Seasons

It has been quiet on my blog for a while now. While there would have been lots and lots to write about, this IS a sea kayaking blog. Writing is one thing, but sharing ramblings that are of too personal nature is another.

I am now in full preparation for this season's kayaking. Next Saturday the NKB sea kayak week in Anglesey starts, followed by the Anglesey Sea Kayak Symposium.

I have been paddling... Above picture was taken at the scenic town of Marken, during the traditional "season start" trip of the Peddelpraat club to Volendam and Marken on March 15 with more than 40 paddlers; a record!

Spring, sound of a new born life
I think I’m moving on cause it’s time
(From: Seasons by Earth & Fire)

Head Winds

Last Saturday, a club trip was planned to the "Razende Bol" (translates as Raging knoll/bulb) off Den Helder. Unfortunately the wind was blowing a strong force 6. Therefore an alternative trip was found by Thierry on the nearby Amstelmeer lake. Not less windy, but a challenge nevertheless for everyone, without the risks that any sea trip would pose in these conditions. Some of us almost got more than we bargained for... Some had difficulty in keeping their kayaks pointing into the wind. I had to do a course tow for a higher volume kayak that was running 'bow-high'. Later, on the canal, some experimented with their tow-line, that, in these conditions, showed them some 'flaws'. Firstly getting ones tow-line ready only after maneuvering to make the link, sweeps the whole in-line tow down-wind with danger of entangling the whole tow, not to speak about the distance lost in the process. Secondly, one tow-line bag was trailing in the water, effectively creating a drogue that had the first tower overtake the front tower... Lastly I made the 'mistake' of hooking-up when I thought it would be only 10 minutes left to make it to the cars... Towing is very hard work against a force 6 headwind! I had a work-out. And yes, we made it to the "Razende Bol" after all, just look carefully at the pictures...

To the Spheres

Photo by De Keukenhof.

By Fred as a colleague, it is possible that you are enthusiastic kajakvaarder is in a kayak without ever be proven wrong. By the last kanobeurs bought, used, Meridian ("a fast boat", I heard Fred say) than I was Sunday, April 17 in Sassenheim for my first real kayak trip. 20 km should not be too difficult, I thought.

Sunday, April 17, 1994
I am still awkward in the kayak and my peddeltechniek is zero comma zero. I have therefore already difficult enough for the meevarende canadees to track. After about an hour sail is the first break. I did not have to ask, but it seems to me extremely well. Then we wind against the Haarlemmertrekvaart. The cramped vaarhouding translates into 'dormant legs'. Fortunately, we run into a ditch and there is a break. Again at the right time. We are halfway through and from now on we will have wind in the back. Unfortunately I have trained vaarders advantage of more wind than I do. So should I not quite doorpeddelen too far back to hit. I snak to a break that just will not come. Part of the group goes through 'big water', but I take the ditch binnendoor wisely. After 5 hours peddelen comes my car back into sight. After disembarking step I even miss (dormant legs), so I get my first kayak adventure, in addition to blisters, still wet feet left. So now, but soon a lot of practice, so that the fast boat also quickly propelling.

P.S. Of the balls I have seen little, but sometimes kayaks and paddles that came out from the crowd.

Confused ?

My first kayak trip, now exactly 14 years ago, was through canals in the area of the Netherlands where the flower bulb fields are and the Keukenhof Spring garden fair is held. The Dutch title of my first ever kayak article was "Naar de Bollen" that translates to "To the (flower) Bulbs" and also references a traditional 1930's song by Louis Davids. I would not dare to put the lyrics of that song through the Google translator... But I could not resist trying it out on my first kayak trip report. I am a teenager now (in kayaking terms). A teenager for the second time in my life. Springtime!

Smiles for Moldova

Big adventures do not have to start in far away places. In fact the best ones start from ones own front door. Jörgen van der Pol will start on his Moldovan adventure in a few weeks time. Starting on 5 April from Paterswolde in Groningen (Netherlands) he will paddle more than 4.000 km to the Republic of Moldova to draw attention to the work of Dr. Rob van Oort, a pioneer and expert in the field of Maxillofacial Prosthetics, who is setting-up a special treatment dental surgery in Moldova. Go to his expedition website at www.smilesformoldova.nl or visit his blog at www.seakayakcobber.blogspot.com

CanoeXpo 2008

Last weekend I visited the CanoeXpo Canoe and Kayak show in Coventry. I did not know what to expect. A few years ago I visited the Outdoors Show at the NEC in Birmingham. That was a huge show, where unfortunately only the big guys in the industry could afford a stand, thus only a handful kayak companies were represented there. How different the CanoeXpo is!

Organized for the first time (by Brookbank Canoe and Kayaks) I am really looking forward on how the paddling magazines will review this show and what the feedback is from the participants and visitors.

For starters it was a BIG 'kayak and canoe only' show; the biggest I have visited. A whole range of manufacturers and companies that have something to do with canoeing and kayaking were represented. From the very 'big guys' to the 'small-is-beautiful' outfitters and guiding companies. I have seen almost every brand of sea kayak that is available on the UK market. There was a strong USA presence with representatives that came over from the USA.

Another 'first' was the way the sales where 'coordinated'. Copied from Canoecopia, there was a central check-out. Again, I hope to read reviews from visitors what they think about that approach. The best thing of this first CanoeXpo, and that in my opinion outweighs anything else that can be said about it, is that anyone in the 'industry' (profit or non-profit) could afford being there and thus should be there next year! This is THE kayak & canoe show to visit! I hope the organizers get good feedback on this one. If you visited, let the organizers hear your comments and ideas! This can even be done on-line on the CanoeXpo website.

In another post I will write down some of my personal highlights of the show.

Thank you Mike Webb of Rockpool Kayaks for being their guest and Ann and Jeff Turner from Kari-Tek for arranging a place for me to stay. I had a great weekend.

Navigation and Direction

My new navigational direction finding gadget has 'put me to the test' in ways I did not foresee. It's build-in GPS receiver homes-in on it's programmed destination, no question about that. That part is working flawlessly! But how blindly should I follow it's directions? What if I programmed the wrong destination?

Straying away from the advised route won't confuse it. It will try to have me turn around again and again to go back onto the planned route. Only until another route is shorter it will change it's advice accordingly. But the destination is 'sacred' to it's advised route. When is it best to give-up on a destination?

But sometimes one just knows by gut feeling that an advised route is not the best one. At what point should I override? When to (mis-)trust 'gut-feeling'?

Other times road-signs clearly state to take the turn, while the navigator boldly advises differently. Then the road signs disappear and through narrow country lanes and residential areas one is guided on the main road again. When to (mis-)trust posted signs?

I am confused, I am at a loss...

In navigational terms one is considered 'lost' when one does not know where one is. Well I know exactly where I am, but I am not sure where I am going. A cliché is that it is not the destination that is important, but the road that takes you there. Unsure about my destination with a maze of roads at my disposal. On a roundabout one can go in any direction, once one is chosen. Staying on the roundabout I am going nowhere, going dizzy.

A short-cut being described by a friend as the longest distance between two points. Another very good friend described to me how the parents followed signs to a town named 'Umleitung'. How I hate one-way roads; roads of no return.

Red lights, green lights, yellows. Most lights are green now, lucky me. Should I run the odd yellow? Or should I wait for the one light that just turned red on me? Gut feeling tells me that I should wait for just that red to turn green again. The other lights, I know, will be alternating red/yellow/green frequently. This light might only turn green once in a very long time. It could be THE road, where the concept of destination becomes irrelevant.

There's a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
'Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings
In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven
Ooh, it makes me wonder

...
Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run
There's still time to change the road you're on
Ooh, it makes me wonder
...

Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven

Family Tree

In front of my parent's house, it is the last of the original trees standing in the street. Planted in 1958, when the house was built, it has seen me and my brother grow up; seen many plays of marbles and heard, and felt, the trembling happy ending Chinese celebration crackers on the New Year, hanging off it. It has weathered many, many storms. Listing a bit since I can remember, standing fierce. It has seen many new arrivals and final departures.

A tree, how does it cope with loss? The tree will grow new leaves in Spring. Seeing new families, either living in the houses in the street below or nesting up on it's branches. On this shortest day of the year no birds are singing to the new day. Now I look out of the window to see the tree covered in air hoar and a pigeon making itself comfortable on one of it's branches and singing. The other day a magpie was picking for food below; if anything, the tree knew.

Moving Metaphors

These are very moving times.

In a light-hearted move, but totally unplanned, my internet domain names are moving to another domain registrar. The building they were in, had demolition orders. And nobody was left there to answer my calls. From the silent green pastures in the eastern part of the Netherlands to the bustling 24/7 Amsterdam scene.

My websites are moving across the Atlantic to somewhere in Houston Texas. There it has more than 300 times more space and the roads can deal with more than 100 times the monthly traffic. I made sure that everything was wrapped-up and packed-up before the movers arrived and that I could close the doors behind me. And that nothing is left behind. There are four home domains to be moved. Two new ones popped-up out of nowhere. Not all the moving vehicles arrive at the same time nor will they arrive at the new addresses at the same time.

My e-mails are currently forwarded until all the dust of moving has settled. A hectic time. Messages are 'returned to sender' until all post offices and mail exchanges are aware of the new physical location of my mail boxes.

My phone will get disconnected shortly, awaiting to be transferred to the new shiny small mobile home with the big bright window. It will serve as my new mobile communications centre.

Dad moved as well. Some strange circumstance had him wake-up in hospital last Thursday. He wants to return home A.S.A.P. Like I said earlier, moving times...

Christmas time is getting nearer. Hope that all the moving dust settles and that there can be family time at home. In all this hectic, there is still no Christmas tree set-up. But that is not critical yet. Tomorrow is early enough. The family tree usually lasts well into January until after the arrival of three Kings. For some reason they have been on the move every year for about 2007 years.

Dunno when this posting can be read (again). Moving on...

Moving stranger, does it really matter As long as you're not afraid to feel. Touch me, hold me, how my open arms ache Try to fall for me.		Moving liquid, yes, you are just as water. You flow around all that comes in your way. Don't think it over, it always takes you over, And sets your spirit dancing.
(Moving - Kate Bush)

Mini Multi Mega PDA Gadget

When it comes to actual buying new technology items, I think I belong to the (impossible?) category of "the late majority / early adaptors". Having an IT background by education (pre-PC era) I have always been very skeptical at what is technically possible in relation to what is really working and "needed". I only started on mobile phones when they started to give them away for free (Postbank). Off course, I keep a keen eye out on new technological developments, but when it comes to actual buying, I put in a "delay".

In 2003, while in the US, I was "shocked" to see a kayak guide talking for hours on her mobile phone with her boy friend (while setting up camp) and me wondering how that would run up her phone bill (and keep him off work...). Then she told me that she had an "unlimited plan". Apparently there are only so many minutes in a month...

This year I thought it would be the time to buy car navigation. I have to drive more and more for business to "random" places. Saving time and high fuel prices would by now "pay" for the cost of car navigation.

Before I knew it I was lost in the "maze" of function packed Personal Digital Assistants (PDA's) and talk-time plans. The phones are generally "for free", but off-course there is no such thing as a free lunch. Offsetting the price of stand-alone car navigation to the monthly payments of talk-time plans. Dazzling...

And there you have it... Last week I bought the HTC P3300 mini-multi-mega PDA smart-phone gadget. It has built-in GPS, TomTom Navigation, WiFi, FM Radio, MP3 player, 2 mega pixel camera, voice recording/recognition, touch screen and Windows Mobile 6.0 with Mobile Office. And before I forget, one can make phone calls with it. The plan it comes with allows for unlimited internet access (while in the Netherlands).

The HTC P3300 is not of the very latest technology (it came to the market a year ago), but I am happy that it works, and even better than I had hoped for.

There is off course that BIG question of: "Do I actually NEED all of this gadgettery". Is there not a better (smarter) life without it? Having spent days on fiddling, tweaking and updating and correcting my Outlook contacts to synchronize with the PDA, I could have been in the outdoors instead.

I also set-up mobile news feeds of my favorite blogs.

Thinking of my old-time favorite science fiction TV-series Star-Trek, I haven't yet found the type-II phaser button or a transporter function... Energize !

Or on a more personal note: would I today wish for a Tricorder?

A star fall, a phone call,
It joins all,
Synchronicity.
(The Police)

Sinterklaas

In the Netherlands, 5 December marks the anniversary of Sinterklaas. His annual arrival in the Netherlands by steam ship from Spain is covered live on television. His "birthday" is anticipated by all children already a month in advance by putting shoes under the chimney for Sinterklaas and his many helpers to put sweets and small presents in. There is daily televised news coverage of Sint's preparations of getting all the presents to the children in-time; a major feat! The BIG DAY for presents is 5 December. The presents sometimes are in surprise packages and can contain 'sharply formulated' personal rhymes. It is engrained in the Dutch culture. It brings back memories of a care-free childhood and wonderful page-long personalized rhymes from Dad.

For many the tradition perpetuates when there are children, and grandparents for who you will always be a 'child'. Our family celebration of Sinterklaas lasted through me and my brothers' twenties.

This year I celebrated Sinterklaas on the island of Texel together with Karien, Jannie, Leo and Wim. Because in this case there was a game and 'chance' element, it was never clear that the present one unpacked would be the present that one would take home. We had a wonderful Sinterklaas evening.

I was amazed by the detailed knowledge that Sinterklaas has about sea kayaking. One 'glitch' might have been the 'tow line' that he gave me. It could have been a 'mistake' of a junior assistant Piet. Or Sint is reminding me that there is more in life than only sea kayaking... It indeed has large clips, it is strong and it has a shock absorber. But in any case, I now finally have an excellent tow-rope for my car. Thank you Sinterklaas!

Marsepein
Pepernoten, Pepernoten, Pepernoten, Pepernoten
Speculaas
Pepernoten, Pepernoten, Pepernoten, Pepernoten
Suikergoed
Pepernoten, Pepernoten, Pepernoten, Pepernoten
Taai, taai, taai, taai, taai, taai
Pepernoten, Pepernoten, Pepernoten, Pepernoten

De beste vrienden van ons allemaal
Voor altijd en eeuwig, altijd en eeuwig, altijd en eeuwig
Altijd en eeuwig, altijd en eeuwig, altijd en eeuwig
Gul en royaal

Sinterklaas, wie kent hem niet - Henk Westbroek & Henk Temmink

End of a continued tradition

Every year in November the Sea Kayak Touring committee of the national Peddelpraat club organises their meeting to plan next years activity calendar.

Activities include day trips, overnight trips, surf kayaking sessions, week-long trips in Scotland and our annual sea kayak instruction week in August. For the last seven years now I have been chairman of this very enthusiastic and 'self-regulating bunch' of trip leaders.

As far as anybody on the committee can remember, the meeting has always been held on a November Saturday in the "Ds. J.L. de Wagemaker" elementary school in Landsmeer where Lex and his wife Mady are teachers. Afterwards we were welcome at their place to have lunch and socialize.

This year has been our last meeting there. After more than 15 years (some say 20 years), a tradition ends. The school will no longer be available for our annual meeting. A very big thank you to Mady and Lex for all those years of hospitality!

But the tradition also continues. Next years' meeting is already planned but no location yet. We WILL remember (and miss) those nice lunches.

Holyhead to Great Orme's Head

Over the weekend I went paddling with Barry and Justine. There was a south-westerly storm all over, so on Saturday we decided to paddle along Penmon and around Puffin Island. We had expected encounters with inquisitive seals off Puffin Island and an unexpected encounter with a group of swimmers 100 meters off-shore from Penmon. They were training for open water swimming races. We are now on 'British Winter Time' and when we arrived back at Penmon at 17:30 it was pitch dark.

Sunday's forecast was still for gale force winds. I asked about how it is to paddle at Great Orme's Head. This name I remember because of the Admiralty Chart of Anglesey: "Holyhead to Great Orme's Head". Off Little Orme ran a little tidal race. Lots of rocks, channels and caves to play with on this coast. Justine supplied us with a massive delicious sandwich, way too much energy for the paddling we are doing, I said. On the way back from Great Orme's Head the wind picked up and we had a bumpy ride back. Against a stiff headwind, and from the cold, we burned off lots of the energy that our lunch had given us. Barry had our attention (and cheers) when he paddled under an overhang and a sudden wave had his stern almost hit the overhang. Winter has arrived, chilly, snow on the Snowdonia mountains.

I did some experiments with filming. Seeing the results, I have to remember for a next time to film longer shots. I do count while filming, but apparently when it gets rougher I count more quickly. Probably the same issue as with people you tell they should count to ten before wet exiting and that come out of their kayak within two seconds...

Click on the above picture to start the movie.

P.S. Justine wrote in her blog entry of the weekend about me checking-out Penrhyn Mawr. This is what I saw from the cliffs above and that I based my judgement upon...

Congratulations

To Jen Kleck for achieving the highest coaching award of the British Canoe Union. She is in fact the first female Level 5 Sea Kayak Coach in the USA and there are only four of them in the whole world (Trys Burke, Claire Knifton & Fiona Whitehead are the others). Overall there are only about 20 Level 5 Sea Kayak Coaches in the world, mainly from the UK. The work and time involved on the road to Level 5 is not to be underestimated. It was clear that Jen was very focussed and her determination resulted yesterday in passing her two-day assessment. Visit her blog for all the details of her road to L5. Well done!

Jen Kleck runs Aqua Adventures Kayak Center in San Diego and hosts the annual Southwest Kayak Symposium in March.

Site Safety Ends Here...

I found this sign posted near the Sea Kayaking UK factory. This and even more signs are hung around an enclosure for road maintenance equipment for the nearby road works. I am in Anglesey to collect new NDK sea kayaks and could not resist taking this picture for my blog. Imagine wanting to go sea kayaking and having to read signs for all the possible safety issues. I, therefore, especially like the "Site Safety Starts Here".

Web Life | Gone Paddling

On the Tuesday evening ferry I overheard a mobile phone conversation of a school girl to one of her friends. Her teacher had returned her school project with the remark that she should check it for typing errors. It would have been adequate if not for the large number of typing errors in it. If she made an effort to correct the errors she could re-submit it with no consequences. What she said next struck me in a way that this conversation made it onto my web log. She said that she did not know what she did wrong because she surely used the spelling checker...

At home I drop into a TV-programme about youths "addicting" to texting, MSN Messaging, on-line gaming and internet in general. YouTube enabled cameras... And parents that have given up to understand what their children are up to. Some teachers are spelling doom, while others say that nothing has changed, only the medium. Anyway, more and more people live their lives on the web and through their mobile phones. Some rarely leave their house anymore...

I am thinking about my blog and what it is different from pre-internet days (that era really existed!). Possibly only the "information overload" increased. There is just way too much out there.

I write this after two days of "web cleanup". Web storage used to come at a premium price. Over the years I used a patch-work of free hosting providers to store my pictures that my logbook pages are linking to. Now it is very cheap (or even free) to get 1024 Mb storage accounts. Unplanned, I reorganized and got rid of the patch-work. I hope I corrected more link errors than I created in that process. By now my website links to a whopping 3500 (!) pictures after 14 years of paddling. More overload?

Why I am typing this anyway? Should my blog not just state (if anything): "Gone Paddling!" ?

Ocean Paddler

Earlier this year I learned about the new Ocean Paddler sea kayaking magazine. I finally had time to subscribe to it and I received my first issue. The September issue is 82 pages thick! From first kayaking adventures, incident management (by Jeff Allen), breathtaking undertakings (Patrick Waterton's "Scottish Extremities") to the crossing of Bass Strait (by Justine Curgenven). And much more stories and information on sea kayaking "British Style".

Season of the Falling Leaves

While most of us want to head out to explore far away islands to get away, Karien, who lives and works on an Island, every once in a while wants to explore the mainland.

On 14 October, a truly gorgeous Autumn day, we went hiking around the Naardermeer; a 19 km roundtrip. The Naardermeer is one of the very few natural and un-drained lakes in the Netherlands. There was an effort to drain the lake from 1883, but after three years the effort was given up. It was economically not viable; too much water kept flowing in from beneath.

The trail leaflet advised to wear proper hiking boots for the swamp-like terrain that we could encounter. Thus there I was wearing my sturdy hiking boots, last worn in 1993 on my last Alaskan backpacking trip. We are amazed by the enormous variety of mushrooms alongside the trail. We do not make much progress because we stop quite often to make pictures of them. The Dutch have something with mushrooms.

Wearing my hiking boots was not a good idea. First of all, we do not encounter any swamps and secondly, I am not used to these boots anymore. In fact they are now too small. I was used to hiking with a 20+ kilo back pack all day in these boots. But that was then this is now. These worn soles are on their last hike. During lunch alongside the river Vecht, I spot a swimming Ringed Snake (Natrix Natrix). Not much birdlife other than gathering Geese.

My first ever kayaking trip was 25 km distance on canals. I did not think much of that distance because I thought paddling would be easier than hiking... I could hardly lift my paddle at the end of that first trip. Now I feel that my hiking stamina has lost some of it's edge.

A beautiful Autumn "spirit enhancing" hiking day it was!

Solo Crossing

Today I did my first ever solo 'crossing'. Yes, I have paddled on my own a few occasions, but only on inland waterways and the occasional 'on my own' bits during trips with groups or friends.
But this time it was solo from start to finish.

I had a delivery in Den Helder before I would have taken the ferry to Texel to visit Karien. I met Sjaak and Niekkie at the small sandy patch at Land's End restaurant where they had just returned from a day trip to Noorderhaaks. The weather was gorgeous. Quickly I decided to paddle across instead of taking the ferry. Niekie gave me her laminated map. I only carried a hand held compass. I would have only an hour of favourable tide with me towards Oudeschild.

By the time I was on the water at 16:30 it was full slack. I decided to cross to Texel first and with the increasing outgoing tide work my way up to Oudeschild, paddling close inshore. I had to wait for the ferry and a bit of an 'uneasy feeling' took over, despite the fact that it would only be a crossing of a mile and a half. I took a Twix bar and off I went.

Halfway into the crossing my 'anxiety' was back to normal and I was in my familiar paddling rhythm; cruising. Yes, this IS my first solo crossing. By the time I had made it to the Texel side, the ferry was leaving it's berth and forcing me again to wait and allowing me to make this picture. Tide had just turned.

At 18:15 Karien welcomed me at Oudeschild. Today my map case served a special function by transporting my notebook computer, under my legs in the cockpit.

Dancing in the Dark

Barry wanted to surf the standing wave at the Swellies in the Menai Strait on Sunday. At about 18:00 Barry and I looked at a flat calm slack. Justine arrived a little later and we played with ferry gliding the slowly increasing current. After a while it was completely dark and paddling was by feel. The flickering light of the Swellies cardinal marker (high and dry because of the low water springs) was the only mark to aim for. The standing wave never really kicked-off (we left it at 20:30), but the whirlpools provided some excitement; dancing in the dark...

Today is back to work and I booked the Wednesday evening ferry back to the Netherlands. I have to apologize to Brent. Today I learned from Joanne (Sea Kayaking UK) that Sunday night he waited in the pub for me, to celebrate passing his BCU 5* assessment. Congratulations Brent (and Ryan)!

This next picture was taken upon Barry's specific request to show (the world?) that he can finish his order of chips. For Barry this is apparently a noteworthy achievement that requires picture-proof. See you all next time around...

Saturday Morning Work-out

This morning I joined Barry and Justine for a play in Penrhyn Mawr. We had a late start but with this big spring tide we could still play for more than two hours. I got lots of long rides catching multiple waves in succession. There was hardly any wind so I could do a lot of experimenting with edged stern rudders to manoeuvre and keep onto the best waves. Another work-out exercise paddle.