Sevylor Tahiti is most everyone's first IK, tho they're coloured
yellow and the one in the photo wasn't, as I recall. It was my first,
too. Mostly I was on my Sea Eagle 380SX later on. I had it all over,
in the Atlantic off the coasts of Brooklyn and Long Island, in the LI
Sound, in lakes and ponds and rivers. Yes, the weak point of IK's is
the wind, but I lived in an apartment so I could easily store and
transport my boat. I even used to put it into my backpack, and tump
line it through the woods to nice lakes all my own, like Rotten Pond
in NJ. I remember one time breaking through the ice to get it into
the middle of that lake. They have some nicer lighter more rigid IK's
now, in case I ever get another one.

I like canoing even better than kayaking. My favorite book is an
account by these two guys who, in the depths of the depression in the
1930's, quit their jobs and bought a cheap beat up 2nd hand canoe and
tossed it in the Hudson River at 42nd Street, and paddled it all the
way up to Nome, Alaska - the longest canoe journey on record. *NY to
Nome* is the name of the book, I think.

From NY to Nome? wow. Through the canal, I presume... Incredible. Did
they write a book? I'd love to read it.

One problem I noticed with my sevylor is that my ass always got wet. At
first I thought it was wind-blown droplets off the paddles but even when I
was real careful I still got wet --- I tried looking for a leak but never
found it. Oh well, it served its purpose well. My necky alsek is a little
small, hence my need to scavenge food in order to stay out more than a few
days, but it's good too --- dual watertight bulkheads and bomb-proof,
submarine-ish hatch covers that would probably stay intact longer than the
hull would resist imploding if submerged. It's poly (plastic), and can be
dragged over rocks and stuff, although it is a little heavy. I'd like to
build my next one with wood strips/epoxy but need a workshop which I don't
have right now.

I'm planning an early season paddle down the Fraser in a couple weeks ---
wish me luck.

"tom" wrote:
[ . . . ]
I'm planning an early season paddle down the Fraser in a couple weeks ---
wish me luck.

Tom, I've been reading your posts with great pleasure. At 73, I don't think
I'll take up kayaking as a new activity!

Good skill and luck!

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!
I've known US vets who served as far back as the Spanish American War. They
are all my heroes! Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not
forgotten. Thanks ! ! ~Semper Fi~

Thanks Nick. Well you know, paddling is an easy activity --- maybe not
kayaking but certainly you could easily handle canoeing. If you can walk,
you can paddle --- as they say.


I'll post a link to the photos I take upon my return, if you're interested
in seeing them.

"tom" wrote:
Thanks Nick. Well you know, paddling is an easy activity --- maybe not
kayaking but certainly you could easily handle canoeing. If you can
walk, you can paddle --- as they say.


Heh heh! I can't walk halfway around the block anymore. ;-D

I'll post a link to the photos I take upon my return, if you're
interested in seeing them.

I'll be watching for more than just pics of the bow of yer kayak. ;-)

Have a great time. Bacon, eggs and pan fried trout sound good to me.
I'm sure you can bring some beer. I used to backpack a six pack while rock
climbing 400' cliffs in the Shawangunks, back in the 50's. Great days!

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!
I've known US vets who served as far back as the Spanish American War. They
are all my heroes! Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not
forgotten. Thanks ! ! ~Semper Fi~

On Apr 3, 11:59*am, "tom" wrote:
From NY to Nome? wow. *Through the canal, I presume... *Incredible. *Did
they write a book? *I'd love to read it.

--- They had planned to make a movie of their amazing adventure, but
nothing ever came of it. I wonder if the film still exists
someplace. The book was not written until the 1980's when the author
interviewed one of the two. I don't know why he didn't interview both
as both were still living at that time. I found the book at a
library sale, but it's available inexpensively via Amazon.

--- On their voyage they read a book about an earlier (1903) canoe
expedition, a winter trip, *Lure of the Labrador*, in which a wrong
turn was made that led to disaster. This book made a big impression
on them as they were afraid of doing the same. I tracked that book
down and read it too. There are some fascinating follow-up books to
that earlier adventure and I intend to get hold of those as well. I
would, though, especially like to learn more about the NY to Nome
expedition - details of their gear, etc.



One problem I noticed with my sevylor is that my ass always got wet. *At
first I thought it was wind-blown droplets off the paddles but even when I
was real careful I still got wet ---


--- The Tahiti is a shallow sort of boat and kind of hard to keep
dry, as I recall. Did you have the , waddyacallit, drip rings on your
paddles to keep water from dribbling down? I managed to stay dry in
my IK's, even using them, as I mentioned, in cold weather. As in
canoes, I didn't use the seats, but sat directly on the floor, thus
keeping the center of gravity much lower and making both boats much
more stable. I'm good at that because I am built like an indian with
a very long upper body, tho this makes me unstable in kayaks that are
too small (like the thing I rented near San Diego last year that I
couldn't even keep upright!).

--- I like IK's. I'm lazy and I can find a quiet backwater and
stretch out in them and take a nap! They're just like a big air
mattress.




I tried looking for a leak but never
found it. *Oh well, it served its purpose well. *My necky alsek is a little
small, hence my need to scavenge food in order to stay out more than a few
days, but it's good too --- dual watertight bulkheads and bomb-proof,
submarine-ish hatch covers that would *probably stay intact longer than the
hull would resist imploding if submerged. *It's poly (plastic), and can be
dragged over rocks and stuff, although it is a little heavy. *I'd like to
build my next one with wood strips/epoxy but need a workshop which I don't
have right now.

I'm planning an early season paddle down the Fraser in a couple weeks --- *
wish me luck.


--- Good luck and happy voyageuring! I envy you for living in the
nothwest, one of the greatest places in the world for sea kayaking.
I miss it.

Yeah, the NW is a great place for a kayker --- absolutely. Although more
and more people every year are coming here to kayak, especially in mid to
north coast regions, there's usually nobody else around, if you can believe
it. I was out for two weeks last year before I even saw another kayaker.
Commercial, large ship and cruise ship traffic through the inside passage
can be heavy at times --- all the traffic from the lower 48 to Alaska
funnels through the inside passage but they never stop and it's just one
path that they follow.

If you know where to look, (and I don't give precise location info to
strangers) there are numerous abandoned indian villages (their population
crashed to 10% of what it was in the pre-contact times) where you can see
piles of skeletons and bentwood cedar boxes made without nails, although
sadly many of the boxes have been stolen by grave robbers, and there are
shell middens everywhere. The middens are what you get after people eat a
bucket of mussels or oysters and throw the shells aside, and after a few
thousand years of this, the pile of shells is waist high and a kilometer
long.

You run into generous fisherman who give you stuff all the time. In fact,
whenever I paddle by a troller I bum fish or some prawns from them or trade
for a beer or something. Like these:
http://ripplewake.ca/tr/ba/img/2765.jpg --- don't they look tasty, eh?

If you don't want to fish, are too lazy to dig geoducks but still want some
seafood, you can simply go to the rocks at low tide and bang off some
mussels as long as you make sure PSP is not a problem. With no people
around, sewage contamination is never a problem. I mix them in with pasta
sometimes like this dish:
http://ripplewake.ca/tr/nootka/img/53_0072.jpg

If you want to see pics of the general area I'm going in a month or so, here
is an excellent online photo album:

http://ripplewake.ca/tr/ba/index.htm

"tom" wrote:
[ . . . ]
If you don't want to fish, are too lazy to dig geoducks but still want
some seafood, you can simply go to the rocks at low tide and bang off
some mussels as long as you make sure PSP is not a problem. With no
people around, sewage contamination is never a problem. I mix them in
with pasta sometimes like this dish:
http://ripplewake.ca/tr/nootka/img/53_0072.jpg

Mmmm. Rottini Cozzi! Lemme at it!!!

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!
I've known US vets who served as far back as the Spanish American War. They
are all my heroes! Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not
forgotten. Thanks ! ! ~Semper Fi~

These guys are delicious beyond description, just watch the spines!
http://ripplewake.ca/tr/hakai/img/0359.jpg

If you're interested, a guy I know just put a photo-journal online of his
recent canoe trip up-coast where I'm going shortly.
I recommond it --- he gives an interesting and entertaining account of his
trip.
Not many kayakers venture to this remote part of the coast, never mind
canoeists!
http://ripplewake.ca/tr/hakai/

What do you think of this, eh Nick?

"tom" wrote:
These guys are delicious beyond description, just watch the spines!
http://ripplewake.ca/tr/hakai/img/0359.jpg

If you're interested, a guy I know just put a photo-journal online of his
recent canoe trip up-coast where I'm going shortly.
I recommond it --- he gives an interesting and entertaining account of
his trip.
Not many kayakers venture to this remote part of the coast, never mind
canoeists!
http://ripplewake.ca/tr/hakai/

What do you think of this, eh Nick?

Thanks. Savored and saved, Tom! What a marvelous travelogue of a wonderful
adventure. Krusty's narrative style made me feel like I was with them. The
photography of these remote areas was par excellence. I particularly liked
the Eagle series.

They sure caught and ate a lot of beautiful looking fish, apparently with
no fear of parasites! ;-D They are edible (Google on jellyfish recipes),
but I doubt that they ate that jellyfish. ;-)

Have a great trip, Tom. I'm looking forward to your Trip Report! Eat my
SPAM if you'd care to email me.

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!
I've known US vets who served as far back as the Spanish American War. They
are all my heroes! Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not
forgotten. Thanks ! ! ~Semper Fi~

"The middens are what you get after people eat a
bucket of mussels or oysters and throw the shells aside, and after a
few
thousand years of this, the pile of shells is waist high and a
kilometer
long. "


I grew up on the northern tip of Manhattan island. When I was a baby
I'd play in the dirt by the shore of Spuyten Duyvil and come across
loads of oyster shells, but there haven't been any oysters there in a
very long time.

Awesome beautiful country and great photos in that album. The sunset
pictures are so beautiful they almost hurt the eyes to look at them.
I read about your encounter with the couger. Never heard of one coming
up to the campfire like taht. So much for animals being afraid of
fire. I had a fairly close encounter with a mountain lion down here in
the desert a couple of years ago.

Actually, the guy who wrote that last trip report at ripplewake.com wasn't
me (I wish it was!), it was a guy named Andrew who goes by the nickname of
"Monster".

All of mine are he
http://picasaweb.google.com/tomfromvan/

I must already have showed you guys this though, no?

Yeah, mountain lion attacks are pretty rare, only like 20 or 30 in all since
europeans arrived, but almost all of them were on Vancouver Island, right
where we paddle from, LOL. When I lived in Port Hardy a small native girl
was killed by one. They brought in a special government cougar-assassin
with a pack of bloodhounds who tracked it down and treed and killed it.

The worrisome thing about cougars is that they are smart. Bears are stupid
in comparison --- if you're going to have trouble with a bear it'll be all
right in your face first, they're not as capable of sneaky, sudden,
from-behind ambushes. Cougars on the other hand are smart enough to use
almost always use the element of surprise --- they'll usually leap on you
without warning from behind. The fisrt indication you'll have is the sound
of something running and jumping behind you, by the time you turn around to
look it's already flying through the air at you. And they know exactly
where to bite you on the neck to effect a lethal injury. But still, cougar
attacks are rare.
This is way off topic, and I suppose the forum admins might shut us down for
going so far off topic with this, but, just out of curiosity --- what was
your encounter with one? You know, I've never even seen one in the bush.
I've seen zillions of bears, mainly black ones, and a wolf once, but never a
cougar.

On Apr 7, 3:04*pm, "tom" wrote:

Cougars on the other hand are smart enough to use
almost always use the element of surprise --- they'll usually leap on you
without warning from behind. *The first indication you'll have is the sound
of something running and jumping behind you, by the time you turn around to
look it's already flying through the air at you. *And they know exactly
where to bite you on the neck to effect a lethal injury.

In the Sierra Nevada's, I was sitting on my bike having a smoke break.
Looking over the valley below. I was at 11,000 ft and there was a big
rock outcropping behind me with several levels going up the side of
it.

I finished my smoke and kicked the bike into gear. Looking into my
rear view mirror, I saw something that will be burned into my brain
for the rest of my life.

A really big Cougar was crouched down on the second level of rock
about 50 feet behind me and it was in the muscle quivering, tensed,
ready to attack position and looking directly at ME.

My hand was already on the throttle and clutch. Instinctively, I
punched it hard.

About twenty pounds of gravel flew at the cat and it jumped down to my
level and made a dash at me. I hit the pavement and was doing about 60
in a couple of seconds. I didn't stop until I was at the bottom of the
hill, about a mile away.

I never, never, never stopped on another pull-over for a smoke. I
waited until I was at a business of some type first.

Same pass, different year....I came over the hill into a HERD of deer.
I saw a patch of light through them, tucked in my elbows and punched
it.

Got through. No hits, no foul, no outs. Slid to a stop in time to see
all of them, (about 20) bounding down the hill away from me.

I was going about 70.

My biking days have been over now for about 20 years.

I like my big van. The mileage sucks, but I feel a lot safer.

On Mar 26, 4:09*pm, "tom" wrote:
I have the good fortune to be going on a kayak trip off Vancouver Island,
BC, and in order to try to stretch out my provisions, I'm planning to
supplement my protein intake by (sal****er-only) fishing --- salmon,
snapper,
rock-cod, geoduck, mussels. *I love sushi and think preparing the catch this
way
would be good --- how much fresher can you get than minutes old? *Rice is
compact
and easy to transport in large quantities.

My question is about parasites --- Health Canada has a lot of extremely
technical info about L2 vs L3 larvae, and their appearance at various larval
stages and simply say that
rock-cod and salmon are liable to infestation, but say nothing about
bivalves.

Our waters are cold year round, 8C --- I understand this is better than the
tropics (for parasites)?

Is there one species of fish that is less susceptible to Anisakiasis?
Snapper? *Rock-cod? *Salmon?
Geo-ducks are plentiful where I'm going --- are they liable to parasite
infestation?

Should I even be worried about Anisakiasis or other parasites?

Any info appreciated ..
Tom

Hi all . . . it has been quite a while since I have been here. I see
Dan is as active as ever.

Recommend you take a look at FDA's Hazards and Controls Guide . . .

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/haccp4c.html

The definitive source when one is searching out sushi materials with/
without biological hazards.

Enjoy.

David Lutjen

wrote:
On Mar 26, 4:09 pm, "tom" wrote:

I have the good fortune to be going on a kayak trip off Vancouver Island,
BC, and in order to try to stretch out my provisions, I'm planning to
supplement my protein intake by (sal****er-only) fishing --- salmon,
snapper,
rock-cod, geoduck, mussels. I love sushi and think preparing the catch this
way
would be good --- how much fresher can you get than minutes old? Rice is
compact
and easy to transport in large quantities.

My question is about parasites --- Health Canada has a lot of extremely
technical info about L2 vs L3 larvae, and their appearance at various larval
stages and simply say that
rock-cod and salmon are liable to infestation, but say nothing about
bivalves.

Our waters are cold year round, 8C --- I understand this is better than the
tropics (for parasites)?

Is there one species of fish that is less susceptible to Anisakiasis?
Snapper? Rock-cod? Salmon?
Geo-ducks are plentiful where I'm going --- are they liable to parasite
infestation?

Should I even be worried about Anisakiasis or other parasites?

Any info appreciated ..
Tom


Hi all . . . it has been quite a while since I have been here. I see
Dan is as active as ever.

DAVID! Welcome back! I was wondering where you had gone.
Hope everything is well.

I'm looking forward to another fishing season, full of fresh tasty fish.

--
Dan