here's the link. Hope you enjoy.

Paerdegat Basin, blustery Sunday.

There have been weekends this winter where I've been almost tempted to email Holly the Sailing Chair - "Hey, Holly, 50 degrees, light winds, can we, um, maybe go sailing, maybe, huh?"

Sunday the 10th was decidedly not one of those days.



Look - whitecaps!

Marcus Demuth Presentation at Sebago

Marcus Demuth will be at Sebago Canoe Club, Saturday Feb 9th at 6:00PM,
to give a talk about his past and future expeditions.

He recently completed a solo sea kayak circumnavigation of Ireland. And
has done extended trips in Patagonia, Australia and Nova Scotia, to name
a few.

He is in the planning stage of an extended trip to circumnavigate the
Alexander Archipelago, Alaska.
He also came in first place in his class in the past two  NYC Mayors Cup
races.

It will be informal, bring drink and snacks to share.

Even if it is cold out, the new stove will keep it toasty warm.

http://marcusdemuth.com

More Pool Session Fun!

This was pretty funny. I was swimming around with my camera last Sunday at the pool session and decided to see if I could get the video function to work. I'm not really conversant with that particular function, but it is fun for rolling, so I was trying.

Here goes Minh! (btw these seem to be hanging up - just hit the play button a couple times, and if it stops hit the pause button, it'll go again)


So that worked. Now Stevie has been doing wonders teaching people this year (I swear, he's barely in his boat) and among others, vice-commodore Pete has made incredible progress.

So, hey, Pete, howsabout a roll for the camera?


What happened there? Well, I'll tell you what happened. I was expecting to record one nice no-fuss no-muss roll for Sebago blog-sterity.

I was not expecting him to keep going!

And kayaks don't roll in one spot - no, they travel. And Pete is a big, powerful guy & all the sudden he was looking more like a steamroller than a kayak roller, and - well, you heard my little "EEEK!" as I realized he wasn't stopping! Like I said, I actually put my foot up on the back deck to let him know I was there.

We did do a redo but this one was funnier, so there it is.

After that, I just got silly.


Fun session.

We have definitely got a number of folks who've got it going on with the rolling!

And Stevie's collecting kayak karma points galore.

(p.s. - Adele, we missed you! Hope you're feeling better!)

Dedicating Greenland paddle to gods of the Alps

I am going to dedicate my first Greenland paddle I carved to Mount Mont Blanc.

I ski "telemark" another ancient method of traveling over snow and ice. We use "alpenstock", a long pole, not to fall into crevasse and a good walking stick.

I wanted to make one or find one for a long time. I realize poorly made Greenland paddle will make a superb alpenstock. To spice things up on my coming trip to Chamonix, I will also take Tulliq and ski those slopes off Mont Blanc.

On a final day around the 28th of February, weather permitting, I will dedicate a Greenland paddle to the mountain god of the Alps.

I can't wait to ski with Greenland paddle in Tuiliq and see what locals make out...

I will be making long surfing turns with Greenland paddle.

In case you wonder, here is old Nordic movie.



Back to the source,



Well, I found this and it looks like the locals beat me to it; :-)



Enjoy!

Help bring kayaks to Greenland villages

"On Dec.1st we launch the Kayaks to Schools project, where we deliver kayaks to as many village schools as possible in remote areas of Greenland.

Our first aim is to support schools in Appilatoq (Cape Farewell) and Isertoq (East Coast), total about 50 children.

The hunting villages in Greenland are the poorest areas of the country. Poverty leads to cultural erosion and kayaking as a living part of our culture is coming to an end. This project brings traditional equipment and training to some of the worst off villages, in the hope that cultural appreciation fosters self esteem in the young. Help us give a little back to the people of the kayak!

Each school receives 4 youth sized and one adult size Learning Curve Kayak (pictured above), together with necessary gear and teacher training, to BCU standards. We of course supply all equipment at raw cost."

Misery Loves Company

Remember this boat?

It was first featured here in July, on the night we didn't want to go home (ahhh, summer!).

Well, it's still right there where the owner dumped it. Just looks a lot more miserable, now.


But look - awww - now it's got more company.


A very spoiled Spoiler.


Clearly this dumper wasn't as concerned about being identified as the dumper of the white one.


They didn't go to the trouble that the white boat's owner did to anonymize theirs. Maybe they just figured this is the boat dumping place. That's sure what it's starting to look like.


Or maybe being from the Patchogue Shores Marina, they just figured Brooklyn's as good a place as any to dump their hunk o' junk. Hey, it's Brooklyn, who's gonna notice one more piece of garbage?


Well, if it please the blogosphere, let the record show -

Yo. I noticed.

ps - lots more pictures from my absolutely spectacular excuse for not going to the pool session are posted at Frogma. Wonderful paddle, even if I DID have to stay right-side up (details on that in the comments over there). Come see!

Dutch Reindeer

Hans the Dutch master from the other side of the Atlantic




Brave girls... Ja Laten we proberen! Je kijkt cute.