I posted this photo on Twitter this afternoon along with the text “Hello, this is @kayakwoman here, actually kayaking (-:”. I feel as though I am a bit of a fraud on Twitter. I call myself @kayakwoman and I have all kinds of followers with names like @outdooryakguy or @xtremekayak or whatever (not sure if these are actual followers, just examples). But. Even though I absolutely love to kayak, I hardly ever post anything about kayaking. Because in my real life, I spend most of my time going to work, coming home, cobbling something together for dinner while blahgging and having a ‘hattan, and then crashing.

If I could come home from work, walk out the door, fling a kayak into a body of water, and take off, that would be one thing. Kayaking from the Landfill is not that simple. It involves a whole bunch o’ guzzinta. Schlepping kayaks around on the top of a vee-hickle. Spotting a second vee-hickle along the river so you don’t have to kayak umpteen miles back upstream to your starting point.

When we’re at Fin Family Moominbeach, it’s as easy as pie. You walk down to the beach, drag a kayak a few feet down to the water, fling it in, and go. If there aren’t five foot waves, that is. Last couple years? I have managed only dribs and drabs of time up at the Moominbeach and it seems like every time I do get up there, there’s a raging nor’wester going on. Too much action for my little 12-foot “sea” kayak. It likes a leetle bit of bounce. Five foot waves? Um, I don’t know the Eskimo Roll. Yes, that’s right. I don’t know the roll. I am a pretty strong amateur kayaker in calm conditions but growing up on Gitchee Gumee, I developed a great respect for the power of water and I just say no to anything extreme.

I kayaked twice last weekend at Fin Family Moominbeach. Just short rides. I kayaked around the point and into the canals today at Houghton Lake. I was out for an hour or more and I am burnt to a crisp now. Sunscreen? I don’t need no stinkin’ sunscreen. Or so I thought. Or more accurately, didn’t think. I am fried now. But I am back in my loverly little boat. I think I need to hoist a pirate flag on it! And obtain a parrot that will ride on my shoulder!

Cheers!
Kayak Woman

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 29th, 2010 at 4:05 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.