glad

Have a great day everybody. I wish I could join you. Looks like quite excellent conditions and cool enough not to bake in a dry suit. I have tickets to Alvin Alley sunday in the afternooon. Someone's birthday request. Yeah, it's really nice but frankly, I way rather be on the water with you all. Karen

Ken - so does this mean you are going to engage an outfitter to do the eco-outing? I am happy to help out but please let me know because it will take me some deep digging to find the name of the place i rented the kayaks from. I wholly agree with Carl regarding the two islands. I have some nautical charts of the area and we did some fantastic paddles from Maho Bay to snorkel, tour historic sugaring sites and just hang on the beach.

Hi Ken - a group of NSPNers went down to Maho Bay on St. John. I arranged to have some kayaks delivered from St Thomas. They were bathtubs but not sit on tops. I'll try to dig up the contact info for you. When do you leave? Karen

Also, what do you think of the k-lite layup? It could be my imagination but I always felt my fiberglass force 3 was noticeably lighter than my carbon/kevlar. As Dee mentioned, maybe it wasn't to spec.

Great idea about moving the bulk head. I'd like to leave a little space for the occasional longer legged friend especially with the HV but more cargo space for camping would be a big bonus. I had a bad experience stowing a crazy creek chair in front of my foot pegs. It trapped my ankles after sloshing up around the inside of the coaming in a surf landing. Not a pretty sight being dragged around by both ankles as the boat got pounded by th incoming waves. What are peoples' experience with Kevlar? Karen

I like the keel protector idea since I needed to put a strip on my Romany after a few years of abuse. Who does that? I thought I saw it on Kevin's B's boat. I will likely be landing in some surf on gravel/rocky berms.

I am considering getting the new Force 3 HV and am considering different materials. I've read the IMPEX product literature on carbon kevlar, k-lite, and kevlar but it is pretty limited. I could use some help with the pros and cons. I don't mind sacrificing a little flex were I to get all kevlar since I was told this only matters if you are racing. Since the time I really end up hurting myself is hauling the boat, I was looking for low weight. I probably would not do much rock-gardening in that boat. But I will likely be dragging it on the shore. What do you think? Thanks, Karen

Meet at Conomo Point at 1200p on Sunday for first season's paddle for some of us. This will be a shake-down, nature, laughing, leisure cruise. Of course Leslie will be there so we'll be chasing after her. Figuring on a 3 hour-ish paddle. Could be longer depending. We are thinking of staying within the basin but that could change. The water is very cold. Dry suits required and other cold water gear, skills required. Conditions when checked yesterday called for very little wind and temps in the 50's. Please state your level of interest here so we know to look for you. Also note that my email address: drkglad at gmail dot com is not working. Karen

I used to sing in a jazz ensemble, did some folk performing and lot's of classical music. But the last two were in former lives. I could probably resurrect them for some sea shanty singing. Let me know when you get together! Karen

Ok. Here is an addition to the 2008 story of bad kayak karma. In November after paddling with Leslie, I lost my cyprus 205 paddle at the Sherman Bridge in Wayland [don't ask how-it's too embarrassing-of course, what could be more embarrassing than crushing my kayak...]. One week later when I realized that the paddle was missing I put up a bunch of fancy signs offering a reward with no questions asked. I was advised by my friends to just let it go which i did.....Until I got a call last week from a fellow who announced his name, said that he found my paddle, described it exactly [there was some distinctive tape on it from Ben Lawry's class] and said that he was sorry it was sitting around in his garage and he 'figured someone would be looking for it'. He said he would call again...that was 7 days ago. He left no call back number, it was a private number and I can't find his name in any of the people searches. Wayland Police say I have no recourse. Anybody have a suggestion? Any kayak mafia connections?

life's been crazy - I am a maybe ; 0.5 probability [that's 50%] Karen

Many flavors of Clif Bar have been recalled as a precautionary measure. Check out, clifbar.com to see if you are in possession of some of these bars. I unwittingly ate one of the [delicious] dipped, Mojo P B and J bars a few days ago and am still alive. Karen

Hey Les - that was awesome. Thank you for posting it. Really walks you through how the s--t hits the fan from the warmth of my study. Karen Winner of this year's HKA

That's a very good price. Though I appreciate Suz's comment [i will try this in the future-though I didn't have much luck with CRCK]. I 've bought TWO cypress 205 paddles [don't ask...if you can believe it, I lost one...this was two months after my kayak crushing incident ] and love them. The best price I could find was at Kayakpro in Washington state for 347 and free shipping. Karen

Ok the jig is up. Sal-you get the prize. I will tell you that Bob Burnett figured it out immediately. However in my wisdom to tether the boat "securely" to the "dock", I tied both the bow AND stern lines to the pilings. If I had tied JUST the bow or stern, my poor boat might have escaped the slow, screaming crush through the cycle of one tide.

Just my ego was hurt. It could have been a blond moment.

I'm not sayng anything yet but one of you is close. Use David's hints. And by the way, my insurance would NOT pay for this calamity because it occurred under "natural" conditions. Karen

Find Leslie Beale - she is the queen of core body training [it's getting scary] and she's been hard to keep up with of late. Karen

I saw this film last year in the Essex Ship Building Museum. I really enjoyed it and thought it was worth seeing. Karen

I will be in the Blue Hill Bay area during the time of the Maine Paddling Symposium in Bar Harbor scheduled for next weekend [9/5-7]. Any experienced open water paddlers interested in a few day trips or possibly an over night or two in that area after the symposium? Please write to drkglad at gmail dot com. Karen

QUOTE(Kevin B @ Jun 25 2008, 05:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Not sure if anyone else saw this, but kind of neat: http://demo.geogarage.com/noaa/ THAT IS AWESOME! Karen

probably will not go- am not feeling well. if it changes in the morning, i'll just be there. have a great day! karen

I might be interested. Might meet up with some folks in the Essex bay portion. However, sometimes getting in through the break at the southern end of Cranes can be tricky in a low tide with confused, high seas. I have never had a problem finding the entrance to Fox Creek from the Essex Basin side. I'd love to have a mid to late morning start if possible. Karen

Bob - you are welcome to use my Romany 16 or Force 4 [has pretty aggressive thigh braces]. I have a cypress paddle but unfortunately will be bringing it to your neighborhood while you are in mine. If you need a place to stay you can stay at my house in Arlington and use my car with kayak racks. Karen