Shannon and I finally made it to the annual CPA 4th of July fireworks paddle on the Potomac. Shannon had tried to make this paddle two years in a row and never made it down. And last year she and I had plans to carpool down to Jack's boathouse when a huge storm hit DC. Unable to paddle we made dinner at my house with plans to watch a movie. But the electricity went out. We ended up eating dinner by kerosene lantern and staying up late into the night talking. I think that was to be our first kayaking "adventure" ... the one that never happened. So this year we were both determined to make the fireworks paddle.



I decided to bring my new SOF kayak ... the one we've named the SS Isabella. I had been calling her the "Mystery" after the kayak we used for inspiration. But Dave told me we needed a new name. The "Mystery" belongs to Nick Schade. And while our SOF was "inspired" by the Mystery it's really not the same design. Shannon wanted to name her after an inuit name meaning something like arrow, because she thinks the kayak looks like an arrow. But we couldn't find a name with less than 4 syllables. It needed to be simple and easy to remember. So I just started calling her the Isabel. And it fits.

We got to Jack's boathouse around 4 but it took us another hour to get the boats off the car and into the water. I had to talk to anyone who would listen about the SOF and she gets a lot of attention. We saw a lot of the regular Pirates of Georgetown (POG) paddlers: Todd, Bob, Frank, Yvonne, Jen ... but lots of new faces. And I finally got to meet Page who had sent me this neat software that integrates your photos with the maps from the GPS. It's hard to explain, so I suggest you check out his webpage at http://letsgo2sea.com.


The group started launching for the kayak over to Memorial Bridge around eight. My initial plan was to meet up with my friend Gordon who would paddle over from Roosevelt Island from the Virginia side of the Potomac. But he wanted to paddle his canoe, not a kayak and the gunnels on his canoe were old and rotted. So he had been working all afternoon trying to repair the gunnels. But halfway through the repair the battery ran out on the cordless drill and the recharger was at his other house. Some people have so much stuff they have two houses! So he ended up driving to Rosslyn and running down to Jack's ... just in time to see us launch. Then he ran from Jack's to the bridge at Roosevelt Island just in time to see us pass through. So he didn't get to paddle with me but we had several Gordon "sightings". Shannon also caught a glimpse of him on one of the beaches on Roosevelt Island. So that was fun!

After we lost sight of Gordon, Shannon and I continued our herding duties with the kayakers. The primo spot for an on water view of the fireworks is just south of the Memorial Bridge. Being the paparazzi that we are ... we spent most of the time taking photos of each other in silhouette with the fireworks or getting the group in silhouette with the fireworks ... trying to get that great fireworks photo. It never happened. I saw the photo Page posted on the forum and it was definitely better than anything we took. But check it out for yourself. There is a larger than normal photo gallery page for this event because I also included photos from the Isabella first Potomac voyage. Check it out here.

Tomorrow I'm meeting David Shames at Black Hills again to work on rolling and fix the rudder. He wants to move the rudder housing up higher and attach it more securely. Dave Isbell is also working on an electric pump that operates without a switch. It's a very interesting pump. Supposedly it turns on every once in a while and checks for water. If it finds water it pumps, and if it doesn't it shuts itself off. After I told Dave that racers often have to pee in the boat during a long race he told me I needed to get this pump.

-Susanita