Michael_Crouse

[http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441775397&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302701709 MEC Gosling for a non mummy bag http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail....534374302701483 or the MEC Raven if you like a Mummy bag My wife has the Gosling and she loves it, small, inexpensive and light. Not as durable a shell as some other bags, but for the price it is a steal. Just take your financial advisor to Montreal for a weekend and casually drop by the MEC store!

The peak is the halfway mark

Check out MEC's own brand of down bags. When the exchange rate is good they are a great deal. They also come in three lengths/sizes. Not as nice as a Western Mountaineering or Feathered Friends bag, but only a few ounces more and hundreds of dollars less.

Outdoor Wilderness Fabrics http://www.owfinc.com/ coated ripstop=sil nylon Seattle Fabrics http://www.seattlefabrics.com I agree with Brian about the fuel bottles, not worth the hassles and potential problems to switch to a flexible fuel container. You'll save more space/weight switching to a silnylon tarp and looking at the other gear you bring. btw. while I have packed light for some trips but I completely understand bringing everything along, even a collapsable kitchen sink! I've brought a tent, a hammock, and an emergency shelter on a single overnight trip. Besides since I have a 10" outback oven and a GSI camping wok I am not allowed to criticize!

We could try do do one of these this winter, maybe a few hours of show and tell with some cooking like last year then some on on one afterwards so everyone doesn't get bored? Not sure if I'll have enough free time this winter to do this or not, by February Zoe with be 7 months old so maybe she can help out! Do you have a list of what you brought camping? Most people bring too many clothes. What didn't you use? Leave that stuff at home next time (first aid kit, rain jacket, etc... don't count!). Kim and I did 7 nights in Maine (paddled Explorer and Argonaut) with all of our water and food, and giant tent (old Walrus Velo Dome 10lbs!) and everything was in the hatches, even the poop tubes. Boats weighed a ton and I wouldn't do that again, we should have just refilled our water 1/2 way through the trip.

We did rescues with loaded boats several years ago at the first on water camping workshop that Peter Logan and I did. Jason is correct, everything is slower. If your technique is good it shouldn't make any difference. I would be more concerned about the deck bag coming loose and getting in the way than I would be about the gear in the kayak. Anyone here remember that feisty deck bag on Squall Lake several years ago?

Be careful not to put stress on the joint when you're puling it apart, in other words pull it straight. Holding the paddle vertically and pulling down will reduce stress on the ferrule. I had a paddle stick a few years ago, I had to wedge one blade in my trucks roof rack and slowly twist and pull the other half. Twisting won't work if you have the new ferrule system but you will still have to securely hold the other blade/end of paddle, another person holding it didn't work for me. One fear I have about using water under pressure is that it could actually push the sand and dirt deeper into the ferrule.

Ok now that I'm over my jealously that you're going to BC and I'm not...... Tofino "a quaint little town with a surfing problem" Bob recommended we go to Tofino and it was well worth it. Protected areas to paddle in and some lovely west coast surf if you're into that. Anytime you see someone peddling a bike to the beach with a surf board under their arm you know it's going to be a cool place.

Lake has reopened http://www.newburyportnews.com/local/x1388...ns-for-swimming

http://www.newburyportnews.com/local/x1243...evels-of-E-coli

Is the Coryvreken that large foam core beast of a paddle? Brian you can probably sell the Camano to someone with a rec kayak who uses a low angle stroke.

"Neither do I bother locking the car." Now that you've announced that on the internet perhaps you should start locking the car?

"Another consideration for choosing the right length is to monitor how deep your blades are in the water during the pulling/rotation phase of your paddle stroke (at the very same time you are “reading your watch†with your upper hand). If you submerge the blade past its neck (and part of the shaft is underwater) you are wasting energy and thus you need a shorter paddle." This is excellent advice! You can figure out the shaft and paddle length if you check the manufacturers websites and look up the blade length. Lets say you have a vertical stroke and your stroke isn't going to change when you get your new paddle. So if you're using a Werner Camano 220cm look up the blade length, then figure out the shaft length. Now figure out how much of the shaft you are (or are not) getting into the water at the start of the stroke. Lets say it's 5cm underwater at the start of your stroke, this means your paddle is 10cm too long. But if you order a 210cm Shuna the shaft will actually be longer than your 220cm Camano. The Camano blade is 54cm vs Shuna blade is 46cm so if you order a 210 cm Werner Shuna the shaft will be 118cm long, on a 220cm Camano the shaft is 112cm long. So according to my reasoning a vertical stroke with a 220cm Camano (that is 10 cm too long) would call for a 194cm Shuna. I'm sure some will debate this theory but in my world it makes perfect sense

Yes, it was the Goffstown games. I still have my stuff too, even the goals that I borrowed from Chris Thomas. I offered to return them years ago but he didnt seem to care. I'll have to contact him again.... although having a set of goals is handy just in case. btw. I used a plastic WW paddle which has a bit less of a slash factor that a carbon blade.

Many years ago when we played during the winter (yes in a pool, we were never that hardcore) helmets with face masks were required. Also calling a foul if anyone touches the ball with a paddle is a must. The boat moves to the ball, not the ball to the boat. This helps to avoid someone reaching for the ball and a paddle hacking their hand. note: the bad thing about playing in a pool is when three kayaks ram into someone, capsize him, and unintentionally pin him to the side of the pool so he can't roll. Ahhh the memories

Sal I typed really slowly (took a diaper changing break!) so the previous post wasn't up I posted. Once again great job everyone, seems like every year someone in this club saves a life!

First off excellent work saving them. I'm going to offer a differing opinion, I would have rushed right in and risked being capsized. My reasoning being it doesn't sound like the group was too far behind, I'm wearing a pfd and immersion wear, and in a worst case scenerio I could put the swimmer on the capsized boat and wait for the other paddlers or leave the kayak and swim the kid to shore. Of course who knows what I would have actually done in that situation since you get about 5 seconds to make your decision and I always waste 2-3 seconds of that time thinking "Oh *^"

The newest and youngest club member is Zoe Crouse, who was born on July 4th at 6:16PM. Mother, father and baby are all doing well. So at what age should she get her own kayak?

I wouldn't obsess about it too much, years ago on a trip I just couldn't roll. Ok I didn't roll then I convinced myself that I couldn't roll because I thought about it too much. The solution was to knock it off and stop trying to roll, a few weeks later I was rolling again without any practice or change in technique. My point is if you've paddled in those conditions before without any problem maybe it was just one of those days, we've all had them.

I saw Plasti Dip used years ago to coat the biner on a tow rope so it wouldn't scratch a boat. I suppose a high visability color would be a good choice for this.

That lovely curved menu bar (thanks Bill!) has a link that says Safety Info, that's the content of the brochures. As far as the brochures or PDF's of the brochures, sorry, I can't help with that.

MTI makes children's PFD's, Kokatat makes paddling jackets and the Super Nova suit for kids. I can't help with the baby monitor/VHF but as far as the day hatch modifcations, go for it, it's better than putting her in the rear hatch. Would a Baby Bjorn interfere with your forward stroke?

Just curious if anyone here who switched to a foam seat from a fiberglass seat finds that their torso rotation is inhibited? I ask because I never see any racers using foam seats and I feel like the foam seat in my Argonaut doesn't allow me to slide around (in a good way) like the glass seat in my other kayaks.

A bag of precooked rice, a can of stir fry veggies and a bag of chicken (box o' tofu for us vegetarians) is a real easy way to make the switch from a boil in a bag meal. I know most people are not going to make pizza in an outback oven, but it was fun to show what's possible. The pizza was pretty good too.