Gcosloy

Congrats Kevin. You will live to paddle another day. Good example of using the cheapest and most difficult to perform well, gear in the paddler's arsenal, good judgement.

I think it is unfortunate situations like this that reinforces the need for active clubs like NSPN which because they stress safety continuously and skill building opportunities probably saves more lives than any other suggestion. I think someone once reported that no-one has ever been lost in the history of the club. I know I would't be any where as safety concious if it wasn't for NSPN. What's the most precious safety possession that I've learned to cherish through the examples of NSPN members? Personal judgement.

Actually the Seals are appearing at the Dry Breakers. It's a very grunge venue!

While we all realize that the Queen of England has been in town this week, ostensibly to celebrate the Jamestown experiment, actually 400 years since the Brits last stopped dining on each other, it is not really necesssary for Yanks to either curtsy, bow or use the word whilst. I suffer from Anglophilia as much as the next guy and some of my best friends are English (does Cornwall count?) but really, you should leave whilst to our betters. Next you'll be telling us the Red Sox beat the Yankees 6 null, or that one of your favorite cars is the Nissan Zed-80. Ok, I'm going out paddling tommorrow to see the Seals at the Gooseberries and I'm stopping now!

I used to own a Miata and bought a car cover for it. The Miata has long since been replaced but the cover hardly used remains. It's your's if you want it.

Ok here's my list: Arrive fully dressed in dry-suit with fleece underneath. 1. Fishing line with some hooks 2. Large knife 3. Medium folding Japanese Saw (cut up to 4 “ branches) 4. Bow and some arrows. 5. Female of childbearing age. 6. Broad Spectrum antibiotic for gram positive bacteria 7. Broad spectrum antibiotic for gram negative bacteria 8. Water desalination unit that operates on the principle of ion exchange. 9. Flints for fire making. 10. Take the Kayak with it’s included gear. We know nothing beforehand about the Island, nor it's location from any habitable land. Surviving has many definitions. What would it mean to have survived and died of natural causes on the Island? Success in the biological sense depends upon the ability to propagate our genes. Hence the need for item 5.

Let’s play the Desert Island Game. You are going to a Desert Island where you will stay for an indeterminate amount of time. You may take 10 things with you of your choosing. You can take anything as long as it is unitary, i.e. singular. You cannot take for instance the REI store in Reading, nor can you take delivery service from Whole Foods. Ten things only such as one Swiss army knife (number of blades unlimited), one saw (if it’s a chain saw, you’ll need gasoline and oil, possibly two more things). Survival tools may also include spiritual and psychological aids such as a Bible, or my Beetles album. What will you play the album on and if so where does the energy come from? Rules can be relaxed for items that are by nature a collection of other things, i.e. a first aid kit may count as one thing, the surgical team at Massachusetts General Hospital will not. To make it more interesting a Kayak shall include a paddle, pfd, spray skirt, paddle float and pump and count as one thing. You may keep the clothes on your back when you are deposited on the Island and what you arrive wearing is your choice. One more caveat: All electronic communication devices are verboten. Let the game begin!

Love to participate. Have an unused, unscathed helmet in bright orange. Any date is fine. Prefer Cape Ann over the north country.

> >> >>I don't know what the "autoloader" costs. Is someone >>willing to reveal their purchase price? > >A Glock 17 9mm runs around $500. > >Oh, kayak rack. > >The Thule Hull A Port runs around $140 > >Ed Lawson Remember what Woodie Allen had Alan Alda intone in one of his better flicks, "Comedy is tragedy plus time." Your atempt to amuse falls short because not enough time has passed since the massacre at Virginia Tech. Try again in 5 years!

Kevlar is much stronger than fiberglass and will result in a lighter boat if used in combination with glass. However Kevlar alone is not stiff enough and is seldom used alone. Boats that are largely Kevlar are very flexible and may just bounce off submerged rocks while a fiberglass boat being more stiff could be damaged more easily. All boats have a gel coat exterior which is less flexible than Kevlar. If you sit on the deck or stern of a Kevlar boat while on land, you may very well cause cracks in the gel coat. The irony is that while a Kevlar boat is more resilient to real damage, you might have to baby it more if you want to preserve it's unblemished gel coat exterior. I briefly owned a Kevlar Ellesmere which while it weighed only 45 lbs. had no other performance advantage over it's heavier bretheren. It was a joy to launch and carry.

Possibly, the easiest handling boat of all time and not slow either. My only caveat is the cockpit is designed for a big paddler. CD came out with the Willow this season which they claim is a Gulfstream sized for small/medium paddlers.

Suz, I'm familiar with the Capella 169. Is the 167 a redesigned 169? If so, what's changed? Demo day at CRC&K is every day! They have P&H.

Can't speak for myself but am willing and happy to explain everyone else's behavior: 1. Too cold water for those without proper clothing, ie. dry suits, even wet suits. 2. Many members not as gung ho. Will wait for "ideal conditions". 3. Some, including myself, not yet ready after a long winter layoff to keep up with the more fit. 4. Some of us live south of the North Shore. More's the pity! However it usually means a long drive for many of the S&G's. 5. Spouses, friends, competing interests and even obligations.

>I wonder if any of the current music proposed in this >thread will still be played or even remembered in 2107, much >less 2334 (= 327 years later, the time that the Canon in D >has been around (since 1680)). > >--David. Very good point, however there exists implied in your message the distinction between what may be merely popular and what is good. If we go back to the time of the great masters, say Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Brahms and inquire who was at the top of the charts in their time, the results might surprise and astonish us. For the most part, second and third rate composers were the public's favorites. Mozart might have been the exception but even he had his contemporary competition. Mahler and even Wagner were reviled and ignored during their time. Pachebel's Canon in D as an example of what we now dub "Early Music" was totally ignored by orchestra's and the air waves until the 50's when it and many other masterpieces were resurrected by a popular radio personality in NYC called "DeKoven". Even Mozart was ignored for years in the modern era. We're currently doing the same for some of the great Nationalistic composers such as Sibelius, Dvorak, and Tchiakovsky. And don't get me started on the decline of Rachmaninoff. (I'm not talking about WCRB but the programming choices of the great Orchestra's of the West. So, the only conclusion I can make is that "times---they are a' changing". Was that a line from a classic folk song by Robert Zimmerman aka Bob Dylan?

Take my slot------------please! Can't make it.

Check out this interesting article on the foibles of GPS use in todays NYTimes. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/opinion/...r=1&oref=slogin

>Beethoven! The Sixth is great for cruising and/or stroke >practice, and the Seventh for working a heavy tidal race. >Dunno about dancing, however. > >--David. Ah yes- but don't forget Richard Wagner dubbed Beethoven's 7th "the apotheosis of the dance" As far as paddling music however-what about warming up to Ravel's Bolero?

Right on John. You are correct, turning the story around where you were the victim or the vulnerable one, or even the jerk, gets their emphatic attention.

Please see my post on this subject under NSPN Business.

The boat ramp at Walden opens in April. Unless your'e a senior "quaint term" parking at the site is 5.00 per visit or I think 35.00 per season. The area is patrolled and after one warning without a sticker there is a fine. The ramp usually closes for the season sometime in Nonember. The biggest problem with Walden is that the rangers enforce the evening closing time at 7:30PM even though there still may be plenty of light.

David,et al, I have a question. The Kalliste is touted by Werner to be for a low angle paddling style. One, if that is true, wouldn't you need a slightly longer shaft to paddle in that style? Two, what if any is the disadvantage of paddling the Kalliste in a high angle style?

Adam-I don't know if this is presented for laughs or not. There is one serious use which is the ability to float most of your body out of the water, thereby reducing hypothermia risk while you're waiting for rescue. (Assuming you either lost the boat or have become to weak to reenter same.) I wonder if anyone markets an emergency inflatable product that could easily be carried on the back of a PFD?

It does appear hopeless at this point. I happened upon this thread on a rowing site: http://groups.google.com/group/rec.sport.r...39564d?lnk=raot Maybe rowers drink something else in their water than kayakers do!

Thanks Jason-I think the 5/8" center could be filled with a 5/8" or 3/4" dowel to stiffen the noodle against collapse. They are cheap enough to experiment with.

Yes I think after looking at the product, you are correct. Not being able to fold them up into the hatches is a problem. A better solution is if each roller were self contained and could be secured into the soil with something like tent pins or stakes. When you got to the front, you would simply remove the rear exposed roller and place it forward to continue. Finally, the 4 to 5 rollers could easily pack inside the kayak and nor interfere with rescues. Sounds like a great product for me to prototype and market. What do you think, maybe 6 people world-wide might want a set of these?