I played hooky yesterday and went paddling. With a storm earlier this week a bunch of local rivers came up. I knew that I couldn’t paddle this weekend, so it was now or never.
We paddled the Upper Millers from Royalston to Athol in MA. The canoes outnumbered the kayaks on this trip (6 canoes to 3 kayaks), and my old Encore was feeling a little long-in-the-tooth with all the nice Millbrook boats (1 Blink, 1 Outrage, and 2 Shachos).
The Upper Millers is usually an easy class III. Yesterday the level was a little higher, so I spent most of my time blocking waves and dumping out my boat. Not sure if it is me or the boat (probably both), but the guys in the Millbrooks were hitting the biggest waves, and bailing out their boats with sponges.
That water sure is rowdy. What happened to Kaz? The video ended with him going sideways. Not sure if that was a broach or a fancy way to change direction.
@Rookie said:
That water sure is rowdy. What happened to Kaz? The video ended with him going sideways. Not sure if that was a broach or a fancy way to change direction.
He was fine. He looped around and went in for another ride. He is an amazing paddler.
It was for me - I was dumping out my boat at the end of every rapid. Either those Millbrooks are dry boats, or those guys are better paddlers than me - probably both! A lot of fun - nice to get in some big waves.
Nice Eric, nice skills from Kaz! Playing hooky! I did it all the time when I was working! Had lots of freedom from oversight, I was a sales engineer peddling commercial HVAC equipment. A complex and high pressure occupation. Paddling took the edge off for me. I play hooky everyday now, retirement suits me just fine.
Same here. I had a lot of high stress years alleviated by running, then hiking, then paddling.
After all those years, sometimes it was difficult to adapt without it, then my wife retired! :s
But I got through it. Now it’s playing with grandkids, yard work and paddling.
