Miscellaneous

As the air temperature starts rising into the 50's and 60's, this is probably a good time to remember to dress properly for the water in case of a wet exit. Besides learning to roll quickly, your layers of clothing is what will delay hypothermia enough to allow you to re-enter your boat. I went out yesterday to the MD Chute, and had my standard cold-water gear on: three layers on top (capilene, powerstretch fleece, and dry top), two layers on bottom (powerstretch fleece and dry pants), capilene socks under neoprene booties on my feet, neoprene gloves inside pogies for my hands, and a neoprene headwarmer under my helmet. Granted, as a whitewater paddler I expected to get wet, so I dressed appropriately. Except for my hands (which always get cold) I was toasty warm for the entire two hours I was out there playing in the 40-degree water with air temp in the upper 40s. Please, everyone, dress appropriately and be careful out there.

With the LF gauge hovering around 3.0, there isn't much to play at the moment.  What's a paddler to do?  If you're a whitewater paddler and you can't live a single day without being on the water, you can always practice your flatwater tricks or take up sea kayaking.

Or you can take up other sports.  Since paddlers sometimes forget about working their leg muscles, Barbara and I have been doing a bit of biking lately.  Doing 10-15 miles doesn't take much more than an hour and keeps those legs in shape.  Do it 2-3 times a week (or on whatever days you're not paddling) and you're all set.  Rollerblading is also a great workout since it works even more muscles.  Tennis, anyone?

While I was driving today I had the strange urge to put my car on edge and do a cartwheel in the middle of the highway. Does anyone else get the urge to do that? Maybe it was that I was driving back from Pennsylvania with a used All-Star in the trunk.

(I'm pretty hard on my paddling gear so it's hard for me to justify buying a new boat. Thanks to Steve P. for driving down and meeting me half way.)

I got my first pair of glasses in 7th grade and I've been wearing contacts since college. At first I was worried that when I did whitewater my contacts would fall out, and maybe I was just lucky or I have good reflexes, but there was only one time in the last five years that I've actually had a contact come loose and I had to re-insert it while on the water. I started really getting tired of dealing with the contacts, them sometimes slipping around, getting blurry, having to clean them all the time, my eyes getting really tired at the end of the night, and the occasional minor irritation.

I've had a number of friends get LASIK procedures over the last few years and I've really been looking into getting it done for a while, but the timing was never right. Barbara and I did some research, and found out that I would be out of paddling for at least a month: two weeks prior to the surgery where I couldn't wear contacts at all, and at least two weeks for the eyes to heal enough so I could submerge my head under water. So after we got back from our honeymoon at the end of November, I scheduled the surgery for December 15th, took my contacts out, and waited.

I got the procedure done at a place in Tyson's Corner, the LASIK Vision Institute, and they really took good care of me. So now that it's more than three months later I can honestly say that I really enjoy looking at the world with my own eyes. The side effects were relatively minor, mostly a severe case of dry eye that required me to apply eye drops and eye gel for the last three months, but that seems to have gone away. I still get minor halos around light sources, but that may be because I opted for traditional LASIK instead of the new custom LASIK. I don't know if the results would have been any different, but it really doesn't bother me at all. No double vision though. Considering how bad my eyesight was (-5.50 in the left eye and -5.0 in the right) the procedure really fixed me up to 20/20 or better.

So if you're a paddler and you're been holding off on a LASIK procedure wondering whether it would work for you, consider me as one more voice encouraging you to do the research among the available options and take the plunge. You will be happy you left your contacts or glasses behind.

Jackson Kayak is one of the few companies that makes kid-sized whitewater kayaks and paddles. Here's a great story about getting the entire family into it.

http://www.jacksonkayak.com/familycorner05/...

If you belong to a paddling group, now is a good time to start thinking about what trips and events you want to have for this coming paddling season. Barbara and I belong to the Chesapeake Paddlers Association, and we had our second trip planning meeting yesterday. There are now several dozen trips and events planned for this season, which is plenty to give most of our 500+ fellow members something to do between March and November. If you don't yet belong to a group and want to paddle with other like-minded people, now is also a good time to find a local group and join up.

Yesterday our air temperature got up to 65F. Considering that we're in Northern Virginia, this is rather unusual for mid-January. So that being said, Dave and I took advantage again and went out to park and play on the Offut Island chute on the Potomac. The water temperature was still 44F according to the Little Falls gauge.

Given that it was so warm, it was hard to dress for the water. However dressing for the water is something that all paddlers must remember to do, especially when going out in cold water conditions where hypothermia is a real danger. I know I was quite toasty in my IR Thick Skin under my drytop, full-length Power Stretch fleece tights, and a full neoprene head warmer under my helmet, but I was sure grateful for all that layering when I had to roll.

I know, I know, there are plenty of people that suggest that at these water temperatures I should be wearing a drysuit in case I have to swim. Fortunately I'm fairly tolerant of cold water, and in fact a few years ago I did swim at the Dickerson training course in exactly the outfit I was wearing. The water temperature at Dickerson was in the 40s, and the air temperature as well (it was snowing that week) and I was just fine. I've since developed my bombproof roll and haven't swum in years, so I just haven't felt the need to spend $500 on a drysuit. For people who don't have a bombproof roll yet, a drysuit may be a necessity in these conditions.

My name is Anatoly, and I'm a paddler. It wasn't always this way...

Before I met Barbara, I didn't particularly like the water. Well, maybe that's not quite true, but in any case I was rarely in the water. I liked the outdoors, and I had been canoeing as a kid, went white water rafting once as an adult and I more-or-less knew how to sail, but that's the extent of it. I guess it just wasn't a priority for me. Barbara changed all that...

My recollection may be a bit different than Barbara's, but I remember us going tubing in Harper's Ferry, WV, down the Shenandoah River. I think it was in the spring or summer of 2000. That is when and where I floated over a rock, fell off my tube backwards and split my head open just a little. That's when I started wondering why the outfitter didn't give us helmets.

At some point after I got my 5 stiches removed, Barbara suggested that we try kayaking. I remember being quite hesitant, not knowing anything about kayaks. We signed up for a series of classes with Potomac Paddlesports, and the first one was Introduction to Whitewater. After practicing wet exits and strokes, we were taught the C-to-C roll. I we both completed at least one successful roll that day, and came back during their free Thursday night sessions to continue to practice.

We also took their sea kayaking classes, where we befriended Dave, our instructor. After that we felt confident enough to take a trip on our own, so along with Barbara's friend Kindra we rented some sea kayaks and set off for DelMarVa on Labor Day weekend, 2000. We had a nice paddle in each of three states: Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, and Dave joined us on the second day. We were hooked.

Since then we have done week-long kayak camping trips up and down the east coast, including Maine and the Florida Keys. We've done whitewater trips down the Lower Yough in Pennsylvania and I even went back to the Shenandoah last year, the site of that fateful head splitting.

Over the years we've seen young kids and adults well into their senior years out on the water enjoying kayaking in various forms. For me, kayaking is one of the few times I can get my mind completely off work. It's relaxing and exciting at the same time, and is definitely one activity that I can see us doing for the rest of our lives.

So here we are at the beginning of another new year. My wife and I just got back last night from a week in Florida, which we spent paddling and visiting with friends. My wife's best friend from high school and her husband just had their first child six weeks ago, so we spent some time with them in Orlando. On New Year's Eve we camped overnight on one of the so-called "spoil islands" off the coast of Clearwater and watched the fireworks along the coast. Nice!

Over the past few years we have had very mild winters here in the Washington, DC area, and so far this year is looking to continue the trend. On January 4, 2004, we took advantage of the 60-degree temperature to go paddling on the Chesepeake bay, from a friend's house on the coast to the Thomas Point Light House (about an 8-mile round trip). Today, I took advantage of the 60-degree temperature to do some whitewater park and play at the Maryland Chute on the Potomac river. The river gauge at Little Falls showed 3.8ft, which is a great level at this location for those familiar with it. The water temperature was around 42F, so rolling was quite chilly, but the warm air made it all worthwhile. I felt a bit out of shape since I didn't do any whitewater all last month (due to necessary recovery time from my LASIK surgery) but it all came back to me in short order.

So what is the point of this site? My wife and I had discussed some goals a couple years ago, with some fantasy about turning this into a little side business, but we got busy with our real lives so the original plan is out the window. This site has been sitting empty far too long, so I decided to simply start posting. I will also consider granting accounts to people who want to post their own thoughts and information. We won't always be able to post so you can help us keep this site fresh. Contact me if you want an account on this site.

My wife and I do both whitewater and flatwater kayaking, so we will not limit this site to one type or the other. I realize that the two paddling cultures are quite different, but we figure that there is enough crossover so that more than a handful of people will read this log.

So who are we? I will save that for another posting. In the meanwhile, we hope you have a happy and healthy New Year!