On Saturday Shannon, Christine and I met Dave Isbell at the pool for some rolling practice and lessons. Shannon is just fine tuning her various greenland rolls and trying to learn a few more rolls. I'm still learning the basics from Dave. Christine shot most of the rolling video and while it appears that Shannon was hogging the camera ... that isn't so. Whenever I thought I had perfected my roll and called Christine over for a video I lost my concentration. I guess I'm more comfortable behind the camera than in front of the camera.

Below is a compilation of the various video we shot. But watch carefully. Shannon included some important "safety" messages. When choosing kayaking partners it's important to know that they're as serious about safety as you are. And that goes for pool safety as well!



Afterwards, Dave and I had a chance to talk about the specs for the skin-on-frame (SOF) kayak he's building for me. As I mentioned in a previous post, we're working from the design of the Mystery and scaling it down. But it's not that simple. The hull had to be modified to fit within the constraints of a SOF design. Also the deck had to be modified from a SOF typical design to allow more room for my knees. The paddling position for racing is very different from the paddling position one uses in a tight fitting greenland style boat. So he took some more measurements.



The final kayak will probably be around 18.5 feet and about 18 inches wide. The hull is a stable hard chine hull with a good level of secondary stability ... not the rounded hull which is typical of a racing kayaks. But the waterline beam should be around 14 - 14.5 inches. So hopefully the narrower beam will compensate for the less rounded hull. Dave has been busy working on the design and cutting the wood. I'm anxious to see the kayak frame when he starts putting things together.

-Susanita

A wise person once told me, "Be careful of what you wish for. You just might get it."

All weekend long I was wishing for snow. The weather on the East Coast has been unseasonably warm and we were due for a change. It's not that I like the cold. I just like the seasons. I like variety. Warm sunny days are great. But so are grey days, windy days, cool spring days, fall rainy days, and snowy days. Summer had lasted long enough. I was ready for winter.

Winter is finally here. Saturday was not only cold but windy with wind gusts up to 40 mph on the bay. I cancelled my kayaking plans and rescheduled my day to include a stop at the cabinet manufacturer and a luncheon/team meeting with the Kent Island Canoe Club. It's not that we had a lot of club activities to discuss. It seemed that the team meeting was mostly an opportunity to get the team together and keep everyone motivated to race next summer. We did discuss a few of the upcoming races but mostly it was a social lunch. As I drove back over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge I felt the wind pushing my truck towards the edge. I looked over at the steel cables holding the bridge together and wondered if they would catch a car if it was forced over the edge. The spaces between the cables looked a little too wide so I decided to drive in the center lane just in case.



On Sunday I decided to join a group for hike on Sugarloaf Mountain. I had been on the "Blue Sky" email list for a month or two but hadn't had the opportunity to join one of their hikes. The Blue Sky group is organized by Vitas and Mary whom I met through sea kayaking. I haven't seen the whole email list but I think it's mostly sea kayakers and a few whitewater kayakers who are looking for nonkayaking events during the off season. So I met Vitas, Mary, Sally, Alison and Roxanne at the base of Sugarloaf Mountain. Mary was recovering from an injury on a previous hike. She broke a rib on a fall. So we all agreed to take the easiest route around the mountain and keep the hike short. We took the white trail which meanders around the base of the mountain without a lot of elevation change. We had a short snack at the picnic tables then Vitas, Roxanne and I hiked to the top while Sally, Alison and Mary followed the road back to the parking lot.

When we got back to the cars my wish came true. The cars were covered with a light dusting of fine, dry snow. Mary had brought some treats and a thermos of hot cocoa to celebrate Sally's birthday. So we stood for a while at the picnic tables drinking cocoa and eating cake while the snow fell softly around us.

The drive home could have been worse than it was. The main roads were mostly clear. The challenge was getting down to my house. I live in a valley. I drove around Takoma Park a few times looking for the best way down to the house. The first road I chose was steep and windy. Even with four wheel drive I knew there was a good chance I'd hit one of the cars parked on the side. So I chose to drive down in a rather circuitous route, inching my way down the hills in second gear, careful to steer clear of the cars parked on the side.

When I opened the door to the house my two cats ran outside. Maribel and Annabel had been sleeping as cats do and hadn't noticed the snow. They both love snow. So they played for awhile then scratched at the door to come inside. They must have gone outside about four times to play in the snow, each time returning a little more wet and a little more snow packed.

It's late now and they're fast asleep. The Federal Government has just announced that tomorrow is an "Unscheduled Leave" day. For most people this means that they have the option of coming to work or using personal leave and staying home. For my department that means that we have to work, but we can work at home if we want. I'll be working from home.

Which means that I get to sleep in a little bit later. And I'll get off in time to enjoy the snow.

Let it snow! Let it snow!

-Susanita

This is the computerized sketch of the chine of the my new kayak. Dave Isbell is building it using skin on frame (SOF) techniques, but it won't be a traditional SOF kayak. We started with the design of the Guillemot Mystery and scaled that down to fit my 5'1" frame. But the Mystery is typically built as a wood strip boat which allows for a more rounded hull. We could have designed a more rounded hull by adding in more chines but I really wanted a kayak with a solid area of primary stability and secondary stability. But I wanted it as narrow as possible and as long as possible ... for speed. So what we've come up with so far is a 18 1/2" wide kayak with a 16" wide hull at the water line. The extra flare in the hull is to add the secondary stability I wanted built into the boat. And I think we're up to 19 feet for the length which would 19 feet waterline. The bow and stern won't flare up like in a traditional greenland style boat.



Above is a side view of the hull. The slope of the deck is still under development. I want to be able to roll the boat. To roll the boat I need to be able to make contact with the deck around the upper thigh. But I want to get the maximum speed out of the boat. To get maximum speed I need amble room for my knees so that when I rotate my body through the stroke I can push with the legs. So we're going to have to be a little creative with the design of the deck. And the final kayak will probably only fit one person ... me.



Above is another view of the chines on the boat. The program he's using also provides data on hull displacement which we used to modify the width of the hull. This is my first attempt at designing a kayak. And what I've learned is that everything is a trade off. I want the boat to be fast and the best hull shape for speed is a circle. But a circle is also the most unstable and virtually impossible to accomplish in a SOF kayak anyway. So we're trying for fast but stable. I'm hoping that the narrow waterline will compensate for the less rounded hull. Also the less rigid structure of the SOF kayak should compromise speed as well, but I'm hoping that will be minimal.

-Susanita

This is my winter project ... well one of them. Take a look at this lovely but dated kitchen. It will all be gone by February. I'm replacing the cabinets, the lovely gold appliances and the counter tops. Fortunately, Tom, the contractor who helped me tear down some walls and tear up all the floors when I bought the house two years ago has found time to fit my little kitchen project into his schedule. So we've set early February for the demolition. Although I probably won't purchase the best cabinets I figure anything will look better than the dark brown and the gold appliances ... especially that huge gold exhaust hood.

The history of the house is kind of interesting. The original house was built in the early 1900's and it appears that it was a one bedroom cottage. Then in the 80's a young man moved into the cottage with his parents and designed an A-frame addition that sits perpendicular to the main house. My neighbor across the street who lived here during that time period said he was somewhat of a hermit but meticulous with details. I have all the many architectural drawings he did in a closet so I can attest to his attention to detail. The house is only 1200 square feet, not counting the loft, but the open floor plan makes it feel much bigger. And believe it or not the house actually won an architectural award back in the 80's. I love the house. It's small but cozy and the two wood stoves and two fireplaces he designed into the floor plan give it that winter vacation feel. The city of Takoma Park also designated about 10 acres behind the house as "protected woodland" because there is an endangered fox living behind the house. This is true. I've seen the fox. And I'm keeping him well fed and happy so he lives a long, long life!

So there is another little project I'm working on this winter that is kayak related ... but I'm not ready to blog about it yet. I'll just say that there will be another kayak joining my fleet in a few months. It's being custom built and the design is kind of a ... mystery.

-Susanita

When it's too cold or too windy or too rainy to kayak outside ... I always have my rower. This is a Concept 2 rower that I bought last spring for cross-training. I don't want to sound like an advertisement for Concept 2 but this rower is great!. It has a built in computer monitor which tracks your workouts and provides predefined workouts to keep you motivated. I like the interval training workouts. I also like the rerow function which allows me to race my previously saved workouts. Yesterday it was cold and rainy so I raced myself. And won! What better motivation. Today it's sunny but very windy. My kayaking plans have been cancelled. So I'll probably race my workout from yesterday.

-Susanita