If you said, "Bobby Darin, 1958," you are no spring chicken, and you get 50 bonus points. If you said, "Also covered by Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby," you get an additional 20 bonus points. If you asked, "Jim, did you get out on the water today?" that's a big 10-4, good buddy.
After having that delicious BBQ lupper, I took the little electric scooter to drop of trash and pick up mail. When I was putting away the scooter, two young ladies went by in a kayak in our canal. It got me thinking. I know, that is something I don't do that often. I went back into the house, Joan looked at me and said, "You're thinking about something, aren't you?"
See, I told you it is out of character for me. It was about 3:30 in the afternoon, and I told her, "I am giving some consideration to checking into maybe thinking about getting the kayak out. I know it will be a lot of work for a short outing, but it is absolutely gorgeous out there right now." I didn't have to tell her that last part - she spent some time out on the deck this afternoon while I was out on the scoot.
She said, "You're going to need some help, so let's go do it now."
I haven't used the Hobie kayak since before my hip surgery. The movement to pedal that goes against the movements I was told to avoid to protect the hip. On the bright side, I have lubed and adjusted the mechanism on the kayak during that hiatus. It took the two of us to get it out of the storage area under the house. I checked the pedal assembly, the rudder up/down, and the steering - all seems good.
We put it in the water, and from the dock I put the Mirage Drive (the pedals) in place and strapped on the paddle. Then, tenderly lowered myself into it... yep, that is a position I haven't been in for years. Some equate it to pedaling a bicycle... they would be wrong. I assured Joan that I would only go to the end of the canal and back (less than a half mile) and take it easy while doing that.
You are right down on the water in this kayak...
I did a few circles in the canal right in front of our dock; if I was going to hurt myself, I didn't want to get too far away. I could tell that I'd be feeling it later, but it felt like muscles working rather than joints coming apart. So, that's a good thing.
I pedaled off down the canal. Slowly. But, steady. At the end of our canal, I did a U-turn and headed for home, with the slight breeze at my back. Joan took some photos as I headed for home...
I pulled up to our dock; Joan was waiting there to take lines. I handed her up the pedals, the paddle, my hat and PFD. Now, to figure out how I'd get myself up onto the dock without messing up any body parts. I had her run a dock line we had on there around one of the vertical posts and I used that to balance myself until I could flop my upper body onto the dock; it wasn't elegant, but it was relatively pain-free. We hauled the kayak up onto our dock where I could rinse it all off with fresh water. I put the pedals and paddle away and attached a locking cable through the kayak and the dock railing.
We'll see how achy I am tomorrow. For now, some ibuprofen and an ice pack are enough. If I decide to give this another go, I'll have to work up to getting out on the ICW.
2 comments:
Congrats on the kayak. I have never tried a pedal version like that Hobie. We have sea kayaks and mostly do flat water, but I've run a few mild rivers too. Or at least we used to. There have been many kayaking adventures along the Northern California coast, in Alaska, and a few here in Idaho too.
Since my major shoulder injury and rotator cuff repair surgery almost three years ago, and my knee replacements five years ago, it is not clear that I can kayak any longer. I can probably paddle OK, but bracing on the right side might hurt my shoulder. Getting back up out of the boat would mostly require flipping it over and crawling up onto the shore - not very dignified. (My bionic knees really do not like weight bearing at bends greater than 90°). I just cannot quite bring myself to sell them off yet and close that chapter. Maybe by next spring I will yield to the inevitable. [sad face]
I get it, Earl. I wasn't sure I'd be able to pedal this kayak around, but it was time to find out. I had put both kayaks up for sale two years ago; only had one person interested and she wasn't willing to pay Hobie prices, even for used. So, they have been sitting. I like the pedal feature of the Hobie; Joan prefers the paddle kind. We used them quite a bit in previous travels, but then that gimpy hip put a damper on that. It remains to be seen if I'll find the time to kayak much.
Hope you two have a nice Thanksgiving!
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