The object is to present basic information on piloting to a group of beginners in 10 minutes or less. So you have to cover a lot of information in 10 minutes, but not get to far into the weeds.

I use power point every day at work, so this seemed a good way of measuring my time, one slide per minute. Ask questions and get the group involved.

Personally I was challenged by the objective to present tides for sea kayakers within a 10 minute time limit. But I endeavoured with the help, or hindrance depending on your view point of Microsoft PowerPoint to use the slides to keep me to 1:00 minute per slide and cover the topic in as much detail as possible.

The main feedback I got from this method was that it is clearly too talky and does not offer much of an opportunity for student interaction. I agree with this assessment and would in the future most likely try to do some hands on visualization of the rule of twelfths involving containers and water that would illustrate rather than narrate the key points. However I did have a cool logo, and lots of info for the student to walk away with.

I hope to present a series of posts on the experience of going through the IDW/ICE process that might prove helpful to other paddlers considering this as a development option.
It was a challenging and enriching experience that I won’t soon forget.

I began my IDW/ICE process earlier this month, hence why I haven’t posted in a while and why John Fleming has thankfully filled in as editor in chief! This process absorbed a lot of my time and energy. Luckily my family, my job, and even the dog was behind me in achieving this goal. A BIG BIG thank you should be stated right up front to the Bloyd-Peshkins of Have Kayaks Will travel for their hospitality and generosity. I stayed with Alec and Sharon each weekend. I would return to Oak Park every evening exhausted to gourmet home cooking, a place to dry my gear and eat them out of house and home. More importantly I had two talented and like-minded paddlers who had been through the experience to sound ideas, advice and share information with. They fielded many slightly panicky phone calls from me about the challenges and urged me on towards the finish. Their wealth of knowledge, enthusiasm and positivity sustained me during what I consider to be a fairly serious milestone for me as a person and a paddler. The challenges of juggling, work, family and this certification effort were made far easier and far more fun by having them in my life.

Never underestimate the power of the paddling community to support and sustain one another. Often we critique each others decisions, viewpoints, personal relationships and skills without calling attention to the virtual, if not literal river of generosity and good will that pours forth uninhibited on a regular basis.

Derrick Mayoleth and I have both commented on the fact that the paddling community is a bit unusual. What other group of people meets someone once at an event and then a week later calls near perfect strangers up on the phone to invite themselves to stay for days/weeks of paddling and not have it be a bit weird? I struggle for analogy in this department. I played soccer with a lot of different people for a long time, we tend not crash at each other’s houses or call to discuss the sport much. Funny…

Anyhoo, looking forward to getting out on the water, and unfortunately getting into the pool. Thus is life in Michigan.

Flotnar 4th Annual Ice paddle on Lake Michigan in South Haven

We loaded our sea kayaks up at the Black River DNR boat launch. The dredger was digging up mud for the powerboats to have a deeper draft through the channel. Jim and I quickly passed through the channel and then were astonished to see the ice had formed a narrow band between open Lake, and the ice cliffs.

The ice blocked us from viewing the cliffs up close, pancake pack ice was solid to the shore about two-three hundred yards out. There was also a moving ice debris field that was on the open lake and drifting in. We had no where to go. We pushed our sea kayaks through some brash ice to paddle in what looked like a little ice pond that was a quarter mile long and 500 yards wide. We did find some spots on the south side of the pier where i could get out and take some pictures.

Jim and I performed a few eskimo rolls in the river mouth and paddled back in. Despite being defeated by the ice, it was a short bright sunny day. I am continually astonished at how different the ice can be each spring. In my first years out on the Lake 2003-2004 the ice was very high and dramatic, but it was easy to get out through the river and then very close to 20-30 foot ice cliffs.

Our winter was especially long and cold this year with more snow than usual. This provided a more confined paddle, but fun nonetheless. What I always like is the feeling that if one didn’t know they were looking at Lake Michigan, you could almost feel it was Greenland, or Baffin Island. The dynamic nature of Lake Michigan for sea kayaking, and surf kayaking continues to entice and deliver. My thanks to Jim.

I was running last night in the dark. Led only by the dim blue glow of my headlamp my shoes crunched noisily into the snow. It was the kind of crunch that is painful to hear, because it is like stepping on dry chalk. I tried to run fast to warm up. I could feel my nose go numb within half a mile. After a mile, thick encasements of ice wrapped around my beard. Subtle movements of my face would shake a miniature snowstorm down the front of my jacket. I rounded back towards the car at 2.5 miles. My buns were starting to chill, literally freezing my arse off! The fact that they have limited range of movement in running my body probably decided my brain and my other core organs needed more blood than my buns. I spotted a light coming toward me on the trail. Two homeless guys on bikes. As I ran past one of them shouted, “you’re crazy!!!” I didn’t have a proper response ready to reparte with them, as this was the coldest night of winter thus far hitting -20 with wind-chill in Kalamazoo. I replied back that I was too stupid to know better. I know I have a problem, but I was enjoying myself.

In winter is everything relative? Someone on paddling.net asked, “How thick is your ice?”

Is the thickness relative to the layers of Dante’s L’Inferno? Am I in hell and I just don’t know it?

The above pic is the current state of my paddling opportunities. So one can see why I have turned to skiing and running. It’s just not happening.