Happiness is a Warm Puppy - 24/5/2008

Just arriving to New Jersey on Friday meant that Saturday was jetlag day. After a rousing game of fetch and shred the stick with MacCool, I went with my parents to Bel Haven Paddlesports, which is their local outfitter. They were having a demo day, which meant lots of boats to try and other deals to be had.

I tried two Necky sea kayaks and loved them both. The Chatam 17 felt a tiny bit too big for me, but it tracked really well, even with the wind. It was easy to put it on edge, though I struggled sometimes to keep it there. I wonder if the Chatam 16 would fit me better. The outfitting was very comfortable and the boat felt perfect in width. Next to try was the Eliza, a women's specific design. It, too, felt great in the water. It has a rudder instead of a skeg, which feels a bit too much like cheating to me. I never put the rudder down because I was halfway into the lake before thinking about it and then discovering that the lock was still in place. Sideways in the wind was no problem.

The Eliza comes in an ultralight fibreglass composite design as well. That boat looks perfect. It's narrower than plastic version and has a skeg instead of rudder. Weighing in at a mere 19.5kg, it looks like I can carry it myself. Price difference? $1250 for the plastic version and $2300 for the glass boat. Is it worth the difference? Probably, but I didn't think it wise to fall in love with the glass boat when neither one fits the budget at the moment.

We had lunch at the demo day and did the obligatory gear shop. Mom is getting Anna Levesque's Recreational Kayaking for Women DVD for her birthday from my dad tomorrow. She thinks he bought an idiots over waterfalls DVD like he was looking for, to entertain his students at school. Just like she thought I was most likely coming in July not now.

Jetlag kicked in as we rolled up the driveway. Parents left for somewhere, leaving MacCool and me to commune over laps and fetch/destroy the stick games in the back yard. His recently mowed lawn meant sticks were hard to come by and destroyed in one bite. Constantly smaller sticks were being thrown across the yard and eventually they became too small for his eyes to see.

MacCool celebrates his 11th birthday today. Happiness is a warm puppy. As I blog, an occasionally snoring and occasionally restless puppy keeps me company. Even at 11, he can't sit still for long.

Mom paddled a Wilderness Systems Tsunami, a slightly larger model than the boat she has on order. The wind tried to remove her hat just as I took the picture.

Dad liked the Necky Chatam 17, which was my favourite boat of the day.

A flatwater air brace is as effective as its whitewater counterpart.

I told MacCool to sit at the bottom of the stairs, which he obliged. Then I told him to stay. He obliged for a minute. As soon as I was out of sight, he climbed the stairs cautiously. I caught him with his guilty face on as he was halfway up the stairs and immediately his tail began wagging. The original video is grainy but clear enough to see the guilty face. I am not sure blogger's compressed version is going to be as good, but the wagging tail behind the guilty face should still be clear.

MacCool scratches an itch.

MacCool takes a break from fetch the stick, to break the stick.

New Jersey - 12/2007

When we weren't gallivanting around Nashville, Philadelphia and New York, we spent some quality time with my family and especially my sweet little puppy in the burbs of New Jersey. Brian and my puppy played epic games of fetch the stick in his yard, where my dog savaged him with slobber. Indoors, MacCool was more interested in trying to kiss Brian's scruffy chin. In addition to quality puppy and family time, we saw Will Smith frolic with the zombies in New York in I am Legend. And we spent way too much time in a car on Christmas to share the flu with my extended family.