Susanita
Welcome to my website. Above is a
photo of me, Susanita, in my loft working on my
iMac. The website started as a blog about sea
kayaking. But lately my outdoor activities have
drifted into other areas ... outrigger canoe racing
and most recently rock climbing. I started climbing
in 1998, the same year I started whitewater
kayaking. Both are passions but climbing is more
than a passion, it's a way of life. It's hard to be
a good casual climber. To be really good you have
to be out at the crag every weekend there's sun. I
did it religiously for about four years. Then I
drifted more into sea kayaking, which isn't as time
intensive. Lately I acquired a new climbing partner
... so climbing is becoming more important again.
Thanks for stopping by,
Susanita
NCAWPA is the National Capitol Area Women's Paddling Club based at the Anacostia Boathouse. In 2008 I raced on the women's team in the Queen Lili Race in Kona, Hawaii. Most of the others in our canoe were relative novices like myself. We trained together most of the summer and by late August when we flew to Hawaii we were paddling together quite well.
I started rockclimbing in 1998 and climbed consistently for about four years until I switched into kayaking. I did a lot of trad clmbing with gear but mostly as the second. Now I'm getting back into climbing with a new partner. This photo was taken at the top of the first pitch of Old Lady's Route at Seneca Rocks.
This is one of my kayaks. It's a Huki/Futura S1-A surfski. I got it primarily to kayak fast. Initially I had no intention of racing. But after I bought it I met some women who were into recreational racing. So last summer me and my S1-A participated in five recreational kayak races. Four of the race reports are archived on the blog.
This is me before the Broadkill race. I'm really into "things." Some of the things I bought this year for racing were my waterproof IPOD and my Garmin Forerunner GPS. The IPOD was to help me kayak and the GPS was to tell me how I was doing. I won a few races and I placed in a few. But it was all about fun.
Here's me in my favorite kayak, the Mirage 530. I imported this kayak from Australia and had it custom painted in a purple fade. It's an awesome ocean kayak. It surfs well. It turns well thanks to the integrated rudder. It has a built in electric pump. And it's light at about 45 pounds. Whereever I go I'm always taking pictures of my kayak. You'll see alot of this kayak in the photo albums.
This is Maribel. I love animals. And while it may seem that I'm a cat person ... because I don't have a dog right now. I love them both. Before she died, my dog Gracie was my constant companion. She loved to go with me on weekend trips to the crag when I was rockclimbing. But I couldn't take her kayaking. So when she passed away I decided to just keep cats. It's easier because they're more independent. And Maribel is very outgoing ... more like a dog.
This is Annabel. She's Maribel's younger sister. She's smaller than Maribel but she's quick and feisty. Her hobbies include climbing trees and birdwatching. She does not like to have her picture taken.
Here is a photo I took on a recent
kayak trip to Chincoteague, Va. I use an Olympus
Stylus SW which is a waterproof digital camera when
I'm kayaking. When I'm on dry land I use a Sony
DSC-H7. Both are great cameras. The Olympus is not
a high tech SLR but I like it because it's small
and I can strap it to my PFD. It's always there
when I want to take a photo. The Sony is what's
called a "bridge camera". It's kind of like a
hybrid. It has many of the features of an SLR ...
larger, better lens, higher pixel resolution. But
it's packed into a compact body. It takes great
wildlife photos!
Photography is another hobby and lately I've been
taking alot of photos on my kayak outings. On the
Photo Gallery page are links to the various photo
albums I've created so far.