She went thru the San Juan's without a hitch. The camera man was "busy" at the time with a T rescue. Those eddy's can flip you in a sacramento minute.
We joined a group of paddlers from Penguin Paddlers of Rocklin to do a poker run. Started at sunrise and ended at watt ave- 11 miles.
Cards were drawn (5) and winner takes all.
you guessed it-- Linda Lu won with 2 pair, aces and queens.
Penguin supplied a nice dry bag with some paddling accessories, pretty sweet for her first time on the American.
Here's a pic of my "Kokatat Queen"
She went thru the San Juan's without a hitch. The camera man was "busy" at the time with a T rescue. Those eddy's can flip you in a sacramento minute.
We joined a group of paddlers from Penguin Paddlers of Rocklin to do a poker run. Started at sunrise and ended at watt ave- 11 miles.
Cards were drawn (5) and winner takes all.
you guessed it-- Linda Lu won with 2 pair, aces and queens.
Penguin supplied a nice dry bag with some paddling accessories, pretty sweet for her first time on the American.
Here's a pic of my "Kokatat Queen"
Your "Kokatat Queen" did good!!!!! Those rapids can change over the course of the day, and I don't think they are ever the same from one day to the next.
The river looks high for this time of year....maybe just the angle of view. During the 1970's, I used to make the run you made in a two-person raft....in February The SJ Rapids are a lot more forgiving when you piloting a raft....but, you still have to watch yourself.
Give my CONGRATS to LL! Was Venus traveling with you? I saw that Petco carries life vests for pets...I thought of Miss V.
Back in May, I had the great opportunity to visit DOORGUNNER and get some advice on building kayaks. I picked up two Pygmy kits in Port Townsend and took them back to Colorado for a five-week (or so I thought) building effort. I got my Tern done but Marty was a little slower (she still has a job) on her Coho, which needed hardware and varnish, some of which could be completed on the road. So...back to Anacortes and Port Townsend in September!
The Sea Kayak Festival (and movie festival, I might add) in Port Townsend provided a chance to see a lot of other kayaks and other wooden boats (the Wooden Boat Foundation is in their new quarters right on the Hudson Marina). The movie Paddle to Seattle, about two guys who built Pygmys in Alaska and paddled 1300 miles to Seattle, was a great show, followed by a Pygmy group paddle.
I would have liked to have done more in the area, but my schedule got pushed back almost a week due to that ugly concept, work (which I do sporadically, but the sporads seem to come at the worst times). In the first photo above you can see the refrigerator door is open--there was an emergency fix required to a leaking copper propane pipe, which added another day's delay. Arrggh.
Coming home, the obligatory stop in central Utah--this is Dead Horse with Arches NP in the background.
Zepp...,
Nice photos. I am a native Puget Sound guy, who finally fled the gloomy weather 16 years ago.
What are the green and orange mounts the kayaks are on?
Thanks,
Ken
...What are the green and orange mounts the kayaks are on?...
thanks for asking. because I wanted to mount the kayaks on their sides (why? don't know) and because my forward rack was going to be very close to the middle of the boats, I needed to build custom cradles so the boats would be level. The fiberglass epoxy was tinted to match the coming colors on the kayaks.
the "precision restraints" are two straps of masking tape... the boat had to be stable to get the angle measurements.
Making these suckers took about 10 days. Lots of angle frustration, to be sure! Nothing is 90 degrees. The amazing thing is, the angles between the two sets of cradles are almost exactly the same, despite the different chine shapes between the Coho and Arctic Tern kayaks.
thanks for asking. because I wanted to mount the kayaks on their sides (why? don't know) and because my forward rack was going to be very close to the middle of the boats, I needed to build custom cradles so the boats would be level. The fiberglass epoxy was tinted to match the coming colors on the kayaks.
the "precision restraints" are two straps of masking tape... the boat had to be stable to get the angle measurements.
Making these suckers took about 10 days. Lots of angle frustration, to be sure! Nothing is 90 degrees. The amazing thing is, the angles between the two sets of cradles are almost exactly the same, despite the different chine shapes between the Coho and Arctic Tern kayaks.
Zep
Thanks a lot for the photos and info. Very nice workmanship. I was hoping they were a commercial product.
We use a thing from Yakima called Big Stack. However your system would be a lot easier on the boats. With the Big stack, the boats rest against each other and on a pad on the crossbar. However, since ours are Hobie plastic boats, it is not a big deal.
My parents live on the south end of Whidbey Is, so we sometimes walk on the ferry and spend a day in Port Townsend when we are visiting.
Thanks Again,
Ken
you've been busy !!
I was looking at your custom saddles- I'm guessing you have Thule cross bars which do not allow the saddles to rotate. The one nice thing about Yakima round bars is the saddles can rotate on one axis- tilt fore and aft-this allows you to place the boat in the rack then tighten the saddles to the bar for a better fit. Something to consider when you have multiple yaks. But then again wooden boats are , in my opinion,less prone to flexing when tied down. Then all you would need is a piano hinge from the bottom piece of the saddle to the upright. Just a few engineering observations!!
One of the guys in my paddle group built a custom rack that has a "halo" on the front / he slides the yak into it from aft till there is contact all around then only uses one tie down on the back of the yak. wicked strong and no need for a bow tie down. But then again he has a $4500 custom kevlar boat.
BTW-- in the pic with the two of you-- if you end for end your paddle it will be more efficient as more of the blade will enter on the plunge.
How about some pics of how you outfitted your cockpit- foam?
Looking forward to paddling with you next year..
You can really tell the difference between digital pictures and old school 35. And that pot of gold came real close to landing in my kayak. It's yet to be found.
Here's a pic of a couple of Lingcod I caught a couple weeks ago while camping and ocean kayak fishing at San Simeon, CA. The fishing was good that day and we caught lots of other rockfish too. There was a bit of a swell and the launch and landing in the surf was very exciting!
Here's a pic of a couple of Lingcod I caught a couple weeks ago while camping and ocean kayak fishing at San Simeon, CA. The fishing was good that day and we caught lots of other rockfish too. There was a bit of a swell and the launch and landing in the surf was very exciting!
A couple of nice fish, Steve! Where were you camped?
A couple of nice fish, Steve! Where were you camped?
Thanks. We were camped at San Simeon State Park...at the Washburn camp, one of our favorite places. It's not far from home so we go there about 3 or 4 times a year. We launched the kayaks at San Simeon cove next to the pier.
Thanks. We were camped at San Simeon State Park...at the Washburn camp, one of our favorite places. It's not far from home so we go there about 3 or 4 times a year. We launched the kayaks at San Simeon cove next to the pier.
Love that park....we used to go there a couple times each year. But, we have never camped in the Washburn area, which explains why it didn't look familiar. Every time I have been to the San Simeon pier, there was no surf to speak of....an excellent place to launch!
Royce, you know we expect to see photos of the whole project? Yes, we do.
I've been slowly documenting my Pygmy build(s) and figuring out blog software at Pygmy Kayaker. I'm about half done...which means I'm about a fourth done.
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The SJ Rapids are a lot more forgiving when you piloting a raft....but, you still have to watch yourself.
I saw that Petco carries life vests for pets...I thought of Miss V.
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