What I did for Christmas,,,

tapping this out on Christmas Eve, and will schedule it for after tomorrow.  Y’all need to spend time with Fams-n-Frens anyways,,, stop trolling the interwebz for at least one day,,,,,

Took Rio out for my ‘mission; paddle search’ mid afternoon on Sunday (Christmas Eve)  Lovely weather, 66 degrees out, little wind, more breeze than wind, and that water, while cold wasn’t hatefully so: a pair of neoprene gloves were perfect to keep the front feet warm. 

Rio,,,   She’s ‘interesting’,,,,   She definitely prefers aggressive paddling.   Get a little timid on her and she gets that bit in her teeth and you’d best just hang on.    She can flip heading without changing bearing in less than 2′ of travel and not change direction of travel.   Eye blink and you are looking backwards.    If that happens in some chop and current, that may be a two axis pivot, not just one.  (You’ll be making like an upside-down fish)  

But man, You dig in that blade, get some authority in your position and she flat FLIES on water.   Edges like a long boat and will grab an eddyline as if she had hooks in it. (amazing for a boat with no chines!)  She ferries like a dream and while I haven’t the surfaces to try here, I would say she will surf anything that has a face, not just soup.   I was holding her in a small drop and only needing to dip the blades enough to keep my speed up (matching water speed so I wasn’t actually moving anywhere)   Dip a little faster and I attained the upper drop, ease off and back down in it.   A little right edge and slowly drifted left, a little left edge and slowly drifted right.  and no paddle needed for either.  

Only problems I had:  Skirt had shrank since the last time I used it.  Took about 10 minutes for me to get the blasted thing on the cockpit rim.  (I kinda knew I was in trouble at the truck because the tunnel was real bitch to get into, and I have lost a little weight since I wore it last.)   That difficulty set up my brain for anxiety (if hard to put on, may not hold when needed.  Applies to bungee skirts, not rand skirts, which are ALWAYS a bitch to put on and probably just as much a bitch to get OFF.)   And I didn’t do my ‘get wet first’ exercise,,,,    I didn’t because I knew the clock was ticking (short days) and I wanted to get downriver to find that bloody paddle.   Shoulda taken that extra couple minutes: that skirt would have been wet and stretched out easier. My mind would have been more intune with ‘you’re already wet dummie’ and not anxious about getting wet, so getting reacquainted wouldn’t have been the chore it became.

As for sea-legs and Rio,,, hell, that boat is just as stable as Blue Jean if you do what you’re supposedta.  Hit a submerged treelimb (while I was still feeling anxious) and she just slid off it and didn’t do anything silly.  Goosed me a bit, but that was that.   While she tracks like a squirrel, and is fast about it. keep that blade in the water and you have control of her and she’ll go where YOU want, not all whim and whimsey.   Want to pull a 90? let that paddle fall behind your hip and WHOOOSH, you are off at a tangent.   Found that out by accident, but good to know. 

She’s FAST,,,   not straightline fast (though that kinda to when in current) but handling like a sports car fast.   May not exceed the speedlimit but never leave your lane either.   (May be why I like her over the ARC,,, She handles like a Fiat X/1-9, quick and nimble)

I may end up liking whitewater at this rate,,, (Still your beating heart B, I said MAY,,,,)

No pics,, No GPS tracking, No Action camera footage,,,   Hell, I didn’t even take a water bottle and noted its absence at take out: Mad thirsty.   And no, Aint gonna be drinking out of the Cumberland ( There are cows that get in the water upstream from my put in,,,  Think about it,,, BLECH!!!!)   All I wanted to focus on was finding a paddle and getting familiar with the boat again.   Hindsight, I should have reversed objectives.  

And no, Didn’t find that paddle.   Likely a bit further downstream than I went given the time I had before ‘Can’t see’   (and Had I thought about it, its nearly full moon tonight, could have stayed out a bit longer.)  thinking about taking Blue Jean out for a spin Christmas mornin (Before I have to do the family runnin’ round thing in the afternoon) and if so, I will go further downstream and see what I can see.