11/06/09  I continue to glue up little strips while working on the hull at the same time

As you can tell from the following pics, I have finished the bow point in Paduk with a Mahogany behind it, and am now working on the Dark Red Cedar.

11/01/09  As of today I am starting to strip my deck now, I think you can see from the pics what the basic design is going to be….

Although I had to staple/nail the first row on, I am happy to say that I am back to using my “Doodads” to secure the strips.

My biggest delima now is the fact I used a hot melt glue gun to set the shear strip and I am not sure how easy it will be to strip the forms when I am done. LOL    I also have to remember to re-tape the forms before I continue or I will have a real problem stripping the forms.

11/06/09   Well it is time to work on the inside of the Hull while I continue to work on stripping the deck.

After scraping and sanding the inside I mixed up some fillet compound (epoxy, woodflour, and Cab-o-sil) and put fillets in the stems.  This is not necessary, but is a trick I learned from my friends that make S&G yaks.  It makes it much easier to lay the inside cloth with no air pockets or wrinkles.

And then I skimmed the entire inside with an epoxy putty to fill all voids for the same reason

11/01/09  Well it is the beginning of November and the end of Daylight Savings Time.  I found a little energy to work on the yak today, got the shear strip pieces (which I had to staple/nail) secured to the forms and then stripped the deck and forms from the hull.

The hull is already loose from the forms, and the gaps you see are from the spring back.

And now the inside of the hull is ready to be scraped, planed, and sanded

It is also time to start the next chapter of this build, as I will be working on the hull as well as the deck at the same time.

10/30/09   Here it is the end of the month and I haven’t posted anything.  I guess I might not make the Christmas deadline I set for myself.  The reasons I haven’t progressed are basic ones I guess.  The first one is that I am working now and by the time I get home it is dark and I am tired. LOL  2nd is that now is the best time to be kayaking and camping here in FL and I am trying to take advantage of it while I can.  So my free time has been spent playing instead of working on the yak.   3rd is I recently hurt my back and have not been able to do anything much less work on the yak, but thanks to Modern medicine (good drugs) I am getting better.  And the 4th reason is probably the biggest reason.  I am stumped with how to do what I want as far as the deck design goes.  The deck strips I need to start with are many little pieces that are cut at angles.  Trying to cut them to the right length, right angle, glue them together and wrap them around the curves of the forms has proved to be challenging at best when I am trying not to use staples.  I may have to give up on that and staple the first strip till I can get 2 strips mounted on both sides and use the Hot Melt glue gun to secure them to the forms so I can finish it with the “Doodads” 

10/05/09  The following pics are the of the second coat of epoxy while there was enough daylight to still take pics… barely.

This is the graphic I have settled on with changing the name to “Flyin’”.  That too is subject to change at any given moment. LOL

10/04/09  Well, I got the hull all sanded and ready to glass.  I was going to go get my camera, then excitement got a hold of me and the next thing I know I am spreading glass on my yak!!!  Well, I can’t let bare glass just set there, so it was time to mix up some epoxy and start spreading.  As usual, I put an extra layer of 4 oz glass on the stems, and the center of the hull before covering the entire yak.

The Padauk does not stand out as red as I hoped against the Mahogany or Dark Red Cedar as I had hoped.  But it is still pretty!  I only have after work for the next 2 weeks to work on the yak, having plans for the next 2 weekends.  Gee, I hope I can finish this yak by Christmas.

9/28/09  Can you tell what I have been doing lately???

Yeppers!!!  I am planeing and Faring the hull.  Not a lot to see different, and I am not getting much done a night do to being busy working, but here are the latest pics.  Notice some of my favorite tools, they are not needed, but fun to use. LOL

09/16/09  Today I finished glueing everything on the  hull.  Now it is time to start working the plane and faring board.

Now I have decided to finish out the bottom of this yak with the dark Aromatic Red Cedar.  This is very different for me, because all my previous yaks have all had light colored hulls.

Now I decided to start my outer stems in padauk to match the center of the stripe, that and I also liked the way it looked on the “King” I just finished

I decided to equal the white cedar on both sides of the stripe, and then put a WRC strip before changing colors again.

Working both sides till I reach the top of the inner stem forms.

Got the stripe done and am continueing with the white cedar.

09/01/09  Here it is Tuesday again, and I don’t have much to report.  Between work and health, I have not gotten very far this past week.  Here is what was happening so far.

  Things I have learned this last week.  That even using these High Teck Doodads, you also need lots of clamps.  But only at the bow & stern, and only if you are bending your strips rather than using fillers.

and rubber bands and this florida heat don’t really agree.  When I go out to the shop to check on it, I find a floor full of broken rubber bands and a few acrylic clamps just sitting on the boat.  When tieing the rubber bands on, when they break they send the doodads with force to the floor.  Mine being a concrete floor, the acrylic doodads don’t survive.  I have managed to break 5 of them so far.  But I still love them!!!  Something tells me I need to order another batch of these just to have around for future builds.

Well as you can tell, I decided to add a racing stripe down the side of my hull.  I had some padauk and mahogany left over from previous builds.

And now I am back to White Cedar…

08/24/09  I know I said a week, but I am thinking that I will just post on Tuesday night.  Not a lot has changed from the last post, but I now have 4 full strips on the port side, and 5 along the starboard side.

Again I am bending my strips to form the bow & stern because I like the way it looks.  I have seen yaks with filler strips, but you lose the lines of the boat visualy with them.  At the moment the only place I am using clamps is at the bow & stern.

the stern

the bow

Speaking of clamps, this is where I would normally show you 30-60 clamps of different types hold the strips in place along with a bunch of staples holding them to the forms.  But these “Doodads”  I got from Seppy in Brisbane, and invented by Amlap in Portugal (both were met online with the “BlueHeron” forum) are the cats meow!!!   So Thanks Silvero, and Rick!!!   With these little pieces of acrylic and $10 worth of rubber bands all my clamping needs are taken care of.  What I have learned so far is to place one over any joint you have and it keeps them even, wrap the rubberband tightly because they are what clamps it, the pieces are only the holders, and in stubborn areas, just add another.

my joints seem to be tighter and lining up at the ends better, but I am not sure if it has to do with the clamp system, or the fact I can only do one run per side at a time, so I am spending more time being finicky.

08/23/09  I now have 2 strips down each side, but because of the relaxed way of building this yak, I have decided to only show posts on the progress once a week.  You dont really want to see each piece as it gets glued on.

08/21/09  Today I worked on setting my forms on the strongback, Aligning (leveling and squaring them up), taping the forms, and installing my begining strips (for the life of me I can’t think of what they are called! LOL).

  Then I had to play with the “Doodads” I got from Seppy Down Under just to see how they work.  I may have to order some more of these, Pretty Slick!!!

This is my first attempt to build without staples

Although I am using clamps at the moment in the middle, I am hoping to just use rubber bands and Doodads as the sides build

I still have not settled on a pattern yet for the deck, I know I wanted the shearline to be WRC and the hull AWC at least to the waterline.  I also have bounced around names and graphics and have narrowed it down to 2.  It will either be called the “Water Nymph” or the “Dolphin”.  I like the first one, but obtaining a graphic I like will be hard.

08/19/09  I made my new strong back today and marked my forms.  Laid the spacing out on the strong back, ripped and glued some scrap Mahogany on the bow & stern forms for my inner stems.  It has begun!

Truck loaded and all hooked up for the trip.  I wrapped the new Yak in a “Danu” cover to protect it from any menacing bugs, stones or anything that might want to hurt it before it is delivered.  Actually this pic was taken in the parking lot of the motel we stayed at in Chattanooga TN.

Our camp site at Norris Dam State Park.  We are all set up and waiting on Kevin to show up for his yak.

Kevin unwrapping his yak for the first time.  Does he look excited?

Strapping it down to his car the first time… it looks good on his car.

The classic pose with builder/Kayak/Owner.  Now I am 6′ and Kevin is 6′2″ and you can see that the cockpit combing doesn’t even reach our heads.  Shows how big this yak really is.

Floating and smiling… what else is there?

He sits it well, and it rides the water well

A pic for his Mom. LOL

Here we sit at the Norris Dam wondering how to get through.  Okay maybe not…

Well, might as well head back to camp it has been a fine paddle….

Well it is tuesday nite and my bags are packed.  We will be leaving soon on another road trip with our camping trailer and 3 yaks.  I am actually looking forward to taking this newest yak to her proper owner and hope to be able to post lots of pics of this trip.  So stay tuned for a week or so.  And then after that I will be starting a whole new series.  Tennessee HERE WE COME!!!!!!

Specs;

Length    17′ 9″       Width    20 1/2″          Deck Height   11 1/2″      Weight  43 pounds

 Hours to construct  310  man hours  3 1/2 months in Duration

Materials;

Western Red Cedar, Atlantic White Cedar, Padauk, with Ash in the line recesses and combing lip, and 1/4″ okoume plywood for the bulkheads.

Maas Epoxy, 4 oz. E glass, Eiphanes varnish

08/03/09  Today I dry buffed the entire yak, and then started all the outfitting.  I ran all the deck lines, installed handles that I made to match, and then worked on the seat.  I have to tell everyone that this “IR” backband is the primo of backbands.  I called a friend to ask if I could use her scale at her work to see what it weighs.  And while waiting on our appointed time, I took pics in the drive…

This is the yak outfitted…

The “IR” backband and carved seat from Joe @ Redfish Kayaks

Close up of handle, deck lines and deck recesses…

Ooooops, I ended up putting the builders tag in the wrong place, the seat covers the owners name and serial number.  But Hey, at least my name shows.  Hahahahaha

I kind of ran a little more shock cord than standard, but it just looked right to have the extra lines.

Boy does this yak have a lot of rocker…

Kevin (the owner) asked me to take pics from what it would look like from the cockpit so he could fantasize about paddling it during the build.  Here I am sitting in it while on a sea of grass… okay a small pond of grass….

Loaded on the truck for it’s maiden voyage….

She sits well on the water, and I am way over the ideal weight for this yak…

Damn is this yak fast!!!

20″ wide yaks are not designed for fat paddlers…

Here are my classic on the beach shots…

You can really see the rocker in this pic…

It just looks so good on my truck, I had to do another of it leaving the beach

Here it is on the trailer, packed away till it is time to deliver it next week

I thought it looked good to be sitting with Peggy’s Guillemot L

Well stay tuned for in 2 weeks I should have pics of it being paddled by her owner on one of the finest lakes in Tennessee.  Norris Dam here we come!!!

08/01/09    As of today I now have 5 coats of varnish all the way around and have used about 1 1/2 quarts of varnish.  I started the day by lightly wet sanding the deck (actually I started at 4:30am doing water support for a local triathalon), and then I installed the hatch foam and the shock cord for the hidden hatches.  Washing the yak of any slurry, I was impressed I could not spray any water in to the hatches.

Then I managed to get 2 coats of varnish sprayed on today…

and with a little touch ups and the handles tomorrow, I should be ready for dry buffing on monday.  Fit the seat, backband, and deck lines!  Then it will be time to test her out in the water and make sure it is ready for delivery on the 13th.

07/28/09  I was out at 6am wet sanding the entire yak down.  The varnish I am using is working out nicely.  It is “Epifanes” High Gloss and is working out smoother than the Interlux Schooner I have used in the past.  The only down side to this stuff is the drying time, it seems to take a lot longer… 24 hrs instead of 12 hrs.

This is just one coat of varnish, it is really high gloss

After sanding it down I washed it off, flipped her upside down and put my first coat of varnish on the hull.  I am using 4″ foam rollers for the base coats to build it up, and then I will wet sand it down (deck done that way already).  Then I will spray the last 2 coats for that mirror finish

07/27/09  Okay, I put the second coat of varnish on the deck before going into work this morning.  I will do another tonight after work and then being off tomorrow I will work on wet sanding the entire yak and putting 2 more coats of varnish then wet sand it smooth and on Wed a final spray on the deck.  That will have to cure a couple of days before I can flip her over and start the hull.

07/26/09  I put the first coat of varnish on this evening after wet sanding the deck.

07/24/09 AM    I had some epoxy problems that took some time to correct, but this morning I started my end pours starting with the stern.  Trying to decide how to do this not having a shop with a 14 foot ceiling anymore, I decided to use my flag pole.  And being a patriot, I decided to leave my flag up for all to see that this is a USA made Kayak.

PM… I flipped her over and did the bow

and the view from my desk…

7/14/09  I got the thigh braces installed and filleted tonight.

Figured as long as I had my good camera out, I would do full pics.  The first is what you will see when on the water

and this is what everyone will see when on the water…

07/12/09  After getting up at 4 AM to work Water Safety for a local Triathalon, I came home to work on the yak.  I put the yak on one edge and sanded the other.  Hoping to control drips in this method

And while taking pics of my shop for a listing in Blue Heron Forum I thought I would take pics of some things I haven’t shown like the name tag that is mounted inside the cockpit area.

and the only graphic included on this yak complete with wet sanding slurry LOL

and how the deck is looking so far…

07/09/09  Today I started wet sanding the deck before putting a finish coat of epoxy on.  I have several days of this with nothing new to see.  I hope to start varnishing next week.

07/08/09   Bulkheads… I hate bulkheads!  They take so much time and there is really no reward. LOL  The pics make my fillets look sloppy, but you cant see it in person.   I also got the hatch rims cut down to the right size.

07/07/09 today I got the foot braces installed

07/06/09  Today I glued the hatch rims in, and it is time to put most of the clamps away now.

07/05/09  Lets see… the things I got done this weekend.  Well I worked on different handles, now it is time to figure out what style I wanna use.

I also made and  installed the spacers for the hatch lips out of 1/4 inch mahogany ply.  As you can tell from the pics, you can never have to many clamps.

I also made the blocks for the hatch hold downs.  Yes for those of you following this blog I had made some before but I was not thrilled with the style of them, so I decided to make new ones.  I like these much better.

Then I put the final coat of epoxy on the inside of the yak.

07/01/09  Well, it is offical, this is now a Kayak!!! And this next pic is for daydreaming of seeing it on the water soon, what a nice view

 Today I worked on the outside seam Port side.  I laid out the tape

Now you see it….

Now you dont…

Okay, almost don’t.  This too will disapear with more coats of epoxy

06/30/09  Today was more of yesterday, just the other side.  You will see that I had to use more band clamps than tape to hold the second side

06/29/09  After taping the two halves together, and adding a few band clamps, I started taping the inside seam with fiberglass and epoxy.

And in keeping with tradition, I now have epoxy in my hair.  I used a scap stick to push the tape up into the bow and stern, and then taped a brush to another to be able to reach up there and smooth the tape down and add the epoxy that was needed.

inside smoothing brush

This evening I added my secont coat of epoxy, worked on handles, epoxied the clips on the hatch covers, and filed down the deck recesses that I could reach

06/15/09  Okay, besides cutting the deck and fitting the combing, I glassed the thigh braces and plywood that I am going to use for the hatch rims, and bulkheads

The sheet that is only half done has the hatch paterns on the other side, and being a pattern to cut the rims and openings, I saw no reason to waste the glass cloth or epoxy.

06/09/09  Okay, I am sorry for not posting for awhile, but busy, busy, busy.  It is that time of year.  I have managed to pick up a couple of kayak repair jobs, and even a couple of construction jobs, plus the weather is perfect for paddling.  And inbetween all of this, I have even managed to work on the yak, just not taking pics or posting about it.  So tonight while waiting on epoxy to cure I will try and catch up.

I puttied the inside of both the deck and hull, and then sanded it all down.  And filled in the stems with my fillets using wood flour, cab-o-sil, and epoxy.

then I laid the glass cloth on the underside of the deck, adding a triple layer at the rear of the cockpit recess where it gets the most stress getting in and out of the yak, and with help we epoxied it in

Then it was time to do the hull.  Adding extra glass in the center which I always put the reinforcing under the full sheet and wet both out at the same time.  I found it makes for a much cleaner job without leaving stings everywhere.

 Then I got the hull all epoxied in.Doing the fillets on the stems made the glass lay down much easier, and even if they are not very pretty, you will not see them unless you climb in the hatches. LOL

Coming next week!    after the 3-4 coats of epoxy will be to install the combing…

06/01/09  Today I got two more fill coats on the deck and it will be ready to split and remove the forms soon.

And now that the epoxy is dry, it is time to split the halves and discard the skeleton

5/31/09  Today I epoxied the first layer of glass on the deck, installing the graphic as well.  Just one coat so far…

5/20/09 In the following pics you will see the 4 oz glass laid out on the hull.  If you look close, you can see where the fabric has been doubled on the stems and the cockpit area.

Next you will see how far the first mixed batch about 6 oz.  or 16 pumps of resin and hardner will go.  The doubled glass fabric really takes a lot more epoxy than a single layer.

And my combing table makes a good mixing table as well

The following pics show the colors of the hull after the first coat of epoxy

And with the second fill coat

06/22/09  This morning I worked on cutting down the excess of the combing that hung below the deck, leaving tabs for mounting the backband and cheek plates

and sanded it down then coated it in a cab-o-sil epoxy mix filling all voids.

Then I saw on http://www.blueheronkayaks.com/kayak  where Nancy the builder of “The Water Lily” made these hatch hold down hooks.  She sent me the link from where she got the idea for them, but to be honest I stole the idea from her so I am giving the credit to her. LOL  She had made a modification in which the hatch is secured by a tether that I really liked.   I measured them out and cut them on the bandsaw, then glued them to the inside of the deck so when I cut my hatches, they will remain in proper form.  I will coat them completely in epoxy as I work on the hatches.   So thank you Nancy, you are a true artist!  If you can, check out her build at http://www.blueheronkayaks.com/kayak/index.html

This afternoon I got the hatches cut out and the deck moved out of the way (tied to the rafters)

to continue work on the hull which first I glued the pegs in for the foot braces using thick epoxy to set them, then 2 layers of 6oz glass and epoxy to anchor them solid

06/21/09  Well good news and bad news… I blew something in the tranny of my truck, but that kept me home to work on the yak.  Today I fitted the deck line recesses and glued them in place, and I glued the combing in place.  It doesn’t sound like much, but it took me most of the day to get it done. LOL  I also worked on sanding the handles and will continue with them tomorrow as well as cutting away the excess of the combing.  Oh and not to worry about the truck, it is under warrenty and will be ready tomorrow.

06/17/09  Boy!!!  Let me tell ya, Summer is here, with a Gusto!  This is not the time of year to live in Sunny (roasting, blistering, muggy) Florida.

Since my last post, I have laid out and drilled for the deck line recesses and U-bolts.  I have also laid out for the hatches, but not cut them yet.  Nothing is glued in yet, just fitted.

06/15/09  Just as promised, the combing has been fitted to the deck

And as you can see from the blue tape, I am laying out the deck line recesses, and eye bolts

05/31/09  Time to glass the deck

with the graphic.  This is the first time I didn’t cloud the cut of the paper and now I am hoping the edges will disapear with the epoxy I have left to apply.  The room I had to work with kept me from cutting it in cloud form.

05/29/05  It is time to glue up the rim of the combing

And as long as I have the epoxy mixed, might as well put a sealer coat on the recesses, hatch blocks and glue up the blank I am going to turn for the handles.

The artwork Kevin sent me to use arrived and so I decided to use one of the larger samples as a test for color fastness.  So I epoxied it on a piece of scrap spruce (the base of my stand).  It held the color okay, but the paper was way to thick, so I had to reprint it on my paper.

05/28/05  Okay, the filling is done, and the final sanding.  Working on bending the rim of the combing

05/27/09  HOOORAY!!!  The cockpit recess is done.  Now for a little sanding, final filling, sanding and the deck will be ready for glassing.  Check out the next few pics as to how it looks.

And this view is for you Kevin… just imagine waves in front…

I also finished with the 3rd coat of epoxy on the combing, removed it from the jig, placed it on the yak and scribed the profile of the recess to the top using a marking pen, then returned it to the jig

Then I ripped and planed the combing lip strips out of Ash, and am pre-bending them for installation following the marker line

Maybe I should just do a section on building a combing.  Maybe on my next build.

05/14/09  Well today was a short day and will be my last posting for the next 3 days.  I leave for the “Poker Run” early tomorrow morning and wont be back till late sunday.  Other than getting ready for my weekend, I worked on the recess having only 12 more pieces left to go, and I finish sanded the hull and did a little filling.  Monday I hope to do a finish sanding and start glassing.  More stuff came in today, I got the epoxy and varnish.

So check in Monday night to see pics of the boat and a report on the weekend paddle.

05/13/09  Well I am begining to think that there are more strips in this recess than there is in the entire yak! LOL  But I am getting there

And supplies are starting to come in… YAHOO

And the combing is coming together

05/11/09 On the deck today I worked on filling in the cockpit recess.  This is a slow process and not much to look at.  I didn’t even take pics…  I did work on building my jig for the combing today, I will be posting a whole new category on that when I start working on the combing.  But here is a pic of the jig.

05/08/09  Again I haven’t been posting, but as you can see from the pics, I have finished stripping the stern, and cut out for the cockpit recess.  The Combing is tiny (16 1/2 X 32) for such a huge recess, but I guess that is part of the allure of this yak.  It will be easy to roll.   From the following pics you can see I have started filling in the recess, and as I wait for the glue to catch on that strip, I am working on rough planning and sanding.  I had to show off one of my favorite Block Planes.  I love the extended handles on it.  A Lee Valley Tool exclusive.

Stern from the bow

Stern from the stern

I had to trim the strong back down and knock out a couple of forms for the recess to fit

It is amazing to me how the joints tighten up with a little planning and sanding.  I work on the right (starboard), and not on the left (port).

Using my “Fareing Board” to sand with, the Padauk is staining the white cedar pink. LOL  I am hoping the DA sander with finish paper cleans it up, or at least wiping it down with Acetone will clean it up.

This pic is after I put it away for the night

05/01/09  Today I managed to finish the Port, and Starboard which means the front half of this yak is stripped out!

And Kevin, these next 2 pics are for you, sorry I couldn’t get a video of water playing in front of your yak, but this is what your view will be when you paddle your yak

04/30/09  I started the infill of the White Cedar, and today completed the front Port section.  By following the sheerline, it makes the center stripe stand out that much more.

4/29/09  Well, I am at the point with this yak that I can post in two columns at the same time.  When I have glued up several strips on the deck, I just flip her over and work on the fairing of the hull.

I have the center stripe, along with the two skinny white cedar stripes running down the middle.  I have learned a valuable lesson with this pattern… with curves, you really can’t tell if you are off just a little, but with straight lines, you can see if they are off from a mile away.

With my shop helpers (pic above) approval, we staggered the connections between the center and the shear.  The cool looking thing is that the center strip of padauk lines up with the padauk stems.

On the starboard side I have all the red cedar and accent stripes done, I just have to fill in with white cedar now.  The port side is not as far.

Does the use of clamps ever end????

Written by KayakPeg

After a long time waiting our friends Sean and Jeff decided to it was time to get back in the game and start offering kayak trips. On June 20^th, 2009, at the Chassahowitzka River at 10:10am, the guys along with 9 ½ paddlers, were in the water and the inaugural Liquid Rhythm paddle was underway. 

It was our pleasure to support the guys on their first trip out and it was great to see a nice turn out and familiar faces; Bruce and Gloria, Red, Kathy, Dean, Kev and myself. And new faces, Sharon, who is a friend of Kathy’s and lives in Hudson, Lorrin and her 4yr old son Nickolas (this was our ½ paddler), they live in Valrico and when looking to buy some kayak gear landed on Kevin’s site, where he informed her of the paddle. 

The Chassahowitzka River is a nice river to paddle, pristine and spring feed, which means it is great for cooling off on a hot day, and it was a hot day. Luckily we did have a little breeze and some cloud cover. We paddled back to the “Crack” a spring that is a great place to swim and cool off. You can paddle back so far, and then you have to walk about 100 feet in the narrow stream, but well worth it. Red, Kathy, Sharon, Bruce and Gloria decided not to paddle back with the rest of us and paddled about until we cooled off in the water and caught up with them.

 There were lots of canoes and kayakers out on the river and lots of boat traffic to keep an eye out for. I would say half were courtesy and slowed down when they approached paddlers and the other half flew by creating a strong wake. This is a little unsettling to the novice paddlers, but the rest of us take it in stride and will play with the waves they create.

 The wildlife was out and about, all but the Otters, which we heard had been playing in the river the day before, but I did not see any. I saw a beautiful big blue heron, egret, a blue crab, lots of big fish, then when we came back in up by the boat ramp was a small alligator. The small ones do not bother me, but I know momma has to be around somewhere.

The guys gave us a nice tour of the Chas, and with the tour you get two very experience tour guides. Both have a great wealth of knowledge of nature, water and paddling. They give their customer personalize attention, and will keep the paddle going as long as the customers like. They also provide lunch, which this time was fried chicken, potato salad and cole slaw, all delicious and home made by Sean and his wonderful wife Shelly. Oh, and did I mention they are very entertaining?  Yes, you will laugh a lot with these two guys around.

 All in all I would say it was a successful first trip for Liquid Rhythm, with more to come. Check out their website to find information on future trips. Come out and join us in play.   http://liquidrhythmkayaking.com/Trips.html

Here are a few more pictures from the day:

The Seahorse...so pretty!

How I spent my summer vacation…

Last Thursday I was talking with Darry Jackson and he was talking about helping some kids in a “Summer Camp”  I replied about how that sounded like fun and if he ever needed help to let me know.  From the smile on his face I knew I was in trouble, and it was confirmed when he said he would meet me tomorrow at 10am at Bay Pines Kayak launch.

Friday morning I arrived and was pleased to meet a Miss Rhegan Hyypio (the councilor) and a Great group of kids all from Country Day School in Seminole.  When the kids showed up, they pick which yaks they wanted to paddle and then worked together to carry them to the water.  It was nice to see a team at work.

When we launched, we headed over to a little spoil island a short distance away.  I was impressed how well the kids stayed together and paddled as a group with no whinning or complaints.  When we hit the waves of a boat wake I expected fear, but all I heard was laughter and cries for more… then I knew we had some natural paddlers with us.  When we reached the spoil, everyone got out and went for a short walk…

and when they got done everyone jumped into the water for a quick swim

and a group photo Left to Right are;  Amanda, Rhegan, Allen, Trevor, Logan, Tony,Renadall, Jake, Sarah, and Nadine.  Thanks kids. 

And then back in our yaks for some more paddling.

and when some of the kids figured out how to splash others with their paddle, I passed my pump over to one of the kids showing what a water cannon it can be… who me???  An instigator???

As we were nearing lunch time it was time to head back.  Along the way Darry showed one of the kids how to mix Bronc riding with kayaking

Close to shore there were a couple of kids that decided it was time to get me wet.  And as I practised my bracing in trying to resist, they succeeded in flipping my yak and dumping me in the water.  And as I am scrambling to collect my gear as it is floating by, the laughter I heard from those kids was the sweetist music I have ever heard.

I hope Darry will ask me to help him again when he does this.  And I want to thank everyone that was there for a great day on the water.