Sunday, April 24, 2005
Jake and Adam
My grandson, Jacob, had his friend Adam spend the night Friday. Early Saturday, the boys bundled up and we piled into the Jeep for the trip to the lake. Don was already there when we arrived, and had brought his Keeowee, a duplicate of Jacob's Fiesta.
So the boys got the ground school safety lecture, the fitting of the boats and lifejackets, and off we set at 9:30 paddling into a 45 degree, 15 knot wind.
Adam performed like a champ on his first time out in a kayak. He got paddling tips from Jacob, Don, and I, and didn't seem to have a bit of trouble. Later in the trip when I stopped to give him some refinement advice, he had already come across some of the ideas on his own.
We paddled in "no neck cove" across the way from us, immortalized in the creepy and mysterious story I had begun telling the boys on the way out to the lake. Then we continued down the rest of our cove to the end.
By the time we had worked our way back to our dock, both boys were ready to get out, which they did with nary a spash nor a spill. Don and I continued to the head of the cove, where the wind was whipping up whitecaps. We exited the cove, but soon discovered that the waves stirred up by the wind were breaking into our cockpits. We of course hadn't bothered with sprayskirts for lake paddling.
We decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and returned to the relative calm of our cove, where we paddled for a short while before continuing our day ashore.
Hot dogs, beans and chips were enjoyed by all, and ground activites were the order of business for the rest of the day. Adam and Jake explored widely, and all were tired and ready to return to town by 5 pm or so.
So the boys got the ground school safety lecture, the fitting of the boats and lifejackets, and off we set at 9:30 paddling into a 45 degree, 15 knot wind.
Adam performed like a champ on his first time out in a kayak. He got paddling tips from Jacob, Don, and I, and didn't seem to have a bit of trouble. Later in the trip when I stopped to give him some refinement advice, he had already come across some of the ideas on his own.
We paddled in "no neck cove" across the way from us, immortalized in the creepy and mysterious story I had begun telling the boys on the way out to the lake. Then we continued down the rest of our cove to the end.
By the time we had worked our way back to our dock, both boys were ready to get out, which they did with nary a spash nor a spill. Don and I continued to the head of the cove, where the wind was whipping up whitecaps. We exited the cove, but soon discovered that the waves stirred up by the wind were breaking into our cockpits. We of course hadn't bothered with sprayskirts for lake paddling.
We decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and returned to the relative calm of our cove, where we paddled for a short while before continuing our day ashore.
Hot dogs, beans and chips were enjoyed by all, and ground activites were the order of business for the rest of the day. Adam and Jake explored widely, and all were tired and ready to return to town by 5 pm or so.
# posted by sarcomere @ 10:28 AM 
