hydration, dehydration and urination for kayakers

.Hydration is vital for seakayakers, everybody needs to drink a lot of water while out on the sea




Of course after a while nature calls and here Hadas demonstrates how to pee at sea. A good friend is needed

Regev had a good friend

Racheli shows a different technique

After a hard days paddling it is recommended to rehydrate as much as possible to avoid dehydration in the morning.
In some places where the weather is not so warm, you may be hampered by drysuites and more clothing. This will be discussed in another blog.



watch a video of the volcano from 2 points of view

how to watch a volcano

The Eolian islands are of volcanic origin, Vulcano and Stromboli are the only active ones in the archipelago, and you can see the fumes coming out of vents in the rock on Vulcano.These are called fumaroles.

Stromboli has 2 towns, one on the southern point called Ginostra, where we spent one night, and the northern town Stromboli where we spent the second and last night before leaving.

From Ginostra you can take a walk along the mountainside to a place called Punta Dei Corvi, its about a 30 minute walk at night and you definitly need a local guide.



Ginostra port



From here you can see the flames spurting out of the main crater about 3km away. For us this was a good introduction into volcano watching. It came after a fantastic meal and lots of drinking, then this slog up the mountain in the dark. The view was a little dissapointing as we had expected a more spectacular sight.

Next morning we paddled from the port of Ginostra round the western side of the island and had our second view of the volcano.

In the day all you see are huge plumes of black smoke belching out of the mountain top,

 then you see rocks bouncing down the slope and splashing into the ocean. We spent about an hour sitting in our boats watching the rocks coming down. I`m sure it must be a fantastic sight at night and if I had known this would have taken a night trip to watch

The third and best way to watch the volcano is to climb the 900m to the top and look down on the firey crater spewing rocks and flames out into the night sky.This is by far the most impressive and well worth the 2 1/2 hour climb.

Heres how we did it

Start by eating an icecream cone for energy

follow your guide out of the village and up the slope

at first its easy

as you get higher the group becomes quieter

at 400m the vegetation begins to change

more sand and rock and less greenery

helping hands are appreciated

up and up  you go

and then you see it, first the single crater on the east

And then 3 more   holes with fire shooting out. Every 15 or so minutes you get a spectacular eruption like a huge fireworks display. The guides only let you stay up there for about 20 to 30 minutes and then its down again.

This was a memorable experience and a great way to end the trip.

an offer you can`t refuse

The Sicilian mob at the beginning of our trip on the Island of Volcano

Volcanic  landscapes

Rounding the headland

Always smiling

some of our group

Fantastic rocky scenery

I have just returned from a fantastic kayak trip to the Aeolian Islands, here are a couple of pictures as a taster, more later when I have had time to sort out and digest the whole experience. Neeedless to say it was a great kayaking trip with The Optimist Kayak Club.

another day on the water at Sdot Yam

Paddling through the rocks this morning with Vered and Yossi

Looking for the challenging passages between the rocks

sometimes you get stuck

I think I now understand the attraction of SUP

Can I do that with my kayak?

decklines, on deck storage and padeyes



Deck lines and elastics are essential for kayak safety and storage on deck, but the padeyes are a pain in the neck. They either are too bulky or hard and can inflict damage when doing rescues.  I began with stainless steel padeyes on my first kayak, then progressed to nylon loops coming out of a hole on the deck. Now I have seen this great idea on the Black Pearl and am trying it out on my new Guillemot Fast Double. Its a small channel joining two holes on the deck,  flush with the deck,  very strong and not to mention waterproof.

Use electric cord to make a loop through the holes on the deck with the loop on the underside of the deck.The epoxy does not stick to the plastic and so you can pull it out easily once the epoxy has hardened, leaving a channel under the deck for you lines or elastics



this is what it looks like under the deck



make a frame of plasticine to hold the "dookie shmuts" in place while it sets



Once its hard you can remove the frame and trim off excess leaving a smallish bump under the deck



Now you can thread lines or elastics through the channel as you like. Make sure to round off the holes opening on the deck and seal it well with epoxy. {I havent done this step yet, for demo only}



And of course my favourite subject, I just love seeing parents bringing their small kids to play in their kayaks. The age when our kids still like to do stuff with us passes too quickly so I say get them in your kayak as soon as you can and maybe the love of it will pass on. 

paddling through the week and kayak building

Love paddling in largish swells

Now you see them now you dont

then we went for a walk to dor beach

today the sea was  flat again

Love our optimist ladies

Izzy is building a stitch and glue Chesapeake kayak

this is inside the hull

Someone to watch over him

A bit of colour gives life to the marine plywood

next stage is the epoxy and fibreglass