Kayaking – what else do you expect

So, what’s new with Matt:

Kayaking – the last two weekends have been committed to kayaking. Two weekends ago I went to up Cheboygan for an Instructor Certification Evaluation with the same group of folks who sponsored the IDW I mentioned a month or so ago. Half the expected participants dropped from the class, so instead of having two instructors and eight students we had two instructors and four students. This was nice for us, but ended up costing the club more than it otherwise could have for the three days.

The weekend went well overall. I discovered that rescues in waves really are harder than on flat water. I discovered that I don’t know as much as I should about navigation. I rediscovered that I get very nervous when teaching. But, despite all this, I did achieve a Basic Coastal certification – which was the highest we could get given that we didn’t have conditions of 3 foot waves or greater. Now to see how much I use it – I am signed up to teach two classes here (Lansing) on behalf of the LAWWP once the school year starts.

Last weekend was the Great Lakes Sea Kayaking Symposium in Grand Marais. We headed up late on Wednesday night. Oddly I didn’t end up driving the end shift – which is usually about the time D falls asleep mid-sentence. Todd got D and I integrated into the instructor system up there, so I guess we had instructor status even though we still paid to go this year. Doug took a little more advantage of his ‘yellow hat’ than did I, but that surprises no-one.

Probably the most exciting part of the symposium was the surf that was driving up by the North wind on Thursday afternoon. There was an impromptu ‘class’ which C, D and I participated in. It was grand fun, but not much of a class. More just sporadic tips from instructors. Nearing the end of the time there were five of us out there and no instructors (except unofficially D and me) which had to be an amazing liability risk.

Friday was the cruise along pictured rocks, which was beautiful as expected. Lake Superior was a little choppier than in previous years, but not bad and the weather was good unlike last year. Saturday was class day, but I ended up not doing any on-the-water classes, instead opting for expedition planning, kayak photography and Michael Gray’s cooking demo in between. There was one slot for on the water classes at the end but, as I told Callum, I wasn’t really interested in having someone tell me what I was doing wrong at that time.

Saturday night was drinking at the Lake Superior Brewing Company. I exercised a bit more restraint this year and only had 4-5 drinks, rather than getting shit faced and going down to the beach until 4:30 in the morning.

Living – I should be moving toward GR soon. I am in theory out of my current place on the first of August. I say in theory, because I haven’t really found a new place to live yet. I have an aunt and uncle near Alticor who have offered to let me reside at their place for a while.

I would like to acquire a house in that area, since I have too much junk to keep in an apartment and I’d like to not just pay hundreds of dollars per month to some unknown entity. This of course requires finding a house I like and getting a loan (or becoming magically rich). I could get an apartment and storage unit as a temporary solution. I could also stay with my aunt & uncle, but I see that as a temporary solution which is really only useful if I can find a house I like before winter – otherwise it’s just an extra jump in the moving.

Vehicles – my jeep was having undamped oscillations somewhere in its chassis. So, my Dad is seeing if they’re fixable right now. Fortunately, I have Michael’s jeep at the moment for kayak and stuff hauling.