Alder Creek Paddle Festival
Yesterday I got into a kayak for the first time in over twenty-five years. What a difference in the sport. Last time I was in a kayak they were all made of fiberglass and the short ones were about 14 feet long. Now they're made of plastic, carbon fiber, fiberglass, wood, abs, and other materials. The kayaks that I'm interested in learning how to paddle are playboats and creekboats which are primarily made of plastic and are considerably shorter than 14 feet. Here's an example of a playboat in action. Don Grail on the Colorado river last May paddling a Jackson Fun kayak
The boats that I tried out were a Dagger Mamba creekboat
which has a rounded bottom for sliding over rocks easily, a Jackson 4Fun playboat
, a Liquidlogic Biscuit 65 playboat
, and a Tempest sea kayak.
After paddling the different kayaks I decided to try out a paddle board. A paddle board is a large stable surfboard that you stand up on and paddle with a long paddle. It takes a lot of balance, but they're quite fun. I was doing really well until I went over a log in the river. I didn't expect it. It wasn't sticking up enough to make a ripple in the surface of the water and it just barely bumped the surfboard's fin. I lost my balance and went for a cool spring swim.
