Zoe Loses Her First Tooth

A couple months ago, Zoe announced that she had five loose teeth. Well sure enough, at least one of them was really loose. She was awfully proud of her tooth and wiggled it every chance she got. She even took to taking mom's make-up mirror to the dinner table so she could see it wiggling around in her mouth. On the final day, she decided that she didn't want to have it come out and was a bit "shaky" about it. It finally did come out while she was buying a pretzel at the mall.

The tooth fairy came and brought a dollar bill, a Sacagawea dollar coin, a coin from Georgia (Russian), and a coin from Jamaica. That tooth fairy is one global traveller; she always leaves foreign currency for the kids. 

The Maiden Voyage of the Arctic Tern

On what was quite possibly the coldest day of the year, I finally launched the Artic Tern for her maiden voyage. The Arctic Tern is a sea kayak project 1 1/2 years in the making. I started building her in May of 2004 and got about 90% of her done in about 3 months. Due to many factors, mostly laziness, I hadn't done much to move it along until after Christmas. Anyway, I've finally completed the hatch project (well, completed enough to paddle anyway) the other night and hadn't yet had time to get out. So, before the sun went down and the wind picked up too much, I threw on the paddling jacket and PFD, got the boat out of the workshop/kids play room, and headed down to the dock. With little fanfare, I put the boat in the water and was only a little surprised to see that it actually floats. I climbed in, pushed off and took a few strokes with the paddle, headed in to a chilly North wind. She tracks nicely into the wind and has a great glide--especially in contrast to the Perception 3D (my whitewater kayak) that I use for surfing and river trips. She's also much lighter than my 16 foot Royalex Mad River Canoe. I know it’s not fair to compare the Tern with a river boat, but I spend a lot of time in the 3D, so it’s my own point of reference. Since I'm used to spinning the 3D around pretty easy, the Tern took a little bit more to turn, but with a solid lean to the outside and a nice little sweep stroke, she comes about nicely. Some would say to add a rudder, but I want to keep it simple and I think I’ll become a better paddler for not having one. She ran pretty straight down wind too, but the waves weren't big enough to see how she'll handle a following swell. The lake water is freezing--literally--and I lent Ed my sprayskirt, so I didn't attempt a roll. I'll wait until I spend some more time in the boat and I'm in warmer water.

All-in-all, I love this boat and look forward to taking her for a weekend kayak camping trip once the weather gets a little nicer. Sometimes I wish I had decided to build the 17 foot version instead of the 14 footer, but realistically, the 14 will suit my current needs (mostly day trips and the occasional weekender) a little better.

After a few trips up and down the lake, I headed back in as it was getting dark. I lifted her out of the water with one hand (she only weighs about 30 LBS), and set her on the dock. I took a few steps back and finally got a look at her in her natural state. In that setting, I couldn't help but admire her lines. And, there's nothing so beautiful as the bright shiny expanse of wood that makes up this boat. I have a lot to do to outfit her, but she's finally a boat. I’m going to paddle her for a couple weeks, then take her down to my friend Steve’s shop and varnish her in his paint booth. I have a few paddles that I want to make, a few home improvement projects, then it’s on to the next boat—a wood strip solo canoe. Let’s hope it’s not another year and a half in the making.

Flat Water Fun

A while back, my friend Ed from across the lake, called me to let me know he'd bought himself a new boat--at least to him. The boat is a Perception Pirouette, a previous generation whitewater boat. I had to laugh, because of all the boats out there, he got the exact boat I got for my first kayak. I still have the Pirouette, though I pretty much keep it around for guests to play around in here at the lake. I love it though, it's the boat I learned to roll in. Ed's boat is in really good shape and will make the perfect downriver kayak for him. I'm looking forward to some river time. While Ed is a pretty accomplished open boater (he has both a tandem and solo canoe), butt-boating is a bit new to him, so we spent a day on the lake.

We left from my dock and headed south against the wind to a the mouth of a Grata Creek. Grata Creek is typical for streams in Kitsap county--it's dry for the majority of the summer and little more than a trickle for the rest of the year. However, we've had quite a bit of rain the week before, so there was actually a nice little current running out into the lake. A couple of gravel bars created nice little eddies, allowing us to practice our eddy turns. It doesn't happen often, so we got a little treat. I also managed to practice a few pivot turns in my Perception 3D.

After a while, we headed up into the conservancy at the South end of the lake, navigating between old stumps and the beaver hut. The shallow draft of the kayaks make them quite possibly the best craft for poking around in the bog. After circumnavigating the little island, we paddled over to check out the dam. With all the rain, we kept a safe distance from the lip to avoid going over. I wish I had the cajones to go for it, but I'm really in to self-preservation, so I'll leave it to someone else.

We continued our trip around the lake and up another short inlet that I've seen, but have never been up before. This is Ed's secret spot and once again, the short little boats made for easy work in the tight little creek. From there it was back to the house to warm up over coffee, nachos and a paddling video.

Ed's planning on taking a roll class soon, and we're also talking about a whitewater course, so hopefully we'll see some rapids this year. In the meantime, I'm still focused on surfing and getting the sea kayak done, so I can take a couple weekend kayak camping trips this summer.

Currently listening to - Jack Johnson (Thicker than Water)

Currently reading - The Historian