Wet Run

I finally got out to do some kayaking this year!  I did about 6 miles yesterday and about 8 miles today.  For some reason, the 6 miles felt much harder than the 8 miles.  I was a little worried yesterday.  I've been working out really hard the last few weeks.  While I know this is no substitute for actually kayaking, I was surprised at how hard those 6 miles were.  However, I did about 8 miles today in just over 2 hours with little effort. 

I really love my new paddles!  The double bladed paddle is made of quarter sawn sitka spruce.  Quarter sawn means that the tree rings are perpendicular to the blades, which makes the paddle stronger.  Sitka spruce is the wood of choice for the Aleutian Inuit.  It's light and durable.  I made the blade and shaft thicker than normal so that I can use my paddle to pole through the inevitable shallow areas or to brace myself while getting in and out of my kayaks. 

The drip guards I put on the paddle works great!  They are made for commerical paddles that can be broken into two sides.  They were designed to be slipped onto the shaft when the paddle blades were broken into two.  I had to cut the drip guard and zip tie them into place.  They keep my hands completely dry when paddling.  The only problem I see is that the zip ties can come off if the drip guards hit the edge of the kayak.  I think that I'm going to replace the zip ties with copper wire.

My small single bladed paddle works well too.  I like to have a back up paddle in case I drop or break my double bladed paddle.  This paddle fits onto the deck of my kayak.  I made it with a much shorter shaft than a canoe paddle because I will be sitting much closer to the water, and it needed to fit onto my deck.  I think this worked out well.  While it is not nearly as efficient as a double bladed paddle, it is a nice change of motion. 

Finally, my comfy seat is nice.  The only problem is the sticky tape does not stay fastened to my kayak.  I kind of thought that would be a problem.  I will have to take the seat out while driving with it on my car or it might fall out on the highway.  Otherwise, it doesn't seem to need to be fastened in place by anything other than gravity.