I'm the one that likes red so much.
Here's the deal: I wouldn't have been there, in that screaming red kayak, 4 miles off shore, with my most amazing and talented kayaking buddy, if it weren't for all of you here on BWE.
Seriously.
I'm at 36,000 feet, winging towards Seattle for 3 days of diving in Puget Sound, looking at these pictures posted on BWE.... thinking, "Not without you guys."
I was paddling a barge of a 'yak...just a horrible thing... until I paddled with Ken at LJS and experienced the worst boat envy in history.
Ken's boat: good (a real kayak.)
Chica's boat: bad. awful. hideous. slow. noisy.
The hunt for a better boat began... and Ken tipped me off to BWE immediately. "I know you don't fish, but there is NO WHERE on the web where you will learn more, from the real FHC kayakers of the west coast, than you will learn on BWE. These guys are the real deal."
So I went to school on what you all have to share.
PFD always on.
Hand-held bilge pump within reach.
Spare paddle packed at all times.
Marine radio, clipped to my PFD.. and know how to use it.
Vortex whistle attached to my PFD.
Real paddles.
Compass.
Water-proof lights in the dry-bag in case I'm stuck after dark.
Light-weight paddle leash, but never attached in the surf zone.
Ken and I talked about this stuff constantly.
You all do the most extraordinary stuff with simple gear and hard-won knowledge.
And you teach each other what each of you has learned.
So I changed nearly everything.
New boat, new paddles, PFD that fits, truckload of new skills, blah blah blah.
Suddenly I was heading farther off shore with realistic confidence.
Radio checks with the Harbor Master.
A plan in my head for fit-hitting-the-shan moments, if they should happen.
And I began having more fun than I could have imagined on top of the water.
So... when the Blue Whales appeared off shore, I was ready.
I saw the spouts from shore as I was running stairs, and I turned on a dime and raced home.
39 minutes later I was launching the 'yak, with all the safety gear assembled and stowed on autopilot, and I was blasting out of the harbor as fast as the Werners could shoot me.
Two days later, Ken and I bolted for the horizon and he shot all the amazing pictures posted here.
I would never have been able to be there without all that I learned here on BWE from all you generous FHC paddlers... and my amazing buddy.
"Thanks" doesn't begin to cover it.
~~~~~~
Claudette