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Fall Kayaking

It’s getting colder and I’ve been thrown off my groove.

Things throwing off my groove: driving down the freeway I hear a thunk and immediately flash back to the day before when my kid, helping me load, said ‘I don’t think I can get this hatch cover all the way on’. I glance back and see something that looks suspiciously like my hatch cover hit the road. I exit, circle back and drive slowly, looking for it… no sign of it. I drive by 2 more times but can’t see/find it anywhere. I go home and try to locate a new hatch cover.

I bring my OTHER (bigger) boat to kayak around Jetty Island. The water is cold but I am determined to try my roll because I don’t want to lose it. I blow the first try, then blow the 2nd try, then blow the third and now I’m swimming. Great. But I’m not going to give up yet – I try a re-entry and roll, blow that the first time, then finally, finally get it on the second try. With some relief I slide the noseplugs off – not realizing that on that last try my glasses slid over my head and now the only thing keeping my glasses with me is the strap on the noseplugs. I drop both into the sea.

Have to call my husband to bring me spare glasses so I can drive and then also need to order a new pair of glasses.

How do I look when I’m NOT off my groove? Here’s me testing out my roll in the bigger (harder to roll) kayak at the beginning of October.

My ‘good side’ roll in Big Red
My offside roll

Not all successful at first – here’s the first time I tried to do a balance brace and realized it’s not as easy to get back upright in this boat as it is in my other boat.

I know I’m going to fail but not sure what to do about it until I fail completely

But I eventually figured out how to fix it.

Much better

So enough of this failed roll shenanigans. I’m signing up for some pool sessions so I can practice without getting cold and without getting cold water in my ears which makes me dizzy.

And my neighbor and ‘noodling’ buddy took me out on the lake early in the morning for some quiet practice and made this wonderful video. The groove is back? Sunrise noodling in Little Red.

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