GoPro Video Camera

Have I ever mentioned how awesome my brother is? My sister in law, too. This year for my birthday they gifted me with a GoPro Wrist Hero camera. Fully rigged it weighs just under 5 oz. Has a waterproof housing and audio capabilities. I am now forced to learn how to use iMovie on my mac! There are worse things to have to do in life.

I tried to video the outrigger race yesterday but was having some technical difficulties with the media card. I'll have that worked out for the next one. Enjoy these for now and expect to see more in the future.

My very first video, you can see my torso, Jasen, Lisa, and Doug M.



My second video, Stan has the boat with the red deck, and later in the video you can see Doug M and Sabine headed towards me. I still need to work on getting a more level set up on the rear iako or learning how to level the video in post production.

Big Things in the Planning

This is going to be a very exciting year. I'm really enjoying my new outrigger club, practices are awesome and we have a lot of races planned for this year. There are three big outrigger races in the northern hemisphere. The biggest is the Moloka'i Crossing, a 42 mile change out race. Then there is Kona or more properly named Queen Lili'uokalani Long Distance Canoe Race, an 18 mile iron race. Iron means not change out, you race the entire distance without a break. And finally, there is the Catalina US Championships, crossing from Newport Beach Harbor across to Catalina Island. It's a 28 mile change out race. Last summer I set a personal goal for myself to do Catalina in 2009, Queen Lili'uo in 2010, and Moloka'i in 2011.

Tonight I had a meeting with Jasen and Sabine to discuss some logistics for doing Catalina this year. Jasen is heading up coordination of our team, Sabine is offering the voice of experience. And what do I bring? Loads of commitment and enthusiasm and willingness to help out where ever help is needed. It's looking exciting, we have a good group that seem interested in participating, we just need to have them commit and get on board with training.

I have lots more I want to share about my race schedule for this year, but the meeting went a while longer than I anticipated (it was over dinner so at least we didn't starve!) and I'm really tired. Practice was kinda tough and I was having trouble breathing, still getting over a cold/sinus infection and I felt like I was gasping the whole practice. Bleh and that was even after a few hits of the albuterol.

Communication

Have you ever said something, thought you were perfectly clear as to your intent and then the other person totally misunderstood what you were saying, misunderstood your intent? It's rather frustrating when it happens and really frustrating when it happens over and over again, regardless of how much care you may take. I have two bosses at work and I communicate very well with one of them and with the other it's kind of hit or miss. I can tell when my meaning is not being fully understood pretty quickly, her upper lip puckers up and begins to quiver ever so slightly, she gives the appearance of gotten a whiff of some really powerful stink. At that point I try to back peddle as best I can.

My situation at work isn't one I can just cut loose from. I really, really like my job and my bosses. I realize I need to work on my communication and just try to minimize the mis-communications as best I can. I found I was having similar difficulty with some of the folks over at SSP. One of the tasks I had taken on for the club was the dissemination of information from the folks running the club to the members of the club. It's something that groups can have difficulty with. I found myself venting to a couple of friends with more regularity than I liked about how communication was challenging in general and that I had felt the backlash of misunderstandings and mis-communications with greater and greater frequency. I kept saying, I'll give it one more year and see if things change if they don't I'm going to leave this club. Well, two instances of miscommunication occurred at the end of October/beginning of November and my patience snapped. I found a place to store my OC1 and contacted another club to see if I could join them and then quit SSP.

I have joined the Seattle Outrigger Canoe Club (SOCC) and have been very happy with my decision. I have no responsibilities other than to show up and paddle, help move the canoe into and out of the water, and maybe bail the canoe, but nothing else. It's nice and refreshing, relaxing even. I was surprised at how much tension I had locked up in my neck that immediately dissipated once I switched clubs. I really miss many of the SSP club members, but they are friends and we keep in touch, we'll have a nice little rivalry at the races this year.

Of course, I am unable to keep from helping out where I see a need. I don't have many other things occupying time in my life, why not throw myself into the outrigger world. Can you imagine my surprise to see my name put forth for the SOCC board position of secretary? I mean I knew that I offered to help out in any way the club could use me, but I was still tickled to see my name on the ballot. As I have seen no other names put forth I think chances are pretty darn high that I will be the new secretary of SOCC. So there you have it, I'm still paddling, just with a different group now.

Activation Energy

Hey all, long time no post! To ease back into it I'm going to give you a little chemistry lesson. For a chemical reaction to occur a number of conditions must be met, one of which is the activation energy must be overcome. Basically that means the components of the reaction will sit together quite happily co-existing until you dump enough energy into the reaction vessel to overcome the activation energy after which the reaction will speed merrily along. And here's a picture I found on wikipedia. I know there is a lot of ugly looking math on the picture, the take home message is that you have to get over the hump for things to move along more easily.

With all the whatever going on in my life I sort of closed in on myself a bit, go paddling, go to work (still only 4 days a week), play with the dogs, not write my blog. Even though I had lots of ideas that I wanted to put down. As more time passed between postings the harder it became to sit down and write, my activation energy was growing higher and higher until it felt insurmountable (insert pity party here). This morning I finally decided that it didn't really matter what I wrote so long as I tapped out something! Activation energy overcome the posts should be flowing a bit more freely now. And I have so much to tell you!

More details on the Gorge Games race in a later post but for anyone who gets Fox Sports News (FSN) they have an outrigger segment! I haven't re-watched it in super slow-motion but I think you can see the women's crew, I know you can see one of the men's crews (seats 5 Ernie & 6 Troy) in a red and yellow, borrowed, boat. Here in Seattle the entire Gorge Games coverage will be rebroadcast on Saturday. The outrigger portion was on the 4th day/episode, approx 20 min into the 30 min show.

More wind, no huli this time

On Thursday night we got our mixed crew together for a practice, good to have at least one before racing together! Albert, Lise, Jason, me, Jen, and John steering. About 5 minutes after leaving the beach the wind, which was already not insignificant, kicked up. I was still a bit apprehensive from Tuesday so we headed north from the SSP beach.

About 15 minutes in we were already in some 1-2 foot swells and I noticed there were whitecaps, too. We continued north a few more minutes before John turned us around. He did an excellent job. Usually turns are made towards the ama or to the left, which keeps us in a more stable configuration. John turned us wide and slow to the right which kept the boat oriented where the wind helped to force the ama down and remain more stable. I never would have thought of that. Just another reason I'm not a steersman. That and my hind parts are too beamy for that seat!

My left butt bone area got a little bit crampy since I was leaning that way to help with our stability. The ama did pop up a few times but never in a way that made me feel like we were going over. However, we had no warning that we were going over Tuesday. We had taken a short break earlier and I instructed Jason and Jen (in seats 3 and 5) to keep an eye on the ama and help keep it in the water.

I'd like to take an aside here and say that Jen is one tough cookie! Her first go our we had her paddle down to the 520, no short paddle. Then Tuesday we huli her and need to be rescued. Then Thursday night taker her out in aggressive conditions. And she keeps coming out! Perhaps she's got a masochistic streak, I don't know. Regardless, Jen, you ROCK!

We made it back to the relatively sheltered area off the SSP beach and practiced turns for a little while. That was rather important since Da Grind has 4 turns. We started to get them dialed in and decided to head back into the beach. We were as good as we were going to be for Saturday's race.

an epiphany of sorts and Da Grind

I left the office today with a little bit of a bounce in my step. We finally have enough work that I can bring some home and work from home tomorrow. As I was making my way to the bus tunnel it flashed into my head, I haven't been able to work from home consistently for over a month. And that's, in part, what's helped cause my blogging to be less frequent. I have no guilt blogging during my work from home days but blogging in the office just seems like a really bad idea. I don't know that we will have lots of work regularly, we keep hoping another big project will hit and we'll be so busy we can't see straight but it hasn't arrived yet.

While taking a bit of a break today and looking at a blog I follow I saw this ad. Don't know if it's factual or not but I like their marketing ideas.

I'd like to invite everyone and anyone down to Alki Beach in Seattle this Saturday June 7 for Da Grind. It's an outrigger race sponsored by Seattle Outrigger Canoe Club (SOCC). The women's and mixed crew race will begin at 9:30 and the men's race will begin 30 minutes after the first race has completed. It's a pretty good race for viewing from the beach, it's two laps and the boats pass quite close to the beach. Last year between each lap the boats had to stop have a paddler jump out, run up the beach around a cone, then back into the boat so the second lap could begin. It's silly and fun and a great way for viewers to see the boats and paddlers up close. That little run may not be held this year as Da Grind is being held 2 months early and the water will still be pretty cold. But truthfully, when is the water in Elliot Bay ever not cold! Here's some video from last years race, I'm in seat four of the Sail Sand Point crew. If you have really good eyes you can see me on the start line, I have on a long sleeved dark blue shirt and a neon green hydration fanny pack. Not that my fanny needs hydration any more than the rest of me ...


Hope we can see you down there!

Jericho highlights

Had a great time up at Jericho Saturday. It was a very long day and I was soo tired when I got home last night. I'll just give you the highlights right now because I'm off to Folklife in a bit, a second date even!

Master women 1:29:38 3rd place master women, 11th across the line (first was at 1:16:27)
Open men A 1:07:43 3rd open men, 4th across the line (first at 1:04:46)
Open men B 1:21:15 10th open men

It was a day filled with adventure and I will fill you in on all the details either tonight or in the morning.

Some cool links and things

Had a pretty laid back day Sunday. The usual sleep in and snuggly with the dog boyz. And then of course, the Sunday Seattle Times Pacific NW magazine had an article on outrigger! By the way the little dash surfer is attached to my dashboard! It's a nice article and a number of my club members are either quoted or photographed. I was at the Vancouver race, that was the OC1 race where I had cramped up so badly.

Here is a video of my boat (same color even) being demonstrated in Hawai'i.


And a link to Mindy's outrigger video blog. Mindy lives in southern California and shoots lots of wonderful outrigger videos. And from her blog I found this link to Outrigger Chicks, I think this is another blog by Mindy.

some cool videos

I'd hoped to write up a bit more this evening but have been distracted. Someone was asking me about outrigger and to illustrate what I was talking about I found some cool videos on YouTube. So here you go:

Some Molokai Crossing.


A women's change out crew.


Some outrigger surfing. I want to do this one day!

Nexus Pass

A Nexus pass is a must have for anyone making regular trips across the US/Canada border. If you've crossed recently you may have seen the line for Nexus card holders. Yup, it's the line with NO WAITING and easily identified while you sit counting blades of grass on the side of the road waiting for the line to move at something greater than glacial pace.

For a mere $50 you can get a pass allowing you to use this lane for 5 years. If you make 6-8 trips per year across the border this $10 per year investment can save quite bit of time. I went online in December and filled out the application. Among other things they want to know every address you've had for the past 5 years, employment history, passport number, drivers license number, and all the other information needed for a thorough background check. Then you punch in your credit card number and hurry up and wait for them to get back to you.

About 3-4 weeks later I got notification that I could now make my interview appointment. The earliest appointment was for April 16 at 11 am! A fellow paddler, Doug, had his appointment the Monday before and he sent out a message describing his experience. Sounded rather daunting, big scary people with guns asking lots of questions, took him around 1.5 hours. I brought some work along to do while I waited and my birth certificate, which wasn't on the list of things you had to bring but Doug said they asked for anyway, gave him a hard time for not having it too. I passed my documents to the not so scary guy and was told to go wait outside next to the guy who needed to learn a little dab'l do ya with regards to the cologne.

I was called in within 10 minutes to be asked a handful of questions first by the US customs agent: why do you want a Nexus pass? race outriggers monthly or so; have I ever been arrested? no; ever had a DUI? no; basically ever got caught doing anything wrong? no. I got caught up talking about outrigger with both customs agents. Then he took my photo digitally and my finger prints, also digitally. Now time for a repeat performance of all the questions with the Canadian customs agent. We went through the questions pretty quickly and then she wanted to pick my brain about outrigger. I gave her the condensed version, my contact information, and days and times of our practices. I was completely done in 25 minutes and that was including all the gabbing about outrigger and now I have my Nexus pass. Wahoo, time to go to Canada in the fast lane, except the my next race there isn't until Memorial Day weekend.

Cake Seeking Icing - 41 (Seattle)

I'm not sure if *you* have all made up your mind about me, but I cannot decide if I'm crazy or just want to live life on the edge. Last Wednesday night I posted a personals ad on craigslist. I figure my life is pretty darn good, finding a nice guy would be icing on the cake, hence my post title, it's the same on my ad. If you want to see it you'll have to go look for it. I have tried eharmony and match, have had some first dates a couple of second dates, I just haven't found my icing yet. I really like icing, it makes an already tasty dessert even better. I tried to be pragmatic in my ad, not sound like I'm desperate to get laid, not sound too crazy, and set no limitations on what I was looking for, aside from gender=male, and having heard that some guys like to send photos of their penises in the first communication I requested that they not do that in the initial email. I included the photo I have to the right. Bring it, let's see what happens.

First message arrived 15 minutes after I posted. Dang, that was fast. This first guy seemed quite nice. We exchanged a number of emails that night and ended up going to dinner Thursday evening. He was a lot more attractive over email, talking in person to him he just seemed kind of eh, bland. Now I need to write him a thanks-but-no-thanks email. I just got another message from him this evening asking me out for tonight. I have got to write that no thanks email.

The next message arrived 20 minutes after posting. Very brief, thought the way I ended my post was very funny, deadpan. I wrote back asking if he was looking for someone to spend time with or just reading for amusement. Got back a nice response, he is looking for someone and included the bulk of an ad he'd posted. Turns out I'd read it before, but was too daunted by his list of activities to actually write him. We have plans to meet tomorrow for a walk at Seward Park.

Then an hour after there was the guy with herpes. Thanks for your interest, move along. And then the guy who wanted me to show him my penis, it would be our little secret. ScoobyDoo sounding "huh?!?" Little did he know, I'm a blogger and this would be posted, hehehe.

Two hours post post a guy wrote asking if I like punk music. That was it, the extent of his message. We have now exchanged a couple of messages. Just going along for the ride to see where this one goes.

Thursday morning I got my first penis picture. I told a friend about it, she asked if it was nice, the pic and/or the penis. Sorry to say he was a thumbs down for both. Not sure if he thought he was being cute or was just an ass. Didn't want to stick around to find out. Noon Thursday got a message from a guy willing to relocate from Northern California if things were to work out!?!?! What, are there no women in NorCal? Or have they all shot him down already?

Midnight Thursday brought a very long message from a non-native speaker of English. He had a lot to say and I'm still trying to piece together what to write back to him. Friday got a nice note from a guy in Federal Way asking 'what breed is your dogs?' Big plus points for asking about the dogs, small minus points for poor grammer. I did write him back, we'll see where this one goes, too. And finally around 7 pm Friday evening I got a message from a 26 year old guy. I'm not sure what to think, on one hand had I gotten busy early in high school I'm old enough to be his mother, on the other am I ready to be a cougar?

I can already tell this is probably the first in a series of postings. See what happens when paddling practice gets canceled! Stupid wind!

I got worked

I went up to Jericho in Vancouver, BC this morning. We left Seattle around 6:45 with a full carload, Ed was paddling OC2 with Clem, who had gone up Fri night, and Doug N who was paddling OC1, and my friend Scotty who loves anything to do with boats. I paddled this one OC1.

For any small boat race I participate in I have three goals I hope to meet. 1) don't huli (flip the boat), 2) finish the race, 3) don't finish dead last. I very nearly didn't meet two of my goals. I came damn close to huli'ing on more than one occasion, way too close for comfort. I was also very close to finishing dead last.

Conditions started out ideal, not too cold, not much wind, and the snow that had been predicted never materialized. We were told it was about 6 miles. Leave from in front of the dock, go towards False Creek, around 2 channel marker bouys, then back and around the first dolphin (large wooden piling marker structure), and back to the dock to finish. Up towards False Creek was upwind and not so bad. I was feeling a little out of shape and held back some as I didn't want to start coughing. I was at the back of the rapidly spreading out pack. There was one kapuna master guy (over 55) near me, about halfway to the bouys I was able to pull away from him some, but couldn't seem to catch anyone else. That first leg also cut right through a sailing regatta, at one point I was sure a sail boat was going to split me in half, probably passed 50 ft behind me. I was able to surf a couple of bumps along the way to the bouys, that was kind a fun, feeling a surge of speed that wasn't your doing. Around the first bouy, then the second, damn, where is everyone!

By then he wind had picked up some and so did the bumps. The water was pretty disorganized, too, couldn't really tell where all the chop was coming from. This is where I nearly huli'd, the bumps were mostly coming from the ama side, the left side, at one point the ama popped out of the water quite a ways. At one point I paddled in towards the beach, I was hoping for two things, first to get away from some of the bumps and second to get away from the big container ships. I then headed back towards the dolphin and I wasn't anywhere near anyone else. When I was within a mile of the dolphin I could see how strong the tide was, combined with the bumps and I was getting kind of nervous. I hiked my butt up on the left edge of the boat so I could sit on the ama to add to the stability of the boat (the ama is on the left). I started paddling 10 strokes on the right side to 20 on the left and pointed myself directly towards the dolphin.

There was a woman who'd been in my sights pretty much the entire race, I never figured I have a chance to pass her. Here was my chance, she was struggling with the bumps and the current and ended up taking a much wider line around the dolphin. I worked so hard to stay on the higher line, actually pointed myself inside the marker and let the current push me out just far enough, I could reach out and touch it as I went past. Now I just had to dig in and finish and I wouldn't finish last. I hadn't seen the kapuna guy in so long I figured he must have quit. That last leg was a hard upwind push that never seemed to end and I pretty much had lost feeling in my toes, too. My GPS recorded nearly 7 miles as I went around the last turn. I pushed and gave it all I had to the end, glancing back occasionally to see how close Darcy was, still behind me, keep pushing! I was never so happy to hear a horn when I finally crossed the finish line!

Scotty called down his congratulations as I rounded the dock. He said everybody was looking beaten down and it was a harder race than any expected. I got into the beach, Doug and I carried the boat up. I could hardly walk my feet were so cold. Scotty offered to fetch my clothes from the car while I hobbled up into the locker room looking forward to a nice hot shower while Doug rinsed off the boat for me. Finishing nearly last has it's perks! Doug and Scotty biggest mahalos for your help! That nice hot shower was tepid at best, but the color did come back to my hands and feet eventually. My official time was 1 hr 36 min and my GPS course length was 7.7 miles, part of that was my zig zagging, but not 1.7 miles worth! We stuck around for the awards ceremony and as things were wrapping up I saw that kapuna master guy come in. He did finish the race; that's one tough dude. That was a really hard race, I felt worked afterwards. Had a great time and would do it again in a heartbeat. Oh, wait, I'm going down to Portland in 2 weeks for another one!

Lotus Icebreaker

Gawd, what a long day it's been. Up early, early, head out to collect Kristi here in Seattle, then up to South Everett to get Ed, then North Everett to get Rocky, had to leave the dog boyz home. We were all part of a V12 crew for the Lotus Icebreaker outrigger race. For V12 they take two OC6 hulls and lash them together, very stable, very heavy, potentially very fast. They ran 5 heats of 6-V12, do you realize how many people that is??? That's 72 paddlers per heat!!! That means there were over 300 lunatics paddling out in the bitter cold and snowy, rainy conditions! I'm pretty sure we all had a great time, too. The venue was beautiful, the race was about 6 km, and Sail Sand Point took first in our heat, we were challenged by another crew for the entire race, we beat them by only 6 seconds. We didn't take first overall, but I'm still happy with our results. A full third of our crew hadn't raced before. And one of our crew never made it to the race, got lost on their way and thankfully we were able to pick up someone who had steered a boat in the previous heat.

After the race 8 of the crew (& their entrouages) went out to Dim Sum in Richmond for lunch. Mahalos to Ernie and everyone who ordered the food. It was all good, although I wasn't compelled to try the tripe or the chicken legs. I was particularly fond of the red bean pancakes for dessert, but then sweets are my favorite. Fed, dry, and warm (mostly) it was time to head south again. The boarder crossing was quite painless, only 6-8 cars in front of us. Dropped Rocky at his house, went to Costco to fuel up, dropped Ed at his car, and Kristi moved into the front seat for the last leg of the trip. We were just chatting when she said 'wouldn't it be great to go to Olympus Spa right now?' The idea of those hot tubs, steams rooms, and hot dry rooms sounded excellent to me as well and since we were still north of the spa it wouldn't even be out of our way! I had a neighbor to take the boyz out for a potty break so I had a little flexibility in my return time.

We got to Olympus a few minutes later, paid our way and headed in to hit the hot relaxation. We moved from the different temperature baths to the steam room and dry sauna, I went off to the salt room and the elvan stone room and then back to the hot tubs. Ladies, I highly recommend going, it's free on your birthday! Guys, a gift certificate here for that special woman in your life would be an excellent idea. I've had the Korean Body Scrub, it's wonderful, refreshing, invigorating, and your skin is so soft afterwards. We spent a couple of hours warming up and soaking away the tired muscles, it was great.

I got home a little before 8 pm to be greeted by the dog boyz, so utterly relieved that I had not forsaken them, that I had come home again. They worry so, well, Gus does anyway. They have been extra clingy all evening, having been neglected all day they feel they are deserving of extra loves, which they are. So enough for now, gotta go love on da boyz.

Craig, good on ya! x2

I love Craigslist. You can find everything there and if you aren't looking to buy you can certainly sell that which you no longer need. Let's see, I bought my freezer, my leather couch, the George Foreman Grill that I gave as my secret Santa gift at work this year; I sold some very old expired film, my old PC, some wooden chairs. I have gotten loads belly laughs from reading the best-of-craigslist section (I literally just looked and saw a posting for a pink upholstered vagina couch - with pictures!). My recommendation is don't take a drink as you begin to read a post, cleaning your monitor can get old fast! Like the ppost for 'overweight flaccid married man on the prowl' or 'my coke for your pot' or 'to the stoner who works at cottage inn pizza' or 'potato cannon' (I couldn't get these last two to link properly, but they are there. There are so many excellent posts.

Also, Craig, a co-worker, returned home yesterday from China. He and his family (Adria, Seth & Craig's parents) went to collect their newly adopted boy, Blake Yu Chun! They have been going through the process since Jan 2005. I'm looking forward to meeting the newest addition to their family. This photo is Adria, Blake, and Craig, it looks like the adoption is final. I haven't yet spoken to them and I copied the photo from their blog.

And for the blurb about paddling ... last night was a great paddle, we had a full boat of 6. Paddled east towards Kirkland, Rosa Point, and then north into Juanita Bay and then back to Sail Sand Point (SSP). We went about 5.5 miles. We ended our practice with a great bonding exercise! Mahalos (thanks) to Mika, Ryan, Neil, Bea, and Nancy for a great workout. By the way, Nancy is becoming quite the proficient steersperson, though you'd never hear it from her.

My dog made me do it

Gus loves to fetch and if he can swim while fetching all is good in his world, no, all is excellent in his world. It is common knowledge that corgis are not particularly leggy, by a lot. At Magnuson Park we would head down to the dog beach for some swimming and fetching, nothing better than a happy tired dog. Our problem arises with the fact that most other dogs tend to have more leg than corgis. Gus is swimming in six inches of water, other dogs are walking in 20+ inches of water. I try to time my throw such that Gus should be able to get the toy without interference, on busy park days I spent most of my time cajoling other dogs to give back Gus' toy and Gus spent most of his time frustrated that I don't throw the toy for him. I finally decide that Magnuson is a big enough park that I should be able to find another place for Gus to swim and fetch uninterrupted.

One day we drove around the park looking for a good place to swim. On the north end of the park I found a lovely little boat ramp, plenty of parking right there, the perfect location for Gus to swim and fetch. With no other dogs around Gus was much more willing to swim deeper, too. One day while swimming and fetching this boat full of people comes paddling towards our lovely little boat ramp. I started chatting with the paddlers, asking more about the sport and I decided that I should give it a try. I went out with them the following week and have never looked back! So there you have it, my dog, Gus, got me involved in outrigger canoe paddling. How many people can say that!

Now all this happened before Llelo was even born. I feel like he needs a little shout out, too. I live alone, it's common knowledge. Living alone I tend to leave the bathroom door open, a habit born of having cats for so many years. The door is closed they need, nay, REQUIRE access to the other side of the door, entering into a cyclic situation, hence I just leave the door open. Gus will come in and lay down at my feet, Llelo will check and see if cookies are forthcoming. I keep a small bowl of cookies on the bathroom counter. The other day I decided a little trick training was on the agenda. You know how some dogs can hold a treat on their nose and then with a command will flip the treat into the air, catch it and eat it. I tried this with Gus, he just tips his head down and eats the treat off the floor. Llelo seems hard wired to flip it in the air and catch it. He hasn't caught it yet, but he's pretty close. Now for the $64k question: which is the smarter dog?

In addiction the first step is admitting you have a problem

I have a problem. Not many people know about it, I try to keep it under wraps, to mixed success ... I love getting new outrigger paddles! No, really, you don't understand, over the course of 2007 I got a used paddle and two new paddles. I've only been involved in outrigger canoeing for 18 months. And now I've just placed another order. I just can't seem to stop myself.

The all wood paddles the club has for use are too heavy, they make my shoulders ache terribly. I bought a used 50" Dave's 99 hybrid (carbon fiber blade, wood shaft) late in 2006. It was so much lighter, it was like paddling a feather. Then I bought a used 52" Axel I hybrid in March 2007. The extra length was a nice improvement, extra reach, nicer for the OC6. Then over the summer I received a mid-year bonus from work, so I bought a brand new 52" Lolo, which has the Axel II blade on a wacky shaft (a double bend shaft, supposed to keep your lower wrist in a neutral position during the reach). And then in the fall after getting a bunch of grief from everyone about 'your paddle doesn't match' and 'you need to have a paddle like everyone else', I ordered a brand new 52" Axel II. I decided to use the Lolo when I'm paddling OC1 or OC2 and the Axel II when I paddle OC6.

So, now I have my eye on buying an OC1, it'll be a while but it's on my list of things to do. JD Davies of Waterwalker was going to be in town with a bunch of OC1 to demo. While testing a variety of OC1 JD mentioned that my paddle appeared too long. He said, "Here try my 50" Helium blade on a wacky shaft". I think he did it on purpose. But I have to admit, it felt good, really good; now I want one, I need one, my life will be incomplete until I have one. I sent Meg from Kialoa an email, they just got their first factory blemished Helium blade, do I want her to hold it for me. She's making it too easy, she's an enabler, it's all her fault, ya blame it on Meg and Dave Chun (Kialoa Paddles), they are the cause of my problem. Bah, if only it were that easy, passing it off on them. In my defense I only buy the factory blemished blades, they have minor cosmetic flaws so are discounted.

So, there you have it. I have a problem, an addiction, I admit it. I'm just not ready to face it, to deal with it, not yet anyway. Certainly not before I get that new Helium paddle.

Here I go ...

My first ever blog posting! Now I just have to think up something interesting to say...

I participated in my first ever winter series outrigger canoe race yesterday. I paddled an OC2 (2 person canoe) with a fellow club member. The race was about 6.5 miles, we started in front of Gas Works Park, headed west towards the Ballard locks then turned around and finished at Waterway 18, where Wakinikona and Seattle Outrigger store their canoes. It was an interesting adventure. I learned a lot. For instance I know now I need to carry my hydration pack with me even on shorter races, I don't think I hydrated enough in the days prior to the race. I need to eat more before a race, a protein shake and a cup of coffee 3 hrs before isn't enough, I need to pop some clif shot bloks just before I leave the beach at the very least. I need to stretch out better before I start, too. Well, now I know! In all it was a good race. We didn't huli (flip over), we finished, and we didn't finish last, these are my three minimum goals for any race, especially in the small (OC1/OC2) boats.

Next weekend I'm off to Burnaby, BC to paddle in the Lotus Icebreaker as part of a V12 crew. V12 is where they have two OC6 hulls lashed together, 12 people paddling 800 lbs of canoe! We all know what we are doing so it should be really cool. The course is supposed to be at least 4 miles. The weekend after that I'm up to Vancouver, BC for another winter series race at Jericho Sailing Center. I'll do that one OC1.

I guess this is enough for the inaugural posting. Pics and more to follow.