Not the day I wanted, the day I made up,,,

Not much to talk about today,,, did my usual Sunday stuff, and then went to the river to check-n-see

Its up, flowing better, but still pretty wimpy for what I want. BUT, I did take Rio out for a few, didn’t even bother with a sprayskirt: I just wanted to try that paddle out and see if it will fit my quiver or not.

Its a go. Thing digs like a Werner powerhouse, and that TIG’ed section held up good enough when I tossed the paddle to one side and LEANNNEEEEDDDDDD on it. Serious leverage applied right on that TIG joint and it held just fine. No groans croaks or cranks, and the loom is still straight as an arrow. It’s quite a bit heavier than I am used to but then, its a 30YO paddle and designs and materials have changed quite a bit since then. The repair wasn’t really a repair, it was to modify the original design. That paddle had a 90degree offset and I can not tolerate offset blades,,, And no one I know wanted it either. Fuggit, cut the loom at midpoint, and have bud TIG it with a zero plane. Even reduced the length to 190cm from its 220 because it was WAY too long for white water (and I don’t use Euro’s on my longs unless I am in river current.)

it will work though. Really going to need to play with it since the blades are thicker and will shift off plane easier than my Carlysle (a break down paddle that fits nicely on decks) but the way it grabs water,, yah, like anything ‘new’ takes some gettin’usedta.

So why didn’t I hit the lake, or do more on the river?

Winds. The winds are ripping it up out there today. And the temps never went over 60 and

I was lazy. really didn’t feel like getting all gussied up in neoprene and dry top and sprayskirt and and and,… I went out in Rio wearing a QD shirt under a neoprene top and swimtrunks. I figured if I got wet, get out, get dry and fire up the Buffalo to get warm. And I was not going very far in either direction. Just playing with a little current (like we have big current right now) and doing ferrying and playing with that paddle and how its faces bite. Other than my Greenlands, I have never paddled with a symetrical blade before, or one so thick,,,, gonna be a few before I ‘Feel’ this one. But by Dog! attainments were a breeze.

And Lyssa is grumpy, feeling a bit left out, but is what it is,,, Next weekend for certain.

And I made a cheater map to put on the deck of Lyssa when I hit Laurel lake.

‘printed’ it up on the Cricut, then used a red pen to add details I want others to know about (will make copies later to give to Da and Sis to ease minds) put Emergency contact info on the back side and laminated it up to stay dry. Not a Cartographers finest work but it’s good enough to navigate an inland lake. And its tons betterer than the garbage maps they hand out at the marina,,,

and now its wind-down to wind up for the J.O.B. tomorrow. Voo is grumpin’ and passin’ gas telling me its ‘Poo TIme!” (dawg farts are the WORST!) Talk atcha’all tomorrow