unseen pictures from alaska

the local beer is good

and now I know why

Remembering this helps me keep cool in the heat.

How did those Eskimos ever learn to catch these seals?

Just whats needed with a good Scotch

Simple elegance

Looks good enough to eat.
Pictures taken by myself, Racheli and Zvika.

how to avoid a surfing accident

Thursdays lessons at 5.30 are the most frustrating for me. Fact is I am supposed to be at work till 6, but how is one supposed to concentrate on work when you know that there is a kayak lesson taking place and your whole being wants to be there.
Yesterday I  hung a sign on the door....gone fishing ... and ran to the beach

Lesson of the day was skulling for support, moving your boat sideways with a vertical stroke, hanging draw and rolling.

The only downside to Thursdays late afternoon session is that on Friday morning  my clothing and equipment is still wet.
 The sea was a bit rougher today, good for rescue practice and surfing 

Now you can see how all those skill come together, moving you boat in position for a fast rescue you need to be able to go in all directions, sometimes forwards, backwards and sideways all at the same time.
Practice practice practice.

And then we played in the waves

Surfing is a lot of fun, but you need to take care. A  kayak swept by a wave crashing into you can cause a lot of damage, so the rule is one kayak to a wave, wear a helmet and be aware of whats going on around you. In no time at all you can be heading for a collision.

  If your instincts have been honed you can roll at the last moment to avoid a crash and in fact that is what should have happened in the above picture. If both had rolled before impact it would have been much better, as it was nothing happened this time.
 Lucky optimists.

what a heatwave

Its been hot hot hot lately and even on the water there`s little relief.

Nevertheless we still go out and paddle round our favourite sites, and just to make it more interesting we challenge ourselves by going through the rocks and reefs.

When the seas are a bit choppy its more fun and more of an adventure.

On the other hand the end of the day is always dramatic as the sun sets over the horizon and we pack up to go home to our airconditioned houses.

The end of a good day.

advanced hand rolling classes

      Watching the greats like Freya doing the Greenland rolls makes it look easy as pie, but when you get in the kayak and begin to try  then you find out that its not as easy as it looks.
It is a lot of fun trying  and eventually we get it right
. I can see that I need more flexibility and to get my back on the back deck...ha ha ha
 

11 to 16kn wind

Here is a picture of our beach taken by Vered from a Helicopter, this is where we begin all our outings. You can see the Kibbutz in the background. The next picture is of Jassez A Zarka, an Arab fishing village about 6 or so km north, it takes about 45 min to an hour to get there.

This morning the sea was flat as a pancake with not a breath of wind, we paddled to Jasser a Zarka and back in no time at all, and it was hot. We are in the middle of a heat wave , its hot and  humid, even out on the water.

This afternoon was a different story altogether. Winds gusting from 11 to 16 knots made the going tough. We went out against the wind, North that is, and paddled for an hour, I was with Moriah and Aya, and we didn`t even get to the port of Caserea.

We turned for home and made the trip in 15 minutes flat .

The boys on the other hand,  Eyal, Regezv,Roded, Amichai and Motti, went past the port to the big dune, took them one hour and 20 minutes, but the homeward leg took all of 20 minutes.

As you can see we had to share the sea with millions of windsurfers and kite surfers which made our getting out and back a bit of a hairy experience.