...some photos of Mark and I practising 4* rescues.

A B C

Credit to Mark W for the fine photography (while hanging off my bow).

Skinny Dipped in the Columbia Yesterday

...it was Soooooo hotttttttt I had to.

...and more paddling!!!

Latched onto another course with Super-Karl, master of the weather and bearer of the righteous compass. Heh!

Got up at 4am -drove four hours to Pacific City waaaaayy down the Oregon Coast, paddled close to totally blind in some seriously big seas - drove five hours back up (too late for Puget Island ferry) and staggered to my tent at 12:30am.

We were into five star stuff... and it was FAN-FREAKIN-TASTIC!!!!

Paddling by compass, watch and chart, in 8-10 foot seas with one to two foot wind waves on top of that, through pea-soup fog, visibilty less than 100 feet.

Played in the surf for awhile at the end of the day doing self-rescues, re-entry and rolls in the breakers, kayak dumping and cowboy re-entries. Oh yeah, surfed backwards, forwards and sideways, just for kicks of course ;O)

Stopped at Manzanita to watch the most amazing sunset, drove to the top of Neahkahnie mountain to watch the beautiful colors of the dusky sky while eating my supper, and traveled the rest of the way home in the dark. Manzanita is a very beautiful place. Possibly the nicest sea-side town on the Washington and Oregon coasts. Nice clean surf too!

Another 6 1/2 hours of 4* training... only four more to go to meet my required pre-req...

Tomorrow it's my Foundation Safety and Rescue Course with Ginni. Luckily it's here at Slow Boat Farm so I won't have to to travel far... walk across the road with my kayak and splash!

~d

Time in four star training - 6 1/2 hours
Time on water - 6 1/2 hours

GOT MY 3* BCU CERTIFICATION!!!!!

WooooooHooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

I'm doing the happy dance at the moment.

Just finished my BCU four star leader, formal coastal navigation training requirement, trying to figure out how to get my 18 hours of formal four star training pre-req as the class I need may be canceled due to lack of participants... doing some serious lateral thinking/shenanigans/pleading at the moment.

I've logged 8 1/2 hours soooooo... maybe fate will again intervene and toss me the frisbee again... any willing help from the three local NW certified instructors would be much appreciated right about now... hoping to hitch a ride along on someone elses training again...

....a wee bit anxious at the moment as without them I can't take my four star assesment this summer.

Navigation Course Time - 7 hours.

...wow

OOOoooosh,

Been on the water non-stop - 6am morns, crawling into my tent exhausted at sunset...

This BCU stuff is intense - lots to learn - more to practice - my brain and my body both ache.

BUT! I'm making headway! Three start assesment coming up soon, four star soon after, a whack of courses to really warp my perspective on the ocean and the way I see it... wow these guys are serious about this shiz down here :O(

Navigation, Safety, Rescue, training at all levels... assessments... challenges... paddling... paddling... paddling... paddling...

I'll be having to get to Portland twice in the very near future to get the rest of the courses I need...

logistics...

lack of money... creative financing... bumming rides...

...and I still have a load of farm chores that need to be done. Ginni has been really cool about letting me put the chores off in order to get ahead in my BCU curriculum but things are piling up badly and if we don't get that garlic finished it's going to start degrading to the point it'll be unsaleable...

Yeah... I'm stressed but I'm hanging in... I've worked way too hard on this to back down... good thing I'm a stubborn SOB :O)

I'll catch this blog up as soon as I can but my free time isn't... and yep! I'm still having a blast!

TTYL!
~d

Garlic Harvest

Yesterday and today we've been, and will be digging and cleaning garlic. All the time on the water has meant farm chores have been falling behind. The soil down here on Puget Island is incredible - rich, full of humus and everything seems to grow lush and healthy. Ginni's garden makes mine back home look kinda sad...

The chickens greet me every morning as I walk past their pen and a few have become quite friendly, coming up to me for a pat. Probably because I've been taking them the veggie scraps in the evenings after dinner. I'm a sucker for animals - I'll admit it.

Picked up a 6lb pineaplle at the store yesterday for $4.59!!! Can't believe how cheap they were but I figure while I'm down here I'm going to take advantage of the wonderfully cheap exotic fruit as Ginni has been feeding me out of her garden and it's a way I can give a little back.

I think tonight I'm going out for a little paddle to work on my rear and bow rudder strokes, as they're stille pretty goofy and don't feel quite natural yet. Tomorrow I'm off on the three day 'Dynamic Water' course with a group of Chilean guides. Should be interesting as the winds are picking up later this week and there may be five foot waves with two ffot wind waves on top or worse across that. I'm pretty sure we'll be doing some rescues and tows as we'll be heading out looking for challenging conditions. Wish me luck as this is the fore-runner for my BCU three star.

Made a wicked curried chicken over snap peas, broccoli, and zuch's last night. All the veggies came off the farm... and tasty they are!

Well - better get to work it's going to be a long day and I want to get the digging done before the afternoon heat kicks in. Good news is that I've clean laundry to change into after work and a shower! WOOOHOOOOO!!!

*Snif* *snif* *ackkkkkkk* I smell bad...

Ciao~
~D

First update on my summer on Slow Boat Farm

Well it's been an incredible time...

I've earned my two star BCU award and will be going for my three star June ?24. These BCU awards are plenty tough. Did an eight hour night solo night paddle up the Colombia a day (2?) after the full moon but the moon was plenty big and plenty bright. I traveled some serious distance, up past the nuclear power plant on the Oregon side and to a point where I could see Longview... this river has some serious moods!

Thinking afterwards maybe cruising past a nuclear power plant at 2am in the dark of night with no lights might not have been the smartest thing to do... but I thought it was a mill... and WHAT a paddle it was!

Went out to Wakiki beach (WA) for m two star assesment and found it very challenging. Ginni doesn't cut anyone slack and takes the certification process VERY seriously. Of the four people being assesed I was the only one to get it and there were some very competent paddlers out wit us that day!

Ginni Callahan is a VERY cool lady, and an incredibly talented paddler, not to mention my vote for Queen of the Surf! (She's feeding me chocolate brownies at the moment so I thought I better give her a plug ;O) We went out today today to Cannon beach and spent the entire day surfing 2-3 foot waves... lots of fun and I was rolling under the incoming waves, bongo sliding, and caught two of the most incredible rides!!!

That's it! I'm hooked on surfing as well...

Been paddling almost every day since I got here and I'll be off tomorrow and Wednesady to harvest the garlic and do a farm work... time to get it in before the rain starts rotting it in the ground.

...anyways I better get off here as she needs to get her computer back so that she can get her work done before bed...

Long day and we're both feeling pretty exhausted.

Updates soon!

~d

Whoosh!

Everything is packed and loaded for an early morning start tomorrow. :O)

I'll update when I can!

~d

Full moon tonight