As in, NOT A DANGED THING WAS ACCOMPLISHED,,,,
Other than my kicking the shit our of some cold bug,,, That also kicked the shit out of me,,, I’m beat down right now, but the schnoz isn’t dripping like Niagra and the aches n pains are down to ‘daily norms’. Gettin’ old ain’t purty, nor fun,,,
Checking on friends around and about, Looks like BCE is taking advice and keeping OPSEC up: best to keep the low profile if you want to spout threats n such. NOT that that bastion of Civility would ever do such a thing,,, ;-).
Here’s me raising a glass in toast to him for his stoic levels of reserve. Assuming of course that he has NOT gone kinetic and we haven’t heard one way or the other. BCE, keep it real, but keep it low down if’n ya know what I mean,.. Side note, I am reserving judgement on the Bulliet Bourbon until my throat hasn’t been ravaged by bugs, coughing, and sinus drainage. It worked, yes, but I have no way of comparing it to anything else since Turpentine would have gone down just as smooth with the state my throat is in. (update, he posted an update WHILE I was tapping this’un out. LOL)
While I had no kayak-y love the last two weeks, one because paddling partners faded like ghosts, and the last because I just wasn’t up to snuff to deal with cold and water and possibly a dunking or three,,, NO, Don’t want to give the buggies a beach-head into knocking my ass down so far, hospitalization would be required. I have never like docs, and the recent (last two+ years) have given that dislike a serious polish and tempering: that blade of dislike is razor sharp now. Will go if I must, but I am going to do all I can to avoid it. (no offense to my reader/commenter who is a Doc,,, you know why my dislike has grown)
Because the weather has turned so winterish already, I went ahead and unloaded Buffalo. No need to be hauling around a seakayak and all its attendant gear if I am most likely NOT going anywhere. It takes about an hour to load up, which is a pain during the summer months when a trip could happen in minutes (or I am cruising along with nothing pressing and see a hella spot to put in,,,). Winter-ish weather, not so much. Even my clothing changes for the winter months, so things get kinda heavy fast. DRESS FOR IMMERSION is the rule, and it does save lives. Those that ignore that advice do so at their peril. The one time I capsized and had a swim to shore was in Duh!k, and the weather (early March) was in the 50s, but the water was 45. Had a 100+yard swim to shore, but I was dressed for it (full wetsuit, not optimal but better than shorts and a “t”) and I didn’t feel cold (except at first when that cold water seeped into the zipper area, Whooboy that was a chill, but it warmed quickly.)(this was before I had a roll, and why I really really really wanted to learn how to roll. A roll in any weather sure beats a long ass swim,,,,)
Anywhoosits, I have Lizzy on the porch in the horses I use for working on boats. I have to make a spot for her yet. (Its only been 3 weeks since I picked her up and this is the first time she has been off the truck except for repair work). and I started playing with things. IE, my camping gear, and Lizzy’s hatches.
RuhRoh!!!! My tent will NOT fit in those dinky-ass holes. My 30L drybag, ditto, This is an expedition boat? Huh? If I stuff everything in individually, unload the tent and its poles, putting the poles in the cockpit with me, I can fit it, but then there is one hell of mess in the compartments that needs secured down to the lowest parts of the hull. And NOTHING in a dry bag so if a hatch leaks, its all wet.(and in the case of campstoves, if the fuel bottles leak,,, This is really a non-issue since the fuel bottles are spun aluminum and I replace the seals every other season, even if I haven’t been camping.) Looks like I may need to purchase some air bags to secure loads. (load boat, insert airbag, inflate, cargo no move,,,) And I have been reading more and more about how this boat NEEDS a load to be tamed. I haven’t tried loading up to note any difference, but then, I haven’t been on water in 14 days either,,,,(and I’m so itchin’ to)
now, the hatch covers are brand new, seal as good as I could ask for: warm air yesterday in the compartments shows as a vacuum on the hatch today, and pop the hatch you hear a distinct hiss as the pressure changes. BUT, waterproof is a concept, not a fact, and water will find a way,,, Always, Even dry bags get wet inside if they are immersed for any length of time. Really the only way to know that the compartments are sealed well, is to get out in the rough stuff and play for a day. if after a day spent half submerged in waves, your compartments are dry, you are good to go. Thats hard to find in these parts. The Ohio Navy rolls off the Cumberland when the weather turns cold so even the main lake is rather calm right now.
Dunno,
She is definitely a race boat though. I keep looking at the time I had when I had the GPS on her and thinking how hard I wasn’t puahing to hit that speed. To do the same in Blue Jean (to keep up wiith Bruce in Selkie) I was hammered down and after 3/4 mile was spent completely. (good conditioning, but no race boat that,,,). Most every commenter over at UKRIVERGUIDE notes how they have to hold back when there are other makes of kayak in the groups. The Nordy’s are fast, I don’t understand why the difference though. Looking at the hulls, it’s not all that different from other boats.
again, Dunno,
And this is the first fiberglass boat I have owned so there may be a glide factor built into the glass where Polyethylene is ‘sticky’. Again, dunno: that argument comes up now and again in the laminar flow vs Turbulent flow mess. and a glass boat is smooth as ice where a poly boat is likely to have lots of little scritches and scratches that add resistance. (even the worst scratches on Lizzy are shallower than the lightest scratch on BlueJean. A kayak with ZERO scratches has either never seen water or has been so babied that it was never near a shoreline.)
Learning curves,,,, That’s what all of the above is about. Lizzy is providing a learning curve to me. First lesson is “A standard is NOT the upper part of the bell curve”. Yah, that,,, The Nordkapp might be the standard by which all other seakayaks are measured, but that doesn’t put them at the top of the bell curve in ALL aspects. She IS a 90% boat, like all the others I have had; fills 90% of the need but that last 10%,,,, Fast and rugged it is. But there were a lot of things that could be changed without distracting from that: like bigger hatches,,, That I do want a fiberglass boat is beyond question, and the way Lizzy came into my world is not to be denied, She is here to teach me things about seakayaking that no other boat can, and for that I need water time,,,, my ass has been dry for way to long; I need water time.
