As I anxiously await the arrival of soon to be released DVDs, Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown, Volume 2 from Sunart Media and Sea Kayak Rescues (with Shawna Franklin and Leon Somme) from Reel Water Productions — both should arrive within the next two weeks!  I discovered a couple of bonuses the other day.

Sea Kayak Rescues DVD

While at the website for Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown, I noticed a “free downloads” button, of course I clicked it — and wow!  An illustrated transcript of Volume 2 is available for download.  Dig a bit deeper (scroll down the page) and you’ll find a transcript of Volume 1.  SCORE!

It got better — then I surfed on over to Kayak Essentials to see if there was anything new, or that I couldn’t live without .  Already having purchased both of their DVDs earlier in the year, I was pleased to discover that there too was a downloadable illustrated transcript for Sea Kayak Essentials.

The value of these transcripts can’t be under estimated.  While they are meant to be used in conjunction with their respective DVDs, they contain a wealth of information that are easy to read.  Additionally, by printing them out you can make margin notes, and highlight special points for yourself.

So, while I watch the mail (post), I’ve got transcripts to read, and re-read.  Not to mention all the other things, including trying to get some fall (rougher water) paddling in.

I’ve provided links herein, and will be adding to my references page soon.  The learning never stops–well I don’t know about the “after-life” and hope I don’t for a long time, but for now, keep on studying and learning.

Enjoy!

Posted: October 1st, 2011 under Uncategorized.
Comments: 3

While surfing my round of sea kayaking blogs and sites the other day, I came across an interesting publication from one of the “oldies, but goodies” of the sea kayaking world, Kevin Mansell.  Many years ago I remember Kevin from Sea Kayaking International, an organization that provided information to sea kayakers around the world.

Not having a Kindle, but wanting the publication, I did some research and asking around.  To my pleasure I found that I could download a Kindle application to my PC that would allow me to download e-books and read them using the Kindle app.  So, today while at my daily Caribou lunch session, I went to Amazon and found the Kindle app, downloaded it to my notebook.  I then deleted the three classics that were automatically downloaded, and then downloaded the “Kindle only” publication from Kevin Mansell.  Though I’ve not read the entire book yet, I will say that I’m very impressed with the information covered and the detail provided for each listing.  At $8.00, this is one of the best buys I’ve made in awhile (outside of a six-pack of Smuttynose IPA of course!).

Check it out, I think you’ll agree.  And, while at Amazon, check out all the other great sea kayaking books you can download, very impressive.

Posted: August 2nd, 2011 under Uncategorized.
Comments: none

It’s been 10 days since I returned from the round of July symposiums.  First the Door County Symposium, followed by a few nights of camping on the sandy shore of Lake Superior — right outside the door of my tent.  Then there was the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium.  Ten days on the road, and by the end, it was good to get home, even though all that gear had to be unloaded and carried into the house, hanging wet stuff to dry, and laundry of course.  This trip had been preceeded by the Inland Sea Symposium only 3 weeks before departure.  It is always kind of bittersweet to unload really, but it’s just the beginning of summer!

So, “now what?”  if you attended one of the symposiums, or two or all three, then you most likely picked up some new skills to hone — I know I did (for example the pry sculling draw).  So, this is not the time to simply hang up the boat and blades, it’s time to keep them and the body going–don’t stop now!  Get out there and practice.  But, don’t forget to have some fun too (not that practice can’t be fun), sometimes we just need to paddle.  While doing so work on your skill of self awareness and analysis.  If you are fortunate to have a paddling mate that has a keen eye, ask them for some feedback as to how a particular stroke is looking.

As for me, I’m in the prep stages for two instructor development workshops, and one instructor certification exam that I’ll be conducting between now and the end of September.  Then I turn my attention to prep for assisting with teaching a Wilderness Advanced First Aid course in mid-October.

I’m, however, going to make sure I take advantage of these warmer water months to do some paddling and rolling around too, which I’ve not done much of this year due in part to the weather, and the SI joint dysfunction that I’ve encountered–hoping that is about to get behind me though.  In the mean time, whenever I need to “chill”, I’ll take a look at some of the lovely sunsets that are memories from another good trip.

Posted: July 28th, 2011 under Uncategorized.
Comments: none

Being on the “physically unable to perform” roster on the home team, the snow shoveling position for this most recent game of snow fall was left up to my loving wife–Oz.  When I arrived home from a full day at the office, and 30 minutes in the whirlpool, and the bi-nightly visit to the grocery, the walks and driveway had been shoveled a couple of times during the day (Monday) by Oz.  With the little bit of additional snow that fell after the last shoveling, I was hoping that I’d get up early and go out with big blue (my snow pusher) and just be able to push the remaining bit away.  However, when I finally rolled out of bed in the morning and tried to straighten up, I knew that was not a good idea, at least at that point in time.

Oz came in the bedroom and announced that she was going out and clear the end of the driveway, which had been plowed in overnight.  And, as my luck would have it, by time I got downstairs, the coffee was made, the paper was in, and the wife was out shoveling snow.  So, what’s a guy to do?  Did my stretching exercises, being careful to maintain “PFA” (pain free activity), as much as possible at least.  Then sitting on the edge of the couch, I drank my coffee, read some of the paper, listened to the morning news.  Then I cautiously rose from the couch to start the process of getting ready for work.

Oz and "big mouth"

Oz came in from shoveling and announced that she loaned our neighbor my blue pusher and “big mouth”.  “Big mouth” is the name given to the red plastic grain/snow shovel that I had given Oz a couple of years ago for Christmas.  When I left for work the neighbor returned same.  After making sure that he was indeed done, I placed “big mouth” and “blue” back in the garage.  Then as I placed my bags in the car, I noticed that the garbage cans hadn’t been cleared.  So, I grabbed big mouth and within 5 minutes of easy shoveling I had them cleared, just in case today is collection day (I can never keep track of it).  And, the really good news is that my back didn’t complain by the little bit of shoveling I did do, and that’s a good thing! And, it was collection day, so a good thing indeed that I cleared the cans.

Posted: January 19th, 2011 under Uncategorized.
Comments: 4

A few days ago I spoke of 2011 and all that is going on, I wanted to post this photo too, but for some reason the WordPress gods didn’t allow me to do so with that post.  So, I’m back today and will see if the stars are aligned for me to post this photo of Silbs and I toasting a great day on a Great Lake.  And for those of you in the South, see it does get warm enough up here to sit in shorts and a t-shirt.  I know, Silbs is in long sleeves and jeans, but he gets cold easily

To a great day on a Great Lake

Posted: January 17th, 2011 under Uncategorized.
Comments: none

2011 is shaping up to be fully packed with lots of activity, at least through October and then there are the annual holidays in November and December. So guess that makes it the whole year!

January is loaded with planning and scheduling, along with a couple of pool sessions to maintain my “edge”. In February I’m off to Tybee Island Georgia for a few days of assisting with Rutabaga’s Kayak Camp with Ben Lawry. This will be a really great time, not only will I be working with Ben, but it will be in one of my favorite places to paddle. If I had things my way, I’d move to Tybee in a heartbeat!

March begins the paddling season here in the upper Midwest with Canoecopia. And, for those of us who are year-round paddlers, Canoecopia brings the excitement that kids get in a toy store in early December. For the past several years I’ve worked the entire show, either staffing the Door County Sea Kayak Symposium booth, or the Rutabaga Outdoor Programs booth. In addition to those “duties” this year I will be doing several presentations. The board of directors for the Lake Michigan Water Trail (LMWT) will be doing a presentation on the LMWT project. I’ve been working on this project for over 15 years, and these are really exciting times! I will also be doing a presentation on wilderness first aid. Then there will be a presentation on “kit” essentials, during which I will discuss why my kayak and my PFD weigh so much. And, I will be doing a couple of navigation sessions which will be “hands-on” with several other ACA instructors assisting. So, Canoecopia is going to be a scheduling nightmare, but soooooo much fun that I’m getting all giddy just thinking about it!

In April I’ll be conducting an early season Level 4 – Open Water Coastal Kayak Instructor Certification Exam for Rutabaga. This will be for those that may have missed the usual late summer and fall exams last year, or who are looking to perhaps upgrade from their present level before the teaching season gets in full swing this year.

In May I’ll be assisting with a Wilderness Medical Associates Wilderness First Aid class sponsored by Rutabaga. These are always fun (especially when I get to work with my mentor Ann Dunphy). It’s amazing how much practical first aid knowledge and skill one can learn in two days. Also, for you ACA instructors, or aspiring instructors, don’t forget that you are now required to have first aid and CPR as part of your instructor credentials, and successful completion of this course satisfies that requirement.

In June I’ll be doing an Instructor Development Workshop (IDW) for Rutabaga (this will be especially fun since it’s also my birthday weekend!).  In mid-June the symposium schedule begins with the Inland Sea Sea Kayak Symposium in Washburn Wisconsin. I just received my invitation to be one of the instructors, and accepted immediately! This is the first symposium that I ever attended, and where I had my first “formal” lesson, with none other than Gail Green. I won’t tell you what year that was; just that it was awhile ago.

July is always a busy month with not one, but two symposiums and a bit of camping along the shores of Lake Superior between the two. First, there’s the Door County Sea Kayak Symposium. Always fun to see all the returning participants, as well as the new ones. I’ve been at this one from the beginning (this is the 8th annual), and have a blast. After DCSKS, I’ll be heading to Munising to camp on the shore of Lake Superior for a few nights with Silbs and Sherri.  We’ll be doing some paddling in the area, hanging out at the local coffee shop, and just sitting and relaxing before heading over to Grand Marais (Michigan) for the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium (GLSKS) which is still going strong after a quarter of a century (2011 is the 27th annual)!

In August I’ll be doing another IDW for Rutabaga. Then in September I’ll be conducting an ICE for Rutabaga. And, finally in October there’s the ACA National Conference in Louisville, KY.

Now, sprinkle among all of this the various one day classes (navigation, open water skills, video stroke analysis, first aid and CPR) as well as some two day instructor updates, and I’ve got me a busy 2011 ahead!

So this pretty much sums up 2011 for me, looks to be jam packed, to say the least! Hope to see you at some, if not all of these events.

Posted: January 13th, 2011 under Events, Instruction, Ramblings, Sea Kayaking, Uncategorized.
Comments: 1

Most of the reading I do is of an educational nature, to increase my knowledge in the medical or sea kayaking fields, or the teaching of same.  Rarely do I read for the pure joy of reading, time just doesn’t permit me to do that.  Having disclosed that, I had been looking for something in my den the other evening, something I still haven’t found but if you saw my den you’d immediately know why (but I digress).  As I worked my way to the bottom of a pile of files and “important” papers, I found a book that I’d gotten a couple of years ago from my wife (not sure if it was for birthday, Christmas, or just because).  Hmmmm . . . I was about finished with the current edition of Ocean Paddler, and was tired of reading The Merck Manual of Patient Symptoms, and re-reading The Outward Bound Wilderness First-Aid Handbook.  Standing there for a moment I opened the freshly uncovered book, which the spine looked like I had never opened it before, and I just randomly opened it and read a quick story, and I laughed out loud.  I realized that what I had just read was what I’ve been living for the past few years as an urban emergency medical technician (EMT).  Perhaps even more ironic, the previous evening I’d had a conversation at the station between calls talking to others about EMS in the urban jungle and how it wasn’t much different in any large urban city.

Amazon dot com has the book, as well as the newer one (More Blood, More Sweat, and Another Cup of Tea).   Either, or both, would be a good gift for anyone working in EMS.  What I like is that there’s no plot to follow.  You have two minutes—pick it up and read a short post.  Got an hour, pick it up and read several posts. Start in the middle, at the end, at the beginning, it doesn’t matter!  One reviewer called it “a great toilet book”.  Well that pretty much sums it up, it is indeed a great toilet book!

One passage:  “There is something deeply disturbing about walking on a sticky carpet—especially when the flat (apartment) is in a compete mess and the punter (patient) has called an ambulance four times in the last 2 days for a pain in the chest that has lasted 2 years. . . note that the pain hasn’t changed in any way, it’s not worse, or moved around the body, he has no other symptoms . . . It also doesn’t help when the patient smells so bad that I want to leap out the side window.”  Now I ask my colleagues in EMS, who amongst us can’t relate to this?  If you can’t then you’ve only been working the streets for a few hours, just wait until the next run.

You can keep current with the author of these books by reading his blog at http://randomreality.blogware.com/

Posted: December 10th, 2010 under Emergency Medicine, Reviews (books, Uncategorized.
Comments: none

Feels like “forever” since I since posted something.  I keep saying that I’m going to become more regular, at least once a week, perhaps every other week would be a more realistic goal.  We shall see;-)

July was certainly a busy month–2 weeks vacation, during which time I spent it at 2 sea kayak symposiums (Door County and Great Lakes), with some camping on the shore of Lake Superior in between the two.  That was quickly followed with three days working with Ben Lawry at Rutabaga.  Then August, which absolutely flew by.  And, here we are September–the end of summer???

I’m also ramping up my work on the Lake Michigan Water Trail again.  It’s exciting to find that the Wisconsin DNR is involved now, along with many other agencies, organizations, and individuals, on the local, state and federal levels.  This fall we are planning some “discovery” sessions (one north and one south) to bring some interested parties together.

Carla, Margaret, John (right to left)

So, today–Labor Day–Carla and Margaret came over from Madison to paddle the big lake with Silbs and I.  After waiting out the lightning we launched and paddled south into a rather strong head wind.  Then we “flew” back.  Got a good view of Air Force One as it approached General Mitchell Field.

Air Force One

Coming up the end of the month is an ACA Instructor Certification Exam, followed by an Instructor Update the second weekend in October, which pretty much marks the end of the kayak instructing for the season–unless something else pops up of course.

As they always say, “as one door closes, another one opens.”  So it is with me–as the kayak instruction comes to a close for the season, the CPR instruction picks up.  In early November I attend the American Heart Association’s “roll-out” of the new CPR procedures.  Did you know that the procedures change every 5 years based on the ongoing research and scientific studies in emergency cardiac care (ECC)?  Then the roll out continues to all the other instructors, and being on the faculty of a training center (First Aid Plus), I will be involved in teaching the new procedures to all the other instructors.

So, a busy summer, and a busy fall and winter coming up.  But, I’m really going to try and post more here–I’ve actually got several things I want to post on.  Now we’ll see how I do.  Stay tuned!

Posted: September 6th, 2010 under Uncategorized.
Comments: 1

I don’t take in all the pool sessions, but I do like to get in a few, especially before the snow comes and brings with it the misery of loading/unloading in the snow and cold.

This last Sunday was the second of the season’s pool sessions sponsored by the Badger State Boating Society (BS2 (supposed to be a superscript 2, but I can’t figure out how to do it)).  Back in the early to mid-’90s, BS2 would have monthly meetings at a bar just northwest of Milwaukee.  I’d go to the meetings and talk to others about sea kayaking, I was always in the minority and that was ok, the love of recreating on the water brought us together.  We’d have a holiday party with big Mike dressed up as Santa, and me as an elf (complete with green capilene underwear and bells).  One year we arrived via a canoe being pulled by some of the club members pretending to be reindeer.  Oops, the canoe was wider than the door.  Everyone had a great laugh, lots of food and drink, along with lots of gifts provided by the local outfitters, of which I was one.  Well, I sure have digressed, but it does bring back some fond memories of nearly 20 years ago!!!

Now, BS2 (that’s BS squared), has given up the monthly meetings at the local club house, and are mainly a group of whitewater paddlers who openly welcome us “long boaters” to share in the wealth of the clean and warm waters of the Schroeder YMCA for a series of pool sessions between December (or late November this year) and March.

As one can imagine, you get a few (5 this past Sunday) sea kayaks in a small section of a large pool, and while there’s not much room to do a lot of paddling, there’s plenty of space to do some rather stationary activities.  The whole idea is to hone the skills in the comfort of the pool during the winter so when we go on the open waters we will be better paddlers.

Here’s some video I shot at the last session–Rick is getting a lot of coaching in rolling and high bracing.  By the way, the video was taken with my Pentax Optio 20W, not my big “fancy” video rig.  Hope you enjoy, and that you too will take advantage of your local club’s pool sessions.  (The music is Jaime RT, Butterfly and the Talking Cat.)

Posted: December 9th, 2009 under Lake Michigan, Ramblings, Uncategorized, videos.
Comments: 4

Over at Silbs Says he is wondering why he is so stiff and sore after a pool session where he was a rollin’ around in the water for a couple of hours (“I Don’t Get It” 12/1/2009).  And, while I wasn’t there, I suspect he was putting his body through all sorts of gyrations that it had not been through for a long time–perhaps since rolling camp 3 or 4 months ago.  I’ve observed him, and others, doing all sorts of rolling, especially some of the Greenland movements, really twisting their body, and throwing their arms out-n-about.  These movements are usually way out of the normal range they put their joints through, and they wonder why they are sore the next day?

Now our fellow blogger and sea kayaker, and roller in his own right, DaveO from the land of purple and gold and all things favre–though we won’t hold that against him, has suggested in a comment to Silbs that the aches and pains are nothing that Bushmill’s wouldn’t solve. I’m not so sure Bushmills’ would “solve” the problem, but certainly could make one forget about those issues for awhile.  Or, “Doctor, it hurts when I do this,” patient says as he hits himself in the head.  Doctor replies, “don’t do that!”  There, problem/pain solved.  Not so easy with kayakers though–when given a body of warm clean water, a boat and a paddle, what’s a kayaker to do?  Roll it!  Then roll over and do it again, and again, and again . . . .

I would submit that for a more permanent solution one should check out Sea Kayak Dot Net where you will find a great series on exercises to do to strengthen one’s self for the paddling and rolling that we do.

I’ve discussed the “get fit to paddle” theme before, so it may come as somewhat of a “beating a dead horse” but I can’t emphasize enough the need, as well as the positive correlation, between being fit to paddle and being a fit paddler.  (Keeping Your Edge, December  27, 2007.)

Ok, so you paddled a lot this past summer and now that winter is here (at least colder air and water temperatures, and snow forecast today), you will cut back to limited, or no, outdoor paddling but maybe a pool session or two between now and next “session”.  Do you really think that you are going maintain the same level of fitness and paddling ability where you left off?  As sea kayakers we need to maintain three levels of fitness:  cardio (endurance), strength, and flexibility.  Just like that three legged stool, without maintaining all three we are going to be wobbley when we get in our kayaks.

There’s plenty of information available to help guide us, here are a few of my favorites (in addition to the aforementioned Sea Kayak Dot Net):

• Fit to Paddle: The Paddler’s Guide to Strength and Condtioning, by Rocky Snyder, Ragged Mountain Press, 2003.
• Book of Body Maintenance and Repair, by Marilyn Moffat and Steve Vickery, Owl Books, 1999.
• Yoga for Paddlers, (DVD)

Something to think about, something to do, and certainly some good study materials.

As for me, I visit the athletic club 3 times a week, go through a series of stretches and core exercises virtually every morning, and I watch my weight (didn’t gain any over Thanksgiving, and didn’t starve either!).  I also study the reference materials, and search for more.  Most importantly, I have fun!  Now, if I manage to do this with my work schedule, you can too.

Get fit to paddle and be a fit paddler!

Posted: December 3rd, 2009 under Fitness, Health, Sea Kayaking, Uncategorized.
Comments: 4