So Where Does The Ice Go?

For the past week the ice on my local lake has been looking more and more rotten. Next it broke into huge rafts which the wind began blowing back and forth. The rafts would push up against each other and up the beaches and wharves. When I went for my first paddle on the lake yesterday, almost all the ice rafts had suddenly disappeared. Where did it go?

Well some of it is still floating on the lake. In the above photo, you can see the ice as a thin white line on the water horizon (click on the photo to enlarge it). This last piece still stretches from shore to shore. One of the first sections of the lake to freeze last fall, it must be thicker and will be the last to go.


Some of the remaining ice is piled on the shore where it got pushed during the past few days. I can only assume that the rest simply melted. When you think of the tremendous amount of energy required to melt ice, it is one of Nature's little miracles that enough heat energy is available each spring to get the job done!

I'm Renewed!

Everyone knows that Spring is called the season of renewal and so it is. For me it is also the time to renew my domain name 'ckayaker.ca'. Now this was supposed to be an automatic process, much like the seeds sprouting. No one is required to dig into the dark ground to kick-start the natural process. Well, this year a number of things conspired and 'ckayaker.ca' didn't renew itself. To make matters worse I momentarily lost control of the domain name and it went into 'suspension', a kind of domain no-man's-land. That situation was corrected early last week, but then for another week or so, 'ckayaker.ca' couldn't be accessed because it had lost it's 'host'.

I'm glad to be able to say, the seed is now above the ground, as of this morning, the site is once again available to the people who prefer using the shorter URL name. Hopefully next spring, nature will be back on automatic pilot

Almost There!

I took another wander around my local lake today to see how the melt was coming along. I've good news. The ice has broken into a number of large rafts and it being blown here and there by the wind. At one point I watched it being pushed up and over a cement wharf. It's always amazing to watch the slow, unstoppable power of so much weight once it begins to move.

It made me realise, it was no place to be in a kayak. The temptation was there, especially when I saw the open water along the shore. I could paddle there, I thought. Later as the ice quickly closed the gap and tumbled over the wharf and up the shoreline, I began to think otherwise.

Patience is the game here. Another day or two and I'll be out there...

Life's Little Moments of Stupidity

Let's face it, we all do things now and then which we know are dumb. Sometimes we get away with the act and sometimes we don't. Here's a lovely example of one of those latter acts...

Our neighbour's woodworking shop burned to the ground the other night. It looks like it was deliberately set, so a rent-a-cop was hired to keep an eye on the scene until a complete investigation could be carried out. Now sitting in your car, out in the middle of nowhere, watching a smoldering ruin, just isn't the most exciting thing in the world to be doing. The rent-a-cop had his boxed lunch and finished off his water. Down went the car window and out went the empty water bottle.

My daughter happened to be looking out the window and saw the bottle fly into the ditch. Out she went. She walked over to the bottle, picked it up and approached the rent-a-cop's car. Just imagine the scene. A total idiot, pretending to uphold the law, gets his litter back from someone half his age. Humiliation or what? It made my day.

Even better, the arsonist has been arrested. Twenty-three years old. Now that's just plain sad.

Beautiful Weather

I swung down past my lake this afternoon to see how things were coming along. It was a bit nippy at 3°C, but the rain was steady. A little wind, actually a lot of wind, would have made it a perfect day. That dark line of ice seen in the middle of the lake is now in the 'candle' stage of melt meaning the crystals are aligned vertically rather than horizontally. In this configuration, the ice has little strength to resist any sideways force like wind or current. It also means than the warm rain water percolates down into the ice following the spaces between the crystals and hurries up the melt process. So bring it on! I'm ready to paddle on a moment's notice.

Swirling Decisions...

About a year ago I discovered a new kayak. I was intrigued. She was made here in Quebec; she was British in inspiration; and, best of all, she was a playful looking companion for my 5 year old QCC 600 tripping boat. I looked forward to getting out on the water to try her out in her element. That chance came in the late spring and I wasn't disappointed. It was now only a matter of seeing my banker and being patient.

All the hurdles have now been jumped, except this last one. Maelstrom Kayaks sent me 20 suggested colour combinations to choose from, yet none seemed perfect for me. In the end, I knew the answer I sought was some combination of the three schemes seen in the photos above. I think I have it right or do I? What do you think the answer is? What combination would you choose? Choose a deck colour, a hull colour, a shearline colour and the hull fin colour and you've got it! Or do you?

Banyan Trees in Key West

I found Silb's comment yesterday about the Kapok tree interesting because, like him and others, I too saw the kapok tree and immediately thought 'banyan'. A passer-by put me right when I tried to impress him with my vast knowledge of exotic tree species by referring me to the sign below the tree which clearly stated what it was. One learns so much through travel...

I was also informed that a locale B&B just down the street was called the 'Banyan Inn' or something like that and had a tree growing in the front lawn, so I wandered down to have a look. In the photo it is clearly a very different tree indeed. Not a kapok seed in sight, but instead dozens of hanging support roots streaming off the upper branches of the tree. The owners of the property had to pull some of the hanging roots aside so as to continue using their driveway. In time, the tree will no doubt envelope the house and enlarge itself throughout Key West, merging with the more native mangrove islands offshore. Be careful what you plant...

Remember Kapok?

Wandering around the streets of Key West recently, I came across this magnificent tree. I wasn't sure what it was at first, but the huge buttresses at the base of the trunk had me curious. It turns out to be a Kapok tree. Now if you're old enough, you'll remember wearing life jackets filled with the soft material from these trees. If you're like me, you'll also remember them being uncomfortable and perhaps even cutting one open to expose the source of the discomfort, all wrapped up in little packages, which then were cut open and spread around the house in an impromptu science exploration. Some called it a mess, but the science held. I remembered the word 'kapok'.

I understand the fluffy material comes from the tree's seed packets. A little search on the web suggested the material is still being used here and there in the life jacket industry as a replacement for the foam materials more commonly used.

Chick Magnets

Spring Break was winding down as I arrived in Key West, but there were certainly lots of young folks still around strutting their stuff. Take a look a this guy who I surprised foolin' with his honey behind some bushes. He came running after me making all kinds of noises. Some are chick magnets, some aren't...

Key West Car Choices

One of my themes this year when blogging is to keep an eye out for alternatives to our oil dependent livestyle. While in Key West recently, I was impressed with the number of simple electric vehicles being used. Most were in the 'For Rent' category, but not all. Private citizens are making the switch to them as well. Certainly a place like Key West is idea for such vehicles. It is warm, flat and totally contained on a small island only a few miles in length. A full battery charge would easily last several days of use. Another plus is most of the technology is well known from the golf cart industry, easy to maintain and relatively recyclable. Adapting a kayak roof rack to fit would also be a simple matter...


Perhaps the downside was the almost total lack of visible solar electric panels either on the cars or anywhere else for recharging the batteries. Given that most electricity in Florida is produced via carbon based means, the actual benefits of driving these cars is not as great as it would appear at first glance. Still, people using them do get the idea that a 'real' car is not necessarily the drudgery they might have thought it was going to be and, by itself, that's a move forward.

Key West Schooners

Although not intended primarily as a paddling trip, my recent trip to the southern USA did get me out to the end of the Florida Keys. If you have never been to that part of the world, it's definitely worth seeing for several reasons.

One of those reasons is the chance to go sailing on a schooner. Once a common sight along the east coast of North American, not many still exist, especially ones which will take a person out for a day's sail on the water. In Key West, there are several schooners available for half and full day trips to outer keys. I didn't sail on the one in the photo above, but did go in another similar boat. It featured a 'swing-keel' which enabled it to be sailed into water as shallow as 28 inches! We didn't try it, but the easy motion and highly variable rig made sailing these boats lots of fun.

Just Before I Leave...

I was listening to the radio this morning and heard an interview with someone who was instructing some children on safety in the pool. At first I thought it was the usual stuff about pool safety, but it turned out to be much more interesting. The children we fully dressed and being asked to do various things like try swimming and then to try getting out of the pool by clambering up slippery slabs of foam. The safety feature here was to simulate falling into a lake covered in ice. It was a great exercise in teaching the children what might happen and what techniques work and which ones don't.

Throughout the program, the instructor kept referring to "life jackets". The term "PFD" was never used and I thought that was odd. Then it hit me. "Life jackets" can save your "life". To a child, a "PFD" isn't anything meaningful, because there is no meaningful content in the three letters. Even knowing that the letters stand for "Personal Flotation Device" doesn't convey a lot of meaning to a child and probably to many adults.

So I won't be wearing my "PFD" from now on. I'm switching to my "life jacket"! Maybe we all ought to!

Please note the entire Ckayaker staff will be on leave for a few weeks.

SPOT, The Home View

Most people by now have heard about the SPOT location device and have some idea of how it provides a map location to the people one selects to receive it. Obviously this device is seen as a real bonus for those roaming in isolated areas where safety and possible rescue is an issue. Those at home, can follow along and be assured that all is well - or not.

In the picture above, a participant in the on-going Everglade Challenge is using a SPOT device to keep those at home informed on her progress during the race. I'd not seen the SPOT information from the receiving end before and was amazed at it's clarity and usefulness. It would appear in this case that location 'spots' are being sent to the SPOT site every 10 minutes or so resulting in a trace of the route taken by the paddler. Fascinating!

Small Rivers Count

When we hear about alternate ways of producing electrical power, North Americans tend to turn up their noses using the excuse that only oil and perhaps hydro can really produce the goods. What we miss is the concept that to make an ocean, you need many rivers, some big and some small. With that in mind, I'm in the process of adding a small 'river' of power to my Teardrop trailer's electrical power system. I'm thinking that by doing so I'll be able to increase my self-sufficiency by enough to spend a week or more - depending on the sunlight and my consumption - off the oil-fired grid. Not total independence, but a little bit more.

With that goal in mind, I'm going to put a 50 watt solar panel on the roof feeding into a large deep-cycle battery. This will be linked into the various circuits feeding lights and other DC items including a small inverter for powering up my computer and charging my video camera batteries which I cannot solar charge any other way.

• • • • •
On another topic, Canada's government passed Bill C-10 with few changes. This is the bill which is supposed to provide economic stimulus in the current crisis, yet it is loaded down with non-stimulus items. Thus Canada will see the removal of protection for its navigable rivers, the denial of pay equity to women, the loss of millions of dollars to offshore tax havens by big corporations, the destruction of a functioning security market in Québec. This list goes on and on. The omnibus Bill is staggering under the weight of items the Conservatives have been unable to get passed previously. Hopefully the Senate will split off these non-stimulus items before the Bill becomes the law of the land or the government will do so before sending the Bill to the Senate. As it exists, Bill C-10 represents a nasty pill for Canadians from a government which in the past has had a record of not spending most of the money it has promised and which is slowly sliding into a backward do nothing, go nowhere lump of a place. Brain drain anyone?

Bad Day At The Feeder

Daily events at our bird feeders don't often rise much beyond the benign. That changed this week with the arrival of a new bird, seen here at the base of the spruce tree.


A sharp-shinned hawk! As you can well imagine the sudden arrival of this new visitor has not been without incident. A female pine grosbeak has been the first victim. Hopefully she will be the last. While hawks have their place, I'm sure, they don't get along with the feeder crowd the way I see it. They should find their own feeding ground...

Snowshoe Mountain - The Video

Living in a cyber-world which hangs by a slender wire from the larger world beyond my doorstep is not my idea of fun, but there are a few tradeoffs. For one I can ski and snowshoe from my front steps and be in the wilderness within seconds. I don't have to put up with traffic or annoying neighbours. Well, you get the picture. It's pretty tranquil and bucolic around here and, I suppose, that's why some people are giving up their party-line phones for touch-tones. Internet, of course, is strictly dial-up and as it is everywhere, no matter what kind of service you have, expensive.

I like the idea of 'the information highway' and like all highways, feel it should be state supported and maintained. Of course, it isn't and so we end up with a patchwork system which is good in some places and non-existent in others. Thankfully, I don't live in Canada's arctic where taking a trip can run you a second mortgage. Imagine doing that a couple times a year!

All of this to say, I've finally managed to upload my 'short' video to Vimeo. I sneaked into my brother's house in town and logged on to his hi-speed. Instead of a multi-hour upload, the deed was done in 6 minutes. Now the world can enjoy my backyard in much the same way as I do. Well, almost. It's not really my backyard. It's an hour's trip on a real state built highway.

Ilulissat Online

Most of us will probably not get the chance to visit Greenland and even fewer will be paddling traditional qajait along it's magnificent fjords. A pity. In an ideal world, we ought to all be setting time and money aside to make the pilgrimage to our holy site and give due homage.

All is not lost however. A new internet site has been created for us non-pilgrims! It's called Ilulissat Icefjord. There's a lot to see and do on the site including a fly-over video. Have a look! You'll probably be even more interested after your virtual visit in saving up for your real trip. Why not drop down to the Ilulissat Qajaq club while you're there?

Heading Off On Your Adventure

There are those who think of having an adventure means things went very wrong on your trip, but somehow you managed to survive the experience. Recently two Québeçois had an adventure in British Columbia, but, sadly, the trip resulted in disaster with one person dying. I look out at the photo above and realise how easy it is to become lost when you're far from home in unknown territory and the weather starts closing in... So, as I sit here planning this summer's paddling trips I can't help but wonder if I'm really ready and properly prepared to go. What if things go wrong? Am I preparing for that possibility?

The details on the couple who became lost in British Columbia are not known as yet, but their tale once more brings home the message: while you can never be well enough prepared, you can make provisions to minimize your risks. For example, it has reminded me to always let someone know where I'm headed and roughly how long I expect to be away. That someone could be a family member, a friend or in some instances the police. I would also take a SPOT device or something similar on longer, more remote trips when cell phone service isn't available. Normally I take more food than I ever manage to eat, but I'm wondering about my medical kit. It's time to renew and even upgrade its contents again...

Let's all paddle safely and keep our 'adventures' happy ones!

Magic Mountain

One of the thrills of exploring the winter mountain landscapes is that now and then you catch the unwary. We had begun our climb mid-afternoon and were nearing the summit about 5 o'clock when most creatures expect us humans to be warming ourselves by the fires below. Rounding a bend in the snow clocked forest, we suddenly encountered this scene shown in the photo: a rare glimpse of a wood gnome dressed in winter garb just emerging from its lair! It instantly froze in its tracks hoping not to be noticed, but of course we were on the alert for just such a sighting. I managed to grab this quick photo... I know..., amazing creature isn't he?

Something A Little Different...

Open view at the summit.
Given the water is still very much in the frozen state here and given I enjoy both skiing and show-shoeing, I decided to do something a little different yesterday. Some friends and I decided to rent the little refuge hut at the top of Mont Mégantic, one of the higher mountains in southern Québec lying up against the Maine border.

Nearly buried under the snow in the woods.
Monday turned out to be quite stormy with a 30 cms snowfall, so just getting to the mountain was an adventure. Once there we headed up through piles of newly fallen snow. At times the trail rose up to our waists as we made our way upward.

A gray jay inspecting our food offerings before landing on our hands.
This morning we woke to sunny skies and a pristine environment (top photo), all traces of our ascent having disappeared in the new snow over-night. We began our way down the mountain, stopping along the way to feed a few gray jays and play in the magical wonderland that the deep snow creates on mountain tops.

I took some video of the trip which I'll try to post here and on the Vimeo site once I've done some editing...

Obama Day in Canada

YES OUI CANada !

Needless to say, much of the country went a bit nuts over the American President's visit yesterday. He's seen here walking with Canada's Governor General, Mme Jean. And looking wistfully at the frozen Ottawa river, Obama did mention he'd like to return in warmer weather. Is he a closet kayaker?

Do Petitions Work?

We all get asked to sign petitions for various causes, but do they work? In some cases they act as polls and in that sense they do have influence. That this is perceived as true is perhaps the reason we continue to use petitions to try and change things we don't want to have happen. If they aren't effective, then at the least, we feel we've tried to act for change by.

I've recently been active trying to influence the Harper government to separate the seemingly dissimilar issues of economic recovery and how most of Canada's rivers are modified by various construction projects like dams, bridges and so on. The link between these two appears to be that fast-tracking construction projects will help the economy even if that means little or no consultation will happen with interested parties before construction occurs and that environment assessment will have to take a hit because, well, we need to act quickly and without unnecessary hindrances if we're to save this country from economic disaster, don't we?

I don't buy that logic at all. To my mind, that's the thinking that got us into the mess we're in. More of the same doesn't save the economy for me. So one of the things I've been doing is signing every related petition attempting to influence this issue. Facebook has a petition which, last week, had a goal of 1000 names. It has already gone past 1500 signatures which is really heartening. If you're on Facebook and want to add your name, please do so by clicking 'here'. If you're not on Facebook, but want to sign, click 'here'. Thanks for being influential!

Photo from 'www.the-walker-family.org'.

The Man Over the Atlantic

When I was in high school, my physics teacher was an American guy who'd worked as a meteorologist in some branch of the military. As an after-school activity he formed a little club of junior meteorologists and we learned how to read weather charts and to a certain extent predict the weather. Interestingly it was an interest which has stayed with me and helped when I was out paddling. I continue to watch the clouds, the winds and the barometer for signs of change. It was his legacy which got me off a lonely island in the arctic a few years back. Noticing the changes, I was able to get to the mainland before high winds pinned me down for a week of foul weather. Instead of a lonely vigil, I was able to weather the storm with a bunch of Inuit fishermen and their families in relative comfort. Well, our tents did blow away one night, but that's another story...

This afternoon I noticed a change in the clouds to the west. They told of changing conditions on the way. Sure enough, we're going to get some snow (look at the very cold air over northern Vermont in the picture above).

While I will get some additional snow coverage to ski on, look at the system over the north Atlantic! I call it 'Atlantic Man', but perhaps I should say 'monster' given its size. He seems to be bouncing a ball just off Newfoundland, where I bet they're having some nasty weather as I write! If you live in Iceland and northern Scotland, I'd get a fire going... Stray warm!

Signs of Things To Come!

I decided to go snowshoeing today out to a point of land I often paddle past in open water season. It was a glorious, warm, sunny day and walking along in the woods there was a definite spring-like feel to the air.

Once down off the cliffs at the point, I walked out onto the lake ice and there it was, the best sign of things to come I've seen yet. The sunlight being reflected off the cliffs was melting the snow on top of the ice creating shallow pools of water. Not enough to paddle in mind you, but where there's a drop, there's a gush, as they say. It won't be that long and I'll be paddling on home waters once again. I can hardly wait!

Unhappy Anniversary...

In 1992 when it became obvious to many that increasing emissions of several gases, particularly carbon dioxide, were promoting adverse global climate changes, a meeting was held in Rio de Janeiro to discuss what might be done. This led to a 2005 meeting in Kyoto where a mechanism was decided upon which would help countries to lower their emissions in an effort to try to come to grips with slowing down and eventually ending the changes which were occurring. Today is the anniversary of that meeting in Kyoto.

The world map above indicates which countries have ratified the Kyoto Treaty or not. It is a bit misleading. For example, while Canada ratified the Treaty and began making provisions to lower emissions, our present government has done almost nothing. In fact, it reduced funding to the various efforts to lower emissions in Canada. Some parts of Canada like Québec, have continued to work on lowering emissions, but without a national plan, these efforts are not what they could be. Conversely, some countries which have not ratified the Treaty also have regions which have been working hard to reduce their emissions. Again, without a national program, results have been less than what they might have been working collectively.

So there's not much to celebrate on this anniversary day as nations, but I'm encouraged to read about successful efforts here and there, even when it's only a few people or businesses involved. As Red Green used to say, "We're all in this together...".

Happy Valentine's Day

You don't have to paddle very long or very far before you begin to meet folks who are real Valentine's people. If you don't know what I mean, then either you need to paddle more or you need to open your heart more to the world around you! To all those who know what I'm talking about, keep paddling. There's a wonderful world out there, full of exciting places to paddle, filled with wonderful people who want to meet you! Paddle forever!

Photo from Piragis.com

See How They Run

Dam at Montmagny, Québec
My concern for Canada's minority Conservative government's secret plan to alter the public's right of navigation on the small rivers of Canada and the removal of the requirement for environmental assessment and public consultation when "works" are undertaken on these rivers prompted me to write 13 letters to various people intimately involved in this decision. I emailed the letters on Sunday. Now I thought it would be interesting to see how long it takes the recipients to respond and in what fashion they do so. It will be a little exercise in democracy-in-action!

Today, Tuesday, is the second working day since sending my email. First to respond - Monday morning early - and the only one to write a personal letter stating he will be "looking into" the issue and contact his Member of Parliament, was William Munsey, deputy leader of the Green Party of Canada. Interesting.

Next to respond was Mario Laflamboise, a Liberal member and VP of the Permanent Committee of Transport and Infrastructure. His note was a simple acknowledgement of my email. Okay, but I wanted more.

This morning came another acknowledgement of my email this time from Jim Prentice's office. He's a Conservative MP and Minister of the Environment. This is the first email from a member of the Conservative government, but he'll need to do more to impress me.

I'll post updates on this item letting you know who responds and what measures they are prepared to take on behalf of maintaining the public's right to have unhindered access to Canada's rivers, and, most especially, that the environmental safeguards and reviews are kept stringent and ecologically sound in any new legislation or amendments.

Update #1 - Thursday, Feb 12
One more reply late yesterday, this time from Bruce Hyer, MP for the New Democratic Party. He wrote an informative note mentioning the NDP are on top of this issue and are working to see the amendments meet the goals of a wider group of Canadians than the Conservatives have in mind. This move by Harper's Conservatives certainly makes one wonder who the proposed amendments are intended for and why the environmental safeguards would be left in the Minister's hands alone?

Update #2 - Friday, Feb 13
Two more replies in today. The first was from David Lewis, Research and Operations Coordinator for the Green Party. He provided me with some additional links on the subject as well as the party's position. I have the feeling that these people are interested in this issue, although, they do not sit in the House.

The second reply was a simple letter of reception from the office of Joe Volpe, the Official Opposition Transport Critic. Other than assure me that Volpe will get to see my letter, nothing else was mentioned. Are these people interested? It's hard to say...

Inuit Odyssey Documentary on CBC

Image taken from CBC's Inuit Odyssey web page.
David Suzuki's television program The Nature of Things will present Niobe Thompson's documentary film Inuit Odyssey this coming Thursday night. If you happen to be located in a region where you can pick up this program, I suspect you will be delighted. It tells the story of the Thule Culture people, those we know today as the Inuit, and their journey through time across the arctic landscape from west to east. Their story is a sweep across the top of North America from eastern Russia to the southern tip of Greenland, into Labrador and into the barren grounds of Canada. It promises to be an interesting glimpse into the history of the people who brought us the kayak.

If you cannot get The Nature of Things here are some web sites connected with the program...
- Inuit Odyssey
- Promo clip
- Buy the video!

Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow...

Yesterday I went snowshoeing...

Today I went cross-country skiing...




Tomorrow I... that's odd, the photo is missing.
It doesn't matter. You see those clouds in today's photo? They're full of relatively warm air and that means it's going to get really warm soon on the ground and that will probably put an end to the fine snow sports we've been enjoying around here since December. It's times like this that start me thinking it's time to head south to paddle once again.

Paddle To The Ice Age

We all think about the coolest paddling trip, the one we'd love to make, if only we could! Like many people, every now and then, I have another look at my dream trip and try to work out the costs, logistics, partners, time-frame and so on. Each time, I reach a stumbling block, some factor which prevents the trip from actually happening. I'm beginning to think, however, that I'm coming to a point where either I have to get this trip on the road or give it up in favour of some other more practical trip given all the limitations this one has. So what's the trip, you ask?

Take a look at this Google Earth photo. The dominant feature is that blob of white. It's the Penny Ice cap sitting in the middle of Baffin Island, melting away faster than ever now that global climate change is with us. They claim this blob is the last of the giant ice cap which once covered much of North America. What a thrill it would be to walk up to it and touch it! Ten thousand years later this is all that's left and you can walk up and touch it. Imagine, your last chance to visit the fabled Ice Age!

Okay, now look to the southwest corner of the photo. The water you see is northern Foxe Basin, a great paddling venue, full of seals and walrus, ice pans and all sorts of ancient wonders worth visiting en route. The paddling distance from the nearest community is roughly 200 kms, about a week or so on the water. Now look at the coastline (best seen by clicking on the photo). There is a ruggedly indented shoreline which I've actually visited years ago during a caribou hunt. The landscape rolls gently as it slowly rises to the ice cap itself. The shortest route is about 70 kms, let's say 150 kms round trip.

Part of the adventure would be to arrive in July to give yourself time to build a skin-on-frame expedition qajaq and perhaps pick up some local Inuit up for the adventure. Given the prevailing ice conditions and other considerations, one ought to plan to begin paddling around the beginning of August to reach the Baffin coast sometime early in the second week. I'd give yourself about 10 days to get to the ice cap and then a few days to look around. Repeating this in reverse ought to see you back in the community around the end of the month or early September.

What a trip! What a story you'd have to tell! At the moment, I'm looking at heading out in 2010. What about you?

Banff Mountain Film Festival 2009 Tour

A few days ago I attended the Banff Mountain Film Festival. I think I've been attending for about five years now. Over those years, there have been some truly memorable films of adventures in often exotic locations, although few tour films have involved seakayakers. As I left to go home I began to wonder what criteria are used when choosing the films both for awards as well as those which travel the Festival route around the world.

Certainly we're into 'extreme sports' these days so danger and near death thrills factor into the decisions. Exotic locations also seems important and does improve the visuals at least at first glance. Still, there needs to be something more, but what?

When I think of the films which have moved me over the years, I suddenly realised that the key was the 'human story'. Films which open you into another person's world, which get you to feel the emotion of being with the characters on the screen, seems to be the key or at least, one of them. Seeing the emotional and physical changes which take place as the adventure unfolds is what makes the film memorable. Simply showing one incredible camera shot after another isn't enough, nor is 'interviewing' the people involved. It won't last in your memory or move the viewer to think further or feel deeply.

The lack of much development in this key element in this year's tour choices, left me with a flat feeling as I left the theater. Great films, amazing stunts, super locales, but nothing really memorable. The films did make me think about the making of my own videos and forced me to wonder how to get that key story element into them. Hmmmm...

Photo from Journey to the Center by Jens Hoffman

The Magic Of Wood

I like the feel of wood. It's one of the reasons that all my paddles are made of wood. If I'm going to have something in my hands for hours on end, I'd prefer it to feel warm and nearly alive. Wooden paddles give me that feeling.

When I'm not paddling in the winter, I like to cross-country ski, preferably on wooden skis. I broke my last pair a few years ago and sadly, unless one makes one's own skis, replacements are hard to find today. Garage sales are the best outlets, but even they are drying up - pun intended!

That leaves me with my other pastime: playing the guitar. I'm lucky enough to own a nice Spanish made guitar which even a non-player can sense comes alive when the strings are set in motion. It's not the best guitar I've ever played, but it's good enough to let me know there's magic in its creation. There are few experiences which can give me that sensation every time I indulge myself. Life is good!

Who Will Build Your Next Kayak?

Kayaks were first developed by people who lived in an ecology of hunting and gathering. In those days, much like today, one had to face competition from others in the same endeavour. Competition was often fierce and could lead to all the usual complaints and nastiness. When the local hinterland became unproductive, people either changed their diet or moved to a new area. That was the cost of survival in the environment people were part of.

Today we don't think of ourselves as hunters and gatherers (H & G). We think more about making products which compete with other similar products in a common marketplace. A few years ago this competition was often found only a few miles away. The competition resulted in product diversity and quality improvements on the one hand, but it also drove some factories into closing their doors and brought on the usual complaints and nastiness just like in the old H & G days. In the transition, we significantly moved our thinking from 'ecology' to 'economy'.

More recently, the competitive circle has moved from a local thing to a global one. Naturally some people still complain and get nasty about the "unfair" global competition and instead of becoming more competitive, they try to set up barriers, divide the world into exclusive markets. However, the best competitors have always found ways to get around these barriers one way or another and factories still close when they couldn't maintain their now globally based market viability.

People must be ready to adapt or move and this is exactly what's been going on in the kayaking world. In my opinion, it will result in better kayaks for all of us. It means that your next kayak - unless you are building one yourself - is likely to come from almost anywhere in the world. In fact, it will probably come from many parts of the world when you figure in design and the various component parts and accessories. It is just the next step in a process that's been going on for millenia. To be a survivor, one must constantly stay ahead of the pack by innovating and changing and moving.

In his books,The World Is Flat and Hot, Flat and Crowded, Thomas Friedman discusses what has taken place in the modern world economy and then, in the second book, the directions he believes people need to go to compete in the changing global environment. Both books make interesting reading and probably much more useful than complaining about where your next kayak will be made.

Tagged!

It's a sign of winter when kloggers - the word I coined for kayak bloggers - start looking for topics to write about that have little to do with paddling. Tagging our friends is one such topic. While at first it may appear frivolous, it can be another way to get to know our fellow kloggers. Today's photo is the result of a tag sent to me by Silbs in Wisconsin. I was asked to publish the fourth picture in the fourth folder in my photo collection. It turned out to be this white crowned sparrow who has chosen to over-winter in a bush on the front lawn. This species more commonly migrates out of our area in the winter.

We've been keeping records of bird sightings ever since we first moved to this area in 1977. It has proven to be interesting pastime to watch the various species come and go through the seasons and over the years. It has also given me a wealth of data to play with.

I love working with databases and so have built various data models to track the birds over the years. The data lends itself nicely to various manipulations and insights which have provided me with hours of intellectual play. The skills I developed spilled over to my classroom when I was a teacher. I was able to track my students' progress much more carefully than ever before and found I could catch problems often before even the students themselves were aware they were in difficulty. Fixing problems early, long before they'd fallen too far behind and become discouraged, turned out to be the key in helping students with problems. Now that I'm retired, I still love playing with databases so continue to watch the birds.

Sometimes They Just Don't Get It

Curiously enough, about the same time that wild turkeys began showing up in our area, another similar breed also made its presence felt. Just as the turkeys don't seem to care if they scare our horses and panic them into charging through their fences, this other breed has little care for boundaries or the environment. The turkeys came on their own, completely uninvited. The other group Canadians collectively voted for - or at least a small percentage of those who bothered to vote did. What were they thinking, if anything?

The turkeys, I can deal with. The horses will soon learn to accept them and will settle down. The others? Well, they frankly scare me. You see, they don't get it. The world's economy and the planet's environment is under serious attack. What do they do? For the former crisis, they diddle. They wait and see. They had to be threatened with defeat in the House before they threw together a sort of plan to meet the crisis banging at the door.

At the same time, they secretly work away at plans to trash our environment by gutting Canada's Navigable Waters Protection Act Doing this will allow all the so-called "minor" rivers in Canada to be dammed, bridged, and otherwise made useless for boating without any review or assessment from interested parties. After all we have learned about gutting the rules for behaving properly in the public's good in our economy and environment, you'd think these people - did I say people? - would get it. But they don't.

I urge Canadians to visit this web site and help fight turkeys...

Snow Birds Terrorize The Neighbourhood

The dogs started charging around the house going from window to window then back again yesterday morning. Given it was snowing heavily I wondered what they could be seeing that got them so excited. Here's part of their view in the video above. A small flock of wild turkeys had decided to do a sweep through the yard, enraging the dogs and, even worse, terrifying the horses. Ya, horses seem to go totally nuts when a turkey comes into view (or smell). I have no idea why this should be, but I was fully prepared to drop the camera and head out to retrieve horses lost in the storm. Happily, they stayed put and hid behind the barn... safely out of sight!

Paddling Sardinia!

Last evening I was in Montreal to once again attend a presentation by Soirées Aventures, a group which puts on a film or slide show for fellow adventurers. The bias is decidedly on the side of kayaking and last night was no exception.

Nathalie Dyke gave a slide-show presentation of her recent trip to the northeastern coast of Sardinia. I was blown away with her photos! What a wonderful place to explore by kayak. It had gorgeous sandy beaches, white cliffs dotted with green pines, caves and grottos, goats clinging to rocky ledges high about an azure sea. All with water that looked to die for, warm and so swimmable!

If you've been wondering where to paddle next, put Sardinia on your list. I understand there are a number of outfitters now in place on the island to get your dream underway. They're just a google-click away...

Photo by Nathalie Dyke. Used with permission.

A Winter Visitor

We all know that birds migrate - or at least they are supposed to migrate. Canada geese seem a little forgetful of this fact and tend to linger until all the corn is eaten on the farmers' fields and the lakes totally are frozen over, but most other birds get the message and get themselves on the migration trail in due course.

This little fellow in the above picture somehow missed the call. He's a white crowned sparrow and, needless to say, ought to many miles away from my front yard. Instead, he has hung around since December and is still acting like this was his normal abode. We've become quite fond of him and daily check into his whereabouts. With the temperatures dropping down into the low -20°C at night, we've decided to leave up the Christmas lights so he can warm up if the need arises. When a heated bird bath was suggested, I put my foot down. He'll have to take his bath in the spring like all the other feathered winter residents.

Happy Birthday!

Somehow it's hard to believe we've come so far from this cute little box of a computer to a World Wide Web of place we live in today, yet only 25 years ago the first Macintosh computer was revealed in an ad during the Super Bowl game. A few years after this Mac SE/30 appeared we saw the first portable computers, suitcase sized then and tiny 'netbooks' now. Memory was tiny, way less than a 'meg' and now our phones have far more computing power.

I've been a fan since the late 1980's when I bought my first Mac "for the kid's education" was the family selling point... Since then I've had several more including a couple of laptops and as many desktop machines. They've all been great machines, although one got stolen right out of my classroom one morning when I stepped out for a minute, leaving it unattended. I wasn't the only one to fall in love with the Mac!

So I'm happy to celebrate the Mac's birthday today. I can't wait to see what the next 25 years will bring to the computing world! Oh, and if you're celebrating your birthday as well today, know that you're in good company. Get on the web and say hello to your friends!

Going In Circles

One of the wonderful things about living in a winter climate is the wonderful light at certain times of the day. The low sun angle pours out the pinks and purples making everything rosy and somehow warm.

I remember years ago going clothes shopping with an Inuk girl friend in Ottawa and being bothered that she kept picking out pink and purple clothes to try on. I didn't think those were her colours, but later after spending time living in the arctic, I came to understand her choices. She wasn't choosing those colours because she looked good. She was choosing fond memories and fighting off homesickness. She was tending to her feelings of being far from home, living in a foreign culture, and speaking a language not her own. Today I look at those colours in the landscape and I miss the arctic light, the people and the sound of a language far away. Our memories come full circle.

Winter Video Fun

For a while now, I've been experimenting with various video sharing sites other than Youtube. While I have shamelessly used YouTube for all my videos, I continue to be disappointed with how severely the site compresses videos when switching them into the Flash format we view when we download the videos. I have recently begun using Vimeo. These people use a bit lighter approach when converting video to Flash and they also allow HD video formating, although I have yet to use it. To make matters even more useful, it is easy to share videos on other sites like FaceBook and so on with a single mouse click. I love simplicity like that!

This video shows off the latest family activity, yet another winter sport to keep away the winter blues. I have no intention of getting into it, but it's certainly fun to watch both people and dogs enjoying themselves!

Winter Reading

Given the state of the water around here these days, it's time to read and plan and dream. I recently started reading Robert Miller's Kayaking the Inside Passage, not because I'm actually dreaming about paddling this route, and not because I'm planning anything that ambitious. Am I?

Skiing With Dogs

Lots of people kayak with their dogs. I've even seen videos of people rolling their kayak while their dog calmly walks around the hull and back up on the deck as the boat turns in the water. Skiing with your dog isn't new either, but ski-joring with our dog is new to me so I thought I'd share pictures taken in the last few days.

The really low temperatures we've had recently had made getting out there a bit of a trial - it's been -20°C and colder with some wind - but having dogs that demand exercise gets one out cold or not. I'm not about to strap myself to a dog so I can be flailed about, but I must admit that those who do get to ski a lot faster than I do. And I know, the dog ought to be on the trail, but hey, she's new at this and actually doing very well! She's often on trail, on task and pulling like a real trooper.


I might try seeing if our dogs would like to pull the kayak this summer. I know they like to swim. Maybe I'll start a whole new sport: kayak-joring...

Paddling Dreaming

The put-in, Killarney Provincial Park, Ontario, June 2008
I've been sorting through my 2008 photos trying to put some sort of organization to them before I burn them onto CD's and store them away with the other years of similar photos. That way I'll be able to find something on the off chance I need to. It doesn't happen often, but going through the mess of arctic photos a few years ago uncovered a few gems. This lot might provide the same thrill when I'm in my doterage at the old folks home (although I intend to cheat the home and perish in my kayak...).

Dancing With My New Partner: GPS

The picture above, yesterday's cross-country ski trail, is my first attempt at using a GPS track and layering it onto a Google Earth map. Yes, the rumours are true, I've decided to modernize and get a GPS unit to assist in my navigation when out kayaking. I've always been comfortable using map and compass and probably would have stayed with that system alone, but last spring I discovered when paddling among the thousands of islands in Georgian Bay, there was a disconnect between the maps and the reality. I first discovered these map errors when paddling around Manitoulin Island a few years ago, but this time the lower water levels in the Great Lakes served to alter the map to the point where, at times, I could recogize nothing. I was 'lost' or so it would seem for short periods of time until I paddled on to a point on the map I could recognize again.

I have discovered there is a learning curve in order to use the GPS unit. It isn't totally intuitive. For example, it took a while for me to realise that in order to see the latest recorded track, I had to 'clear' the previous track otherwise all previous tracks would simple be tacked together into one long track. Another discovery was that no Mac software was available from the manufacturer to allow track management to be done on the computer. Anyway, I'm having fun slowly learning and finding software out there on the Web which has got me to the point seen in the picture. Now I have to figure out how to remove all those pesky 'active log' letters and numbers from the track. They are nice, but I don't need that sort of detail just to post my track.

There's lots to do for the paddler frozen off the lakes until the spring thaw comes. By then I ought to have got this GPS stuff all figured out!