I didn't want to steal Scott's thunder, try to compete ('cause I can't... those pics are beautiful!), or take his thread off-topic and run with it. It just ain't polite, so here's another thread.

The day started out with my driving the wife and her running buddies over to Utica NY for the Boilermaker 15K run. She didn't PR (running slang for Personal Record), but she ran all 15K, so I'm proud of her. Besides, the Saranac Brewing company handed out free beer after the race. Few of the runners in our little group actually drink beer, so I got to have most of it. A man ought to celebrate and support his friends, so I took one for the team and drank the beer for them. Such sacrifices a man has to make... *grin*

So when we got home this afternoon, the wife was pretty tuckered. She napped. I loaded the kayak on top of the Tribeca, ensuring that the coaming sat securely on the roof rack without cracking my keelson *shameless grin*. I recently discovered a put-in on the Mohawk river that's quite a bit closer to my house than the Lock 7 launch... oddly enough, there's a paddle/boating shop right next door called the "Boat House". For a such a built-up location, it was pretty quiet for a Sunday afternoon.

I paddled three miles out, three miles back! There's my PR for the day. My arms, shoulders, and back are all a little achy. Not so sore that I don't want to move, no sharp specific pains, but a nice general ache. I take that to mean I'm at least getting in the right direction with my forward stroke, engaging more muscles than just my arms.

Had one guy in a plastic rec boat with a EP ask about my GPs (one in my hands, one on the fore deck as a spare) on the way out. I told him they were Greenland paddles: carved from 2x4s, the most expensive blank was $30, and took a day or two to carve. That peaked his interest, so I told him to Google "Make your own Greenland paddle". If that doesn't get the bug biting him, I don't know what will.

On my way back, he was still paddling with his significant other (wife/girlfriend/etc), just relaxing with the current. He mentioned that I was making pretty good progress with "that little stick". One comment led to another, and I was pointing out my home made kayak and giving out references to YostWerks.com and these forums. I'm starting to think we need more GPs and home built kayaks in the area... the more common they are, the less questions will be asked, and the less time I have to account for when the wife wants to know why I'm late paddling back.

Beyond that, I've also learned that power boaters on the weekend like to make wakes. They'll follow those "No Wake" signs when going past a marina, but not so much when passing the "dock for muscle powered boats" (as the Niskayuna Crew sign refers to them). They don't care too much about slowing down when they're passing out on the river, either. On a weekday, it seems the more regular water borne folk are out who have a little more respect for the paddlers. Those weekend boaters come out, and all they wanna do is have fun, regardless of someone else's hassle. I won't even talk about the jet skier who'd go up and down the river, making S turns whenever he passed by me like I didn't notice... not that his lack of tonnage made any significant wake, anyway.

So I got in plenty of practice dealing with boat wakes. It doesn't seem like much to worry about from a safety standpoint. I can point the 'yak into the wave and ride it out with minimal disturbance, or I can simply stop paddling and rock my hips back and forth while the wave passes broadside. Not a big deal.

Not so much when I try to keep paddling, though. I hope ocean waves are different than boat wakes, in that the wavelength/period is much longer in the ocean waves. With the boat waves, I found it annoying trying to paddle while the wave was passing under the boat. Not really difficult, but annoying, and more a matter of timing the stroke right and managing the paddle so the wave didn't leave my blade out of the water.

On my way back, though, I found ran into some waves hitting the rear quarter of my kayak... those weren't fun, really. They'd push the stern one way, raise the boat a second or two later, then drop me and pass by the bow, sucking it in another direction. I tried to compensate, just for the next wave to hit the stern as I was trying to compensate for the movement of the bow. It felt like the boat would just settle in and wallow when the wake hit. I'm glad only a few waves "in the set" would be generated by the passing boat's wake. They'd hit quickly enough that it was just a pain to try to paddle... much easier to simply sit back and watch them go by while I rocked the boat in time with them.

Assuming this general ache doesn't turn into a "I don't wanna move, make the world go away" soreness tomorrow, I can't wait to hit the water again! I suppose all of the above might just be a general paddle on the water, but it was fun for this neophyte.