On Saturday July 29, I did my first 12 mile paddle with KIOCC. And later that afternoon I joined what remained of the Kent Island Practice Paddle (KIPP) group for another 7 miles in my surfski. I'll start this blog out by saying I feel kind of guilty about my day. It was blistery hot but compared to what my friends in the KIPP group went through it was a relatively easy paddle day.

Every year KIOCC has to move the outriggers from the Yacht club to an offsite location because of a hydrofoil boat show which takes over the Yacht club. One of the club members, Chip, has a house with water access about 12 miles from the Yacht club so we were to paddle as many outriggers as we could over to his house. We all met at Chip's house on Thompson Creek around 8:00 then we carpooled back to the Yacht club for a 9 am launch. Chip had pancakes, coffee and fresh fruit waiting for us. Breakfast is probably my favorite meal of the day so I ate as much as I could without getting sick. I knew we had a hard paddle ahead of us.

That also gave me time to check in by phone with my friend Susan who was on the KIPP paddle. We compared notes about where the outriggers would be paddling and where the KIPP group was headed. We decided the best course of action was for Anne, who was providing van support for the paddle, to meet me at the Yacht club for lunch. And then I would join the group for the final leg to Love Point.

So they (KIPP) started their day off outside in sweltering heat. I started my day off in an air-conditioned house dining on pancakes.

The outriggers were on the water around 9 am. I got seat 5 this time, my kayaking friend Neil was in seat 4, and John, who I think started the club, took seat 6. One of the things I love about paddling the 6 man outriggers is the social aspect of it. We kept a good pace but it wasn't so hard or fast that we couldn't carry on a conversation. And I love it when the whole crew shouts the transition commands. We had a fun but strenuous paddle. We stopped once at Stinky Island for a water break and some people took a short swim, but it was pretty much a straight 12 mile paddle.



We had two six man crews and I think one double and one single. The other six man crew was mostly composed of people who were training for a race so they were keeping a good pace. We kept pace with them and gave them a workout as they tried to catch us paddling up Thompson Creek. Someone on my crew made the comment that they thought they could pass us because our crew had a newbie on board (me). This made me paddle even harder. To our credit the race crew never caught up with us!



We beached the outriggers at Chip's and he brought out the watermelon. Then some of the paddlers drove back to the Yacht club for lunch and a meeting. Anne met me there and joined the group for lunch. Again ... my day was rather sublime compared to what the KIPP people were going through. While they were paddling in sweltering heat I was back at the Yacht club dining on crabcakes, coleslaw and diet Coke.

After lunch Anne and I went out to the beach and tried to contact the KIPP group by radio. Unfortunately we couldn't make contact. So Anne decided to drive to another part of the island which was closer to Parson's Island, where they were supposed to stop for lunch, and contact them by radio from there. I threw a beach towel on the grass under a tree and took a nap. It was a big crabcake!

Sometime later Anne phoned my cell to tell me she had made contact with the KIPP paddlers. One would be bailing but I was to meet the rest on Parson's Island. Parson's Island is about 4 miles from the Yacht club. So I started unloading my surfski and supplies for the paddle over. Just as I was putting the ski in the water my friend Nigel paddled up and Anne drove up in her van. Nigel is a BCU 5 star paddler who has just joined the outriggers. He also lives on Kent Island in a subdivision across from Parson's Island. Anne was nervous about me paddling out to Parson's alone so she was very relieved when Nigel offered to paddle out to the island with me.

I was really expecting to meet up with 7 paddlers. As it turns out two paddlers bailed on the beach across from Parson's. Susan and her friend Cliff paddled past us in a state of distress. Cliff was throwing up and looked horrible. Susan didn't look much better. Marshall who was leading the group seemed to be in a zone ... he didn't say much ... just paddled. Saki, of course, was his ever chipper self. He must have eaten his wheaties that morning. So my friend Nigel took off to help with the two paddlers who were stranded. And I met up with the remaining paddlers.

Two of our group bailed after Kent Narrows, which left Marshall, Saki and me for the paddle back to Love Point. I flipped the surfski once after Kent Narrows and realized I was more tired than I thought or maybe I ate too many crabcakes. I knew Saki wanted to try my surfski so I thought ... why not let him do it now. So we switched skis with about 3 miles to go. Saki's Futura C4 is a barge compared to the S1-A which is only 16 inches wide. It was quite amusing watching him wobbling back and forth on the ski. But to his credit he never flipped over. And it was pretty choppy out!

After we had gathered up all the paddlers and put the correct kayaks on the correct cars we headed out to a local seafood restaurant for dinner. By this time Susan and Cliff had recovered the correct color in their faces and everyone was in a better mood. And as Susan likes to say at the end of her posts ... it was a good day.

Sunday became a much needed rest day for me. I wanted to join the outriggers for the novice paddle and cookout but I was just too tired. Shannon came over around 2 to work on her kayak in the basement. We were both pretty much zoned out. She worked in the basement while I cleaned upstairs. Neil had sent me instructions on how to make a kayak stand out of PVC pipes so I went to Home Depot and got the materials for my next project. I hope to have pictures of the completed kayak stand later in the week.

-Susanita