Team patagonia practicing

The sms at 6 am said that there is no paddling today due to the strong winds, BUT the Patagonia team was going to practice. So it was a logical choice to join them.Rain and wind do not deter an optimist and when I arrived at the club I found Avital and Ohad there too. Luckily Avital had not got the message. the rain and wind had blown down a tree in the parking lot, luckily no one was parked there at the time. together with team manager Hadas we all went down to the water and the rest is history as you can see in the video. The lesson of the day was surfing and bracing in the surf. Time will tell how much these practice sessions help the team on their trip to Patagonia, but the learning process is a lot of fun.

rough water again

Well we seem to be getting a lot of practice with rough water launching these days. What fun, I dont know why we don`t launch and land and launch and land all morning. Today I managed not to loose anything at all, no sunglasses no hats no nothing. What a great day, and one of these days I am going to find that spot under the sea where all the lost items are hiding. There must be a huge treasure of sunglasses, hats and the like which have been swept overboard , maybe also the odd sock that always seems to get lost in the washing.

another week on the water

Well I thought that my Olympus mu 790 had met its match and rusted out when it suddenly stopped working one day last week. And when talking to others with the same camera came to the conclusion that this is not really a great waterproof camera.Then I decided that maybe I should just try a new battery and lo and behold when I put in the new one it began to work better than before. What a relief. So I still have a little faith in the old Olympus.Others including the famous Silbs and I think also Derrick are using the Pentax Optio. I wonder which is the better of the 2 and how long do they function for. This is my second one , the first packed in after 2 months and was replaced under guarantee. These small cameras are very convienient, small and handy as compared to the larger camera housings , but the housings are probably a better bet for the long run.

keep your head down

The eskimo roll seems impossible to master at first and then one day it all clicks into place and it becomes an effortless dance. In between there is a lot of practice, frustration and many small successes. There are some people who manage to roll at the first try and then there are the rest of us . Mostly its a period of trial trial and trial, with a lot of help from you friends. One thing that I have noticed is the insistance of keeping your head down right to the end when you come out of the water, there is a tendency to throw your head to the opposite side in the hope that this will carry you over. This is a BIG MISTAKE, in fact the opposite is the case. If you can learn to keep your head down, lock your eyes on the paddle blade and stick your ear to your shoulder until youi are upright you will find the roll becomes effortless, but you need help to see yourself. And so I have tried to show the end of the roll in a series of photos, notice where the head is , and what you are looking at, if you are looking down at the water and your paddle then you are on the right track.