The search for continuing education

Last summer RonO, TheManFromSnowyLegs, and the BessemerConvivialist completed the IDW and the ICE and were made official ACA instructors. I even did my little part by plying them with venison shish kabobs and beer after a particularly grueling session. Their success and the obvious increase in paddling knowledge made me to decide to do the same thing. Apparently though, their are several people with the same idea who don't procrastinate to the extent that I do. When I attempted to register for the course at Living Adventures in Red Cliff I was told they were full and that I would be put on a waiting list. I had inquired earlier and spoke to both instructors about taking the IDW and then taking the ICE at a later date since I have a long standing commitment the weekend after Labor Day when the ICE is given. Money talks however, and I neglected to come through with the credit card number and was shut out. No problem methinks, I'll just find another instructor course. A call to Nancy at Rutabaga informed me that yes they were holding the classes but they were full also. A quick check of the ACA website revealed a class on Isle Royale the end of June and while the thought of 6 days on Isle Royale quickened my pulse, I have other commitments then,paddle commitments, of course. Rumors of a offering in Ely at Vermillion Community College the end of September are floating around but nothing official on the ACA site as yet.

I suppose as a member of modern society I should come up with someone to blame, picket the ACA, or maybe form a victims group composed of those who were denied continuing kayak education. The sad fact however, is that if I had got off my lazy ass a month or so earlier I would be up on Lake Superior right now. The bright spot in this scenario is that there are lots and lots of people willing to expend time and money to hone their skills and instruct the flood of novice kayakers that are entering the sport. Personally, not being at the instructor class will allow me to attend BjornDahliOfMahtomedi's monumental 5 decade paddle/adult beverage celebration, the VOR's nephews graduation, and then get on a plane to visit No2 son, Lt.O, in Brooklyn tomorrow. I guess a guy has to have 'Plan B' in place at all times. Next year however, I'm all over the instructor plan. Ely, MN is lovely in the fall if that class comes through also. But at that time of year I need to pull my weight at the deer camp so once again options need to be weighed. There does not seem to be a lack of things to do in the Great Lakes region, that much is certain.

City Bridges

Last night I returned to Lake Calhoun, which is kind of the default lake for after work paddling. Its in the heart of Minneapolis, central for city dweller and suburbanite alike, and there is enough scenery (both human and natural) to keep a paddler interested. ISK holds their traditional Wednesday night paddles there. The weather was absolutely perfect last night, 65F (`19C) with a light southeast breeze, minimal humidity and the late May sun shining brightly. In fact it was so comfortable that I just couldn't bring myself to pull the tuliq out of the day hatch and tip over.

Last night for some reason my brain focused on the bridges. We launch at the south end of Lake Calhoun and then head north to Lake of the Isles, through a channel to Cedar Lake, and then through a narrow culvert to Brownie Lake. Not counting the bike trail bridges and the culvert I believe we go under 5 bridges, most of which are fine arch structures, very unlike the 35W bridge which now resides in the Mississippi River and is rapidly being rebuilt. This time of year fisherman line the areas along the bridges and walkers, joggers, cyclists, roller bladers, and every other sort of outdoor propulsion are making their way around the lakes. People are unusually friendly in the spring, most likely because they are giddy to be out in the sunshine in a T-Shirt after being cooped up indoors or surviving outdoors in so much clothing that they can't be readily identified. The bridges are fun, historic, architecturally interesting, and lend a nice additional element to the after work paddle. The Minneapolis skyline is in the background and its really a pretty nice evening paddle. Now if I can only find something else to focus on the next dozen times I paddle the city lakes, life will be good.

Memorial Day 2008

Yesterday many of us celebrated Memorial Day in the US. When I was a kid, Memorial Day was always spent exactly the same way. We would head home from our lake cottage, a two season, outhouse equipped, hand pump your water place that a blue collar worker could afford in the early 60’s, and the Old Man would put on his American Legion uniform and march in the Memorial Day parade. After the parade a wreath would be placed in the cemetery, the Legion 'firing squad' would fire a few volleys and we kids would scramble to pick up the .30-06 brass that was ejected from the World War 1 era -03 Springfields. The vets would head to the Legion Club for a few beers and a Memorial Day lunch and then we’d head for home. I had only a vague idea of what any of these guys, these gruff friends of the Old Man, did in the war but I did know that the older guys were in WW I and the younger ones in WW II or Korea. The older guys were in their mid 60’s at that time and the younger WW II and Korea guys were in their late 30’s and early 40’s.

Today I kind of revived the tradition and headed down to Lakewoods Cemetary to check out the events. There was music and speeches but no 'firing squad' while I was there. The hundreds of flags reminded me of another childhood Memorial Day ritual, that of replacing all the old flags with new ones and sending the old ones off to be properly burned. There were a lot of people in the cemetery but my ploy of sneaking in the back gate was not needed. There were plenty of spots to park. A lot of the people were my age or older, looking for the graves of friends or loved ones and perhaps just reflecting on history as I was.

The page below is from my dads WW II scrapbook that his aunt, my great aunt, Margaret put together while he was overseas. About 20% of Eau Claire County male population was in the military during WW II. Service was pretty much universal and across the board. When I was a kid my doctor, dentist, uncle, great uncle, grandfather, father, godfather, etc., etc., had all been in the military. One of the missing in the clippings on the page was my godfather, another was my high school science teacher. Thankfully both made it back from POW camps in Germany. Some were drafted and some volunteered but it was a duty that cut across socioeconomic and class lines. These days the attitude seems to be that the military is at war and the rest of the country is at the mall. Gas prices has pretty much driven Iraq off the front page and out of peoples minds. Universal service and the draft are not popular in this country but certainly would get more people engaged in the debate, as it did in Vietnam. One of the other items in the scrapbook was a ration stamp book. On the cover it states, “This book is your Government’s assurance of your right to buy your fair share of certain goods made scarce by the war…..If you don’t need it, DON’T BUY IT”. One of the Old Man’s frequent comments was that he hoped that the American Legion would die out someday due to lack of eligible members. Our former Minnesota Governor, the often controversial Jesse Ventura, proposed that as soon as the decision to commit troops was made the draft should be instituted and every one in government with an opportunity to vote on the issue would need to designate which immediate family member would serve. I fear that unless war and the decision to go to war is felt by decision makers and the public emotionally, economically, and personally, that we will continue to plunge into these conflicts. I hope we can break the cycle.

Wood making and Capella rolling

Memorial Day weekends means wood splitting and stacking at CampO and we headed north Friday evening to join in the fun. Since CampO is indeed a true camp and not a modern home that happens to be in the woods, there is no central heat, just a number of wood burning fireplaces and stoves that have a voracious appetite for fuel. The master mind and chief chainsaw operator, the WoodFondlingBarrister, cuts a huge pile of yellow birch, hard maple, oak, and cedar and we peons cut and stack it on Saturday morning with the help of the gas operated log splitter. The division of labor is both rigid and efficient and no mere log stager or pile stacker would presume to take over the GurneyGranny's position of splitter operator. In a short few hours the five and a half face cords were split and stacked, prompting the satisfied smile on the face of the WoodFondlingBarrister, shown leaning on his ski pole a mere six weeks after his rebellious hip was replaced.

As with most CampO events, including the famous Bark Bay Fishing Invitational and the Annual Grouse Slaughter, work is liberally mixed with fun. For this event the Karl O Rohlich Memorial taproom had both Leinenkugels Original and Point "Its not just for breakfast anymore" Bock on tap. I knew that putting the P&H Capella 169 through its paces needed to take place before any tap handles were pulled so I saddled up and headed out into the rapidly warming lake, which had reached a balmy 62F (18C) since the ice went out 3 and a half weeks ago. No ice cream headaches this time like RonO and I suffered when we were rolling a week after ice out.

The P&H Capella with no gear in it is a very tender craft. When noted SKOAC author and raconteur, Bill Newman, paddled RonO's new Nordkapp his first comment was that it was, "diabolical". The Capella seems to be the same and I was glad I had not strapped the Nikon on the front deck as leaning forward to grab the camera would have felt a bit dicey when I first started paddling this craft. Its a fairly quick boat in the carbon/kevlar layup but it took a bit of fiddling with the skeg to get it to track straight in the 10-15mph wind. It knee turns very quickly and readily and from watching GalwayGuy surfing the waves on Superior it seems to be a surfing machine. Secondary stability is rock solid however and I would guess if I threw a bunch of gear in the boat it would be just fine; this is not a beginners kayak however. It did roll very well, and the classic Greenland lay back rolls worked quite nicely on both strong side and off side. I was able to lay back all the way on the deck and moved to the angel and crook of the elbow rolls. These also came around nicely but I went over a few time because either my brain still had not processed the balance thing with this boat or my unwelcome spring head cold has my inner ear screwed up. I'll need to play with that a bit, which is not tough duty now that the outdoor rolling season is in full swing. GalwayGuy did mention that we need to do some outfitting because his right thigh was black and blue for a week. I attributed it to the fact that he was rolling about 4 boats that day for two hours but now my right leg is black and blue and appears that it will be so for about a week. Go figure! It is a very intrigueing kayak and I hope to play around with it a lot more over the summer, if I can pry it away from GalwayGuy. It is significantly lighter and more nimble than my main boat, the Valley Aquanaut HV, affectionately referred to as the ore freighter, but I guess thats why we need so many boats. They all have interesting and endearing characteristics that make them more fun and more focused for different aspects of the sport.

Great Lakes Water Compact

Earlier this month Wisconsin passed the Great Lakes Water Compact, leaving only Pennsylvania and Ohio left to remove their thumbs from their collective posteriors and get it done. Then the Congress needs to ratify it, since its essentially a treaty between Canada and the US, and it becomes law. Or whatever you would like to call it.

As the cartoon cynically suggests, the Compact will hold up until someone really wants the water and has the clout and money to get it. Its very similar to our treaty granting the Black Hills to the Indian tribes 'in perpetuity'. Until gold was discovered, that is. Then the whole damn thing was quickly thrown out the window, but not before an arrogantly over confident Gen. Custer and his hapless 7th Cavalry were buried on a hill in Montana and the tribes were relegated to godforsaken reservations in South Dakota. Would it come to that over water, or would it take gold (or oil) to make people take up arms? Armed confrontations have occurred many times in the parched west but only once east of the Mississippi. On May 8, 1892, a gang of workmen hired by Chicago entrepreneur Mr. McElroy invaded the town of Waukesha, Wisconsin. This gang was intent on laying a pipeline from Waukesha's Hygeia Spring to a suburb of Chicago. They were turned back by the citizens of that city in one of the few (to date) physical confrontations over water east of the Mississippi river. The book that I lifted that passage from is called The Great Lakes Water Wars and the website also has some fine Great Lakes water related links.

I've jumped on this soapbox before and will likely do so again. The idea of Lake Superior water squirting out of some fountain in Las Vegas tends to get me fairly riled up. I just want to do my little part to keep this water issue in peoples minds and keep them alert when challenges, like the guy who wanted to ship tankers full of Lake Superior water to China, come up. We can get by without gold and we could get by without oil, but if we have no water we're dead. Its kind of like when your little sister eats all her Halloween candy and then wants some of yours. You might give her a couple pieces but the lessons of not to be a glutton (or a short term hedonist bastard, as a long ago ex girlfriend referred to me) and that she's not entitled to the candy need to be learned. We also need to be vigilant to make sure our parents (the government) does not order us to give her the candy. All I ask is that we keep our eyes open and cross our fingers that remaining states, Feds, and Canada do the right thing when it comes to ratifying the Great Lakes Compact and protecting our water.