Lowdown on the Hoedown

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My Tranny and Mass Transit

Got my lil Kia back from the shop with a new transmission. Covered under warranty too. YAY!

I had cancelled all sea and ww trips since I was told I wouldn't get the car back till early next week, but they had the part in stock so it only took a day after all. What a pleasant surprise. Still, I have other biz-ness to take care of--stuff actually MORE important than paddling, ya know?--so no trips this weekend.

Rode the bus to and from work and walked the rest of the way to work yesterday. Good to work out those leg muscles AND catch up big time on my character in Puzzle Quest (DS). If it didn't take almost 2 hours each way to bus it to work, I'd do it more often, what with gas prices skyrocketing these days.

Lk Union Eve, May 15, 07

A superlative day! Warm, sunny...mmm good. Had a good round of hacky sack w/ fellow hackers from work.

Had planned to paddle first after work then go for eve yoga. Wasn't worth rushing things, so i went to eve yoga and made a beeline for Lk Union after that. Still some daylight left.
I could've gone to other beaches, like Sand Point but it feels creepy and lonesome there after sunset. And Shilshole on summer-like nights can get rowdy. Lk Union's more active and has a better vibe and has more safety escape routes. Still, never take anything for granted, eh?

Launched from NWOC's dock around 9pm. Breeze getting stronger as the H pressure pushed this warm front away from us. It was Dock Dodge night, but the lake wasn't too jam-packed with sailboats this time. Same change in pressure also began bringing in cooler air.

Continued to focus on core/torso rotation. Got chastised by a boater for not having better lighting, particularly on the stern. Sorry, I know I know--need to get that dealt with. Safety safety safety!

Went round the Lk (using Fremont and Univ bridges as my turnaround points). Returned by 10. City's beautifully lit at night. There's just something wonderful about night paddling in general. Great practice for recognizing boats, buoys, and feeling the water more than seeing it, plus experiencing the transition from day to night on the water is just plain special.

Lk WA, May 14 07

Went for my usual paddle workout after work. Launched around 7:15pm from Enatai. Nice N-NW breeze and lots of pleasure boaters going through the area.

Headed north towards Medina. Focused on proper torso rotation and core work and applied principles I learned from dahn yoga to paddling. Enjoyed the chop from both wind and passing boats--good stuff!

Needed to pick mom up from her meeting, so I kept it to an hour. Day began to cool down but still clear and beautiful. I really need to get a waterproof cam for these paddles.

Happy Mother's Day

My mom totally rocks. 'Nuff said.

Lake Union Sweep

Check-in

Participated in the Lake Union Sweep hosted by Puget Sound Keeper on Saturday. After check-in at the old Naval Station, I returned to S. Lake Union Park to launch my boat. There were 3 other paddlers launching w/ me at that site. One of them--a recent transplant--told me she had driven all the way from New England with her kayak on top since she couldn't bear to part with it. Way to go! She hadn't paddled much since moving here and hoped to get out and explore our local waters. Come to think of it, I wish I had exchanged contact info so we could go on some trips or at the very least referred her to our local paddling clubs.

Preparing to launch with other 'sweep' paddlers

As soon as I set my boat on the dock, I spied a plastic wrapper floating by. Guess it's time for some 'unofficial' trash picking. Made a mental note to return here and clean up after the kickoff. Paddled a short distance to the Center for Wooden Boats where all other boaters--mostly kayakers--were already congregated. After opening remarks by PSK, Mayor Nickels made gave a short spiel, and the cleanup was underway.

Speech! Speech!

Returned to the park shorefront. What a mess! With primary winds coming from either the north or south, lake trash usually ends up on the shores of S Lk Union Pk (SLUP?!?) or Gasworks. Styrofoam styrofoam everywhere! It was a total pain to hand-pick all these little itty bitty pieces of styro but well worth it. Waterfowl and other critters could easily consume them with baaaad consequences. I'm reminded of documentaries that show autopsies of dead waterfowl with all kinds of trash lodged in their digestive systems. Gotta do what we can to minimize that from happening.

Captain Yuk sez yuck!

Then real test of the yuck factor came while dealing with snagged plastic bags which I absolutely swear were used as doggy poop bags. All of them were in various stages of entanglement amongst the blackberry bushes underwater. I'd alternate using the grabber and my hands to free them. Yuck Yuck Triple Yuck!

Being a novice Lk Union Sweeper, I initially thought using my day hatch as a trash receptacle (lined w/ provided trash bags of course) would be a good idea. Well, a chunk of wood i added to my trash collection punctured the bag and the icky liquids from the plastic bags leaked out into the day hatch, in which i had stored my water bottle. Plus that chunk of wood made it impossible to remove the bag while seated in the kayak. So I docked, massaged the wet trashbag out of my day hatch and reset everything. Ok, back to work.

Spent most of the morning there, going back and forth between the park and CWB for more trashbags and another grabber. Oh, and I found out that these grabbers don't float when mine fell into deeper water. Nothing screams neon-sign irony like inadvertantly creating trash while cleaning up other people's garbage during a community cleanup event.

More So. Lk Union Park trash

But! The show must go on. After spending an hour and half at the park, I headed up north but most of the other boaters had done a great job. Still I managed to fill the bag with more styrofoam (no surprise there), wood and plastic debris, bottles and an old gallon-jug of bleach. There was a strong north wind at times which made for some fun chop. After some time at Gasworks, it was time to head back for some nosh. Got distracted by some nice boat wakes so I was the last paddler back.

No worries--there was still tons of food and drinks. Got in line and grubs up. I certainly didn't expect such a spread: 2 kinds of pasta salad, caesar salad, salmon sandwiches, cold cuts, bread, desert, bbq wings, chowder, coffee, tea, juice, pop, fruits. Yum!

Didn't win any of the raffle prizes, but that's ok. It was a great event and I was very impressed with the amount of trash everyone picked up, including a huge chunk of 5 by6 foot wood debris. I'll continue to keep an eye out for garbage during my regular paddles, but I just have to say this,

PLEASE PUT TRASH INTO THE FLIPPIN TRASH BINS, PEOPLE!

Push-mowers and other simple pleasures

Both mom and I were home together for once. No rushing out to work, no commutes, no cubicles. Just a leisurely breakfast w/ the papers.

Enjoyed a good yoga session and then picked her up so we could do a little shopping @ Whole Paycheck, grab a cool drink and pick up a push-mower. I had given away my old electric mower when we hired lawn service. I bet the grass was pretty happy when i cancelled that indulgence. Not anymore, bwahahahaha! But no carbon-spewing lawn mower for me though. I figured my exhaling all that co2 huffing and puffing away would be plenty enough.

Made guacamole and a lovely tuna salad, stuffed pitas then self (in that order), napped and then worked out cutting the grass. No paddling today...ah well, whatever.

Love these days off!

Thursday Backyard Play

Had a super time yesterday over at Shilshole. Launched around 2:30pm on a beautiful afternoon. I don't recall seeing a cloud in the sky. Parking @ Golden Gardens was surprisingly tight--i figured folks wouldn't play hooky on a Thurs, and certainly not that early.

There was a refreshing 10-15 knot N-NW wind that made for some fun 1-2 footers. My routine involves paddling into the wind to warm up and get a good workout and then reward myself heading downwind and surfing whatever i can get. Once i passed Carkeek, i just had to turn around and start catching these guys. Usual marine traffic at the channel entrance provided miscellaneous surfing opportunities and just neat swells on which to bounce about. I assume the combination low tide and additional fetch for the north wind factored in creating beaucoup whitecaps and some great rides towards DiscoveryPark. Caught one super sweet ride on one of them *sigh*.

6 foot freighter waves still elude me at this point though--must ask Rob how close i have to get to catch 'em without becoming paddler pate. Tugboat wakes will suffice for now. Living several hours away from ocean waves, i can't be too hoity-toity about wave selection.

Returned around 5 after going back and forth paddling and surfing. I couldn't bear to quit but i was pretty pooped from the constant paddling into the wind and then sprinting to catch rides. Plus i'd hoped to go to yoga afterwards.

So much for that--it was too nice to leave so i hung around on the beach watching fellow urbanities soak up the sun and play beach volleyball. Oh, and scoped out a beached sailboat! on the northern part of the beach where the old pilings still stand at low tide. Should've brought my cam. Not sure what exactly happened to the poor chap. Then I lost track of the time while watching other paddlers. One was teaching the other capsize recoveries: braces, hip-snaps, yaddayadda. The others were an older couple w/ Eddyline boats out to enjoy the waters. Perhaps i suffer from voyeuryakerism as I enjoy watching other kayakers as much as i like to paddle. Oh dear...what next, paddleporn? Better go cancel those Paddler mag subscriptions and save my soul while i still can.

Wasn't worth fighting rush-hour traffic to go to yoga, so i went grocery shopping and made dinner and picked mom up from her yoga sess. Good times!

Go Team Sisyphus!

It's been an extremely long time since i've enjoyed a quiet morning at home. On another gorgeous day to boot. Kudos to my wonderful supervisor (yay!) who gave our team the rest of the week off for all our hard work. And thank goodness for a great team--if we didn't get along, well...hmmm

Since someone might actually read this blog, i won't elaborate much about our project/experiment. If you've herded cats or had to roll large stony objects up an incline, I salute you!

...orb go bye-bye

Another paddle-less day passes. At least i got to do yoga. And play a little hacky-sack.

MUST...KAYAK...SOON however

tomorrow perhaps

Oh, that gorgeous yellow orb...

Another sunny seattle day with me staring out @ the slough. I love the view from my desk, as i've seen more wildlife than when i'm hiking. Eagles, herons, river otters, nutrias, bunnies, chickadees, crows (obviously), northern flickers, and robins are just some of the critters i've seen. Probably a whole lot more hiding in the bushes and underwater. Hope we can afford to stay here long term--bldg space is getting waaaay tighter on the eastside and rates are rising fast.

Odd, there should be more boaters out there on a day like today. Perhaps the rental shop isn't open yet. Perfect day for rolls if i'm willing to put on the drysuit...oh, for warmer water!

Ze first blog: Club Stretch Sun

Well, i finally got this going. Just a nice way to post trip reports and other thoughts.

Had a fun time on the Club Stretch w/ fellow paddlers from WKC yesterday. Too bad the sun didn't make any appearance but it did stay dry all day. Well, until roll practice of course. Felt good to hit my regular screw rolls again. Will need to practice them in the seaboat now.

Now that it's sunny and warm again, I'm back in the cube. Typical.