Category: Trip Reports Page 33 of 77

My Team Boat has finally arrived. After what seemed like 4 long months the wait was so worth it. I couldn’t be happier with this kayak. It stills boggles me how kayaks can be made to this degree of perfection. I opted for the custom bulkhead for more room in the front hatch and a foot pump installed. The pump works flawlessly and I have loads of room for camping. I took it for its maiden voyage this morning while babying my strained tri-cep and while it was killing me to keep from rolling I loved just looking at her lines in the water.

P&H has been a dream to work with and I can not wait to get this boat into some real conditions. The craftsmanship is second to none and everyone who has looked at has been drooling away. If you get the opportunity to paddle one or better yet order one for yourself I urge you to go for it!

Now that the days are starting to get a little longer, I thought I’d take my Cetus LV on a long day out.

I launched in the dark…

…and nearly thirteen hours later, I landed in the dark. In between I paddled round the Isle of Wight, a distance of 92km. The Cetus LV was fast, and most importantly after such a long paddle it was still comfortable. I love it!

Two more new team members here – Donna & Don Thompson, from St Petersburg, FL. We’ve been anxiously awaiting our new team kayaks, which arrived during our show schedule at the Florida State Fair. We were scheduled for 9 shows, but added on and did 15 shows.

On the last day the sun came out, the temps reached into the low 60s and the wind was above 18 knots. What a great day!

I had been watching the Olympics on TV and noticed how the skiers always held their skies up for the pictures after each run. I sensed a photo opportunity there at the fair, and decided to do the same thing to show off our Scorpios. Donna went along with the idea, and with the help of a quite stout friend, we were ready.

Don & Donna posing like Olympic skiers.

If you look carefully you will see parts of a large man hiding behind Donna’s kayak. Being quite windy, he was there to save anyone who might be in the landing zone should a gust of wind knock the kayak away from Donna. Little did he know, that Donna is more stable than I am. He should have been behind my kayak.

Getting set for "the shot".

Snow skiers don’t have to work this hard for their photo. Notice the flags blowing out straight. The wind was so strong (how strong was it?) that the camera person couldn’t even keep the camera level.

The Baltic sea is freezing and melting here by turns. That leaves the shore pretty interesting at places:

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