Two Small Steps for Me

I am so proud of myself this evening. I did two things for the first time.

The first is that I finally took my Clearwater kayak out for the first time. I found that, despite my optimism, it was too far to carry my kayak from the house to the river. By Google Maps, it’s 1.1km. So I went back to Ottawa Paddleshack and bought some foam and a tie-down. It’s not very strong, but I only have to drive that short distance, going about 30kmph. It does not need to be able to hold the kayak on my BMW at highway speeds.

So I get to the launch point, carry my kayak and equipment down, put it in the water and carefully get in. No major problems, and off I went. I paddled up stream a little bit, then a distance downstream before heading back. I crossed the river twice. There were lots of boats out with skiers and wake-boarders. I had to ride the waves they were generating.

After an hour, I came back to shore, packed everything up and came home.

I was so excited about this, that I decided I needed to have a picture to remember this evening. So, for the first time ever, I took a self-portrait. It turned out pretty good. I used a tripod to hold the camera, set the camera to a 10-second delay, and set myself in-front of the bedroom window. I set the external flash to balance the light and bounced it off the ceiling, and the result is above. I’m so happy with how well it turned out.