PeterB

Brian, we will miss you! There are currently 12 people signed up(now that Brian won't be there) and three are spotters , so one of us can become a participant with boat. We can work this out between the three of us at poolside. If we can't communicate between now and 5PM , just bring your boat and we'll work it out there. Peter

I thought Gin was great. I would appreciate some sort of regular yoga workshop, if others are interested. Yoga has been prescribed to me by a couple of kayak instructors. I'm close enough to Newburyport to be part of something regular.

a waiting list can always be started. If you're interested, contact me at pbrady@neaq.org

Kevin, I have not traveled with Body Boat & Blade , may do so this summer when I will be out on the west coast for two weeks. I know a fair number of people who know them and reports are uniformly positive. Talking on the phone would surely answer your questions. A benefit to going with an outfit like BB&B is that while you are out paddling, exploring, eating, you can get great instruction along the way. I have always wanted to have some sort of combined expedition & instructional experience. Instructional workshops/classes by nature have some atmosphere of formality , but instruction threaded into an adventure would have a quality of its own. Peter

(Perhaps preaching to the choir but…) To amplify Rick’s recent post on safety: Paddling this time of year can be deceptively hazardous The water is cold ,cold, cold right now! Temps are low as they get all year, perhaps below 40 degrees F. At that temperature, I find that my bare hand can lose sensation after just a few seconds of immersion. Ironically, the water is warmer and it’s probably safer to paddle in November and December. As the air gets warmer, the enticement to get out and paddle grows, but its harder to dress with layers for immersion. Also, as the air temps increase and the difference between air and water temps widen, immersion is a bigger shock, and paddlers with bomb proof rolls & recoveries can sometimesbe overwhelmed by the initial shock of cold water immersion. Insulating headwear should be considered, as hot and stuffy as it might seem now . I like the Kokatat balaclava.

for Baja: Aqua Adventures in San diego www.aqua-adventures.com Many options for B.C. Try Tofino Kayak Co. (google: sea kayak British Columbia, or sea kayak Tofino.) or Body Boat & Blade in the San Juan Islands, Wash. State , www.bodyboatblade.com

The evening definitely revved up my Wanderlust. Showing up at the Cramalot Inn (a one -room, bring -your-own bar on the docks in Grand Bruit, S.Newfoundland) with a bottle of whiskey could make for an interesting evening. Thanks, folks, for putting this together.

Aaah, no criticissm of your boat by any means. I have paddled with you in the fog, and must say that orange is a nice color to have around when you hear the sputtering of lobster boats but can't see them.... I was just musing that a black and orange color motif is cool. (Maybe because I grew up a Cleveland Browns fan , and was always fond of those raw umber (almost black) jerseys and orange helmets.

I'm looking for the textured black 4" tape that is most commonly applied as a protective layer on kayak decks where scuffing is most likely to occur ( where spare paddles are stowed etc). I think it only comes in black. I need to apply it to a small area where I grip and push off of the back deck when hoisting myself out of my (small) ocean cockpit. That's why I needed only a small amount. 4" is the recommended width. P&H boats, by the way, have a cool little textured area on the back deck at just the spot where I need to apply this tape. When applied thoughtfully, it looks very nice. It could look quite sharp, Gary, on the orange deck of your boat, now that I think about it. Peter

Never tred this on a skeg, but sometimes plastic items immersed in very hot water, long enough to soften , and then set up so they hang verticaly , will straighten themselves. This works, e.g. for the sword blabes and rifle barrels on plastic toy soldiers etc., might work with a skeg.

I would consider paddling the coast of Maine as a form of rehab.

I don't know.

A roll is around $50, I think, way more tape than I need, so I was hoping to get a few strips at the end of somebody's roll. Going threeway or fourway on a purchase would work for me. if Brian is interested we have three. A fourth or maybe fifth person would work better for me.

I need a small amount of pro stripe tape (the textured stuff): about four 6" strips of 4" wide tape. Anybody got some at the end of their roll? Peter

Heidi, yes, there's still room. Peter

The Outfitting/repair workshop will be this Sunday, and there are seven spots still open! See the calendar for details. The workshop will be at New England Small Craft in Rowley, from 9AM till whenever. Brad will be available to demonstrate repair methods like fiberglass/ gelcoat repair. This is a great opportunity to do repair or outfitting work on your boat in the company of friends. To sign up, contact me at pbrady@neaq.org

Lendal paddles. http://www.lendal.com/page.asp?pgid=500010...70010001®ion=UK CRCK has them, so does the Kayak Centre in RI and some at Kittery Trading Post.

Gay, Most pool sessions have a pretty wide array of paddles (greenland, high end carbon, some plastic etc) so going to a pool session and trying out the paddles of various participants would be a start. Doing this on the real water would be even better. I'd be happy to participate in some kind of lets everybody-share -each- others-paddles - and boats kind of outing. Most paddlers progress from longer to shorter paddles, and end up with paddles in the 210-220cm range, with some (generally advanced) paddlers using 205cm. I went from 220 to 215 to 211 to 208. Fortunately I was able to go through the last three progressions (215-208) with the same paddle, by chopping it down on a table saw and drilling new ferrule holes. A few paddles have an adjustable length and/or adjustable feather feature, which could be very handy and save some $ in the long run. Werner paddles are very popular; theres a Werner paddle for everyone, and they run from very good/pretty expensive to very very very good/very expensive. A Werner carbon paddle is very easy to sell if it doesn't work for you. CRCK sells them and often have good sales. The paddlesports event at KTP (early April) sells everything (including Werner) at a 10% discount, with no sales tax (its in Durham NH) which can add up when you get into that 300-400$ range. "Alone,alone, all, all alone. Alone on a wide wide sea..." -Coleridge

This'd a been a gooooood day to get the paddle wet . But alas, I'm too busy at work to play hooky... If any of you are lucky enough to be out there today , I will try to suppress my feelings of envy and wish you a great day on the water.

I had appointed Deb Millar quartermaster general/PPPO coordinator for Portsmouth pool sessions. She had mentioned someplace else (Red Hook Ale House or some such thing) , so you may defer to her, or you two can duke it out. I'll stay out of that one and go wherever I'm herded. Peter

Maybe she is destined to go over to the dark side... "Alone,alone, all, all alone. Alone on a wide wide sea..." -Coleridge

Dan, you might be able to do the work yourself, if you are so inclined. The inside area of the boat near the cockpit is fairly accessable so it might be a fairly sraightforward job. The outfitting repair workshop in March (check the calendar) might be worth coming to. Kevlar is tricky stuff to work with, hard to cut and can get fuzzy, but I think you can patch over an kevlar area with fiberglass or fiberglass/epoxy. Brad could advise,or otherwise do the work; he is da man.

Eddyline kayaks,including the NH are not of a Greenland design: if they could be called anything it would be a "North American" design , or "Pacific Northwest" design ,(along with Necky, Current Design, and Seaward kayaks) , as opposed to a "British" Design. By" British" design, one usually means a kayak with upswept bow and stern, and most but not all have rubber hatches, a dayhatch, an internal skeg ,and no rudder . Boats by Valley, Nigel Dennis (NDK) and P&H (what does P&H stand for anyay?) are the embodiment of what people call British designs. They are derived from greenland kayaks, so a British style boat (Avocet, Romany, e.g.) shares some but not all features common to greenland kayaks , mainly the upswept bow and stern, and a fairly low aft deck. Boats from the Pacific Northwest, including Eddylines,are generaly a bit wider (22" and up) tend to have flat, not upswept, sterns , perhaps to facilitate the attachment of a rudder. Many North American designs incorporate a rudder, although this is changing. Few Eddyline boats have included rudders, a bit unusual for North American companies. Necky and Current Design boats are coming out with more British designs, too, like the Necky Chatham and the C.D. Gulfstream. BCU stands for British Canoe Union.

High tide (Kittery Point) is 5:50PM, low is 11:52 AM. I am available. OOPS: no I'm NOT; CPR class at Gould Barn that day. Sorry for false alarm... (I presume you meant Sunday the 25th) Peter "Alone,alone, all, all alone. Alone on a wide wide sea..." -Coleridge

Go for it, Ed. Slide that cursor over to the "Private Trips" Section. I'll be ready...