Sploosh!

We had a good practice yesterday, worked on starts and turns for the race. It was pretty cold, far too cold for late April! I really hope next weekend at the Rusty Iron the weather is more typical of late April. I think we are as ready as we are going to be for next weekend. Following practice Minnie and I went out for a short OC1 paddle since we hadn't gone particularly far during practice.

On our outbound leg I realized I haven't huli'd my new boat yet. I thought it might be a good idea to do that sometime, not on the outbound leg, though. I waited until I was quite near the beach and then I tried to fly the ama (paddle with the ama or outrigger out of the water), got a paddle stroke here and then another. I began to think this was pretty cool ... just as the boat started to go over! Sploosh! It then took me a while longer to climb back aboard than I expected. I was able to get back on and paddle in relatively quickly.

Back on the beach I noticed a pronounced degree of squishing and squelching with each step! I tried to drain out some while I put my boat away. Back in the apartment I managed to leave wet footprints from the entry way into the kitchen and over to the bathroom. But now I can say I've huli'd and gotten right back up again.