I Rolled, I Rolled!

Last night I taught the second half of an introductory kayaking clinic at Erindale Lake (a local suburban pond). After the class I decided to spend a little time out playing on the water. I went through some of the exercises described in the book Sea Kayak Strokes by Doug Alderson (I have access to an online version through the library at my workplace). These exercises had me progressively building the motions to perform a kayak roll, with a paddle float on my paddle throughout. Initially I was in a high brace, then laid on the back deck while in the high brace, then moving my body out beside the kayak, then eventually tipped right over and moving back to the upright high brace position. This progression of movements worked very well for me and allowed me to work toward building these motions into my muscle memory, so that they can hopefully become automatic. The next step was to be completely upside down, then using the paddle (with paddle float) to get back to that upright high brace position, rolling the kayak underneath me using my hips and trying to keep my centre of gravity low and remembering to bring my head up last. Rolling up from completely submerged proved quite easy when done this way, however I was still reliant on the paddle float so was cheating.

I'll be heading out to practice again soon - this time I'll be focussing on reducing the amount of pressure that I'm putting on the paddle float. Hopefully Jay can come out with me and we can work through some of the exercises together. With any luck, after a couple of sessions we'll be rolling our kayaks without the cheat of using the paddle float.

If you have any tips or tricks, please leave me a comment!


See an update at this link!

Saturday Sunset Co-op

Lee over at awholebunchofings.blogspot.com has come up with an interesting idea. He is encouraging paddlers to head out on Saturday evening (or dawn) and photograph the sunset (or sunrise). Paddlers can then send their photos in to him, and he'll post the likely splendorous results.

Lee says:
So here's what I'm askin:

• Spread the word! feel free to copy paste/ link/feed etc this elsewhere!!
• Saturday head out on the water; all day till sunset or 5 minutes prior.
• Take a pic of the bow of your boat and the sunset
• Come home later that night fire me a email with your pic.
• Sunday log in to [Lee's] blog and HOPEFULLY see pics of the same glowing globe setting from other paddlers perspectives across this wonderful world we live on.

I don't think I'll manage to participate, unless I get up really early to go for the sunrise option (sunrise this morning was at 4:45 am). However, I think it's a neat idea so maybe a few folks who see it here will agree and participate.

A sunset photo from last summer on Kingsmere Lake.

Slow-Witted Prey Floating in Oil

Click the link for the full sized Yehuda Moon!

Instructor's Course Guest Starring Michael Pardy

This will be a very short post because I'm darned tired. I just finished a Paddle Canada "Kayak Instructor Introduction to Kayaking" course. It was a three day course, running all day Friday, Saturday & Sunday and included classroom sessions, on the beach sessions, and lots of paddling (at Pike Lake). The course was operated by Viki of Kingston Kayak Instruction. Viki is herself becoming certified as qualified to teach instructors so had Michael Pardy here assessing her. Viki is a very good instructor and I've enjoyed her courses in the past, but having the added element of a paddler and leader of the caliber of Pardy here in Saskatoon was something remarkable. I only wish I could have taken even greater advantage of that resource. Although right now I feel burned out from the sun (a rare thing here lately) and being on the water, I would have eagerly taken a few more hours of his time if I had the opportunity.

I'm proud to say that I have received a conditional pass (as did all 6 of us in the course), and following the submission of my yet to be received homework assignments, will be officially a flatwater kayak instructor qualified to teach the Paddle Canada Introduction to Kayaking 8-hour course.

Fancy Schmancy Peanut Butter Jars?

Sammy over at Gearpods.com recently got in touch with me about sending a sample of their product my way for testing. Probably I could have considered his post on the blog as spam, but I was intrigued. "That's a fantastic idea" was my quick response. At least, that's how I responded after figuring out what a "Gear Pod" is.

You see, I received Les Stroud's book Survive! a while ago as a gift. Since then, I've been meaning to put together a survival kit (or perhaps multiple kits) in a waterproof container. The kit would come in handy if I (or the folks I were paddling with) were separated from my gear or had some sort of emergency that left us stranded. My container of choice so far: a plastic 2kg peanut butter container (sans peanut butter, even though that in itself would be a useful survival item). The kit would contain a variety of means of starting fires in adverse conditions, some means of providing shelter (a sheet of plastic or an emergency blanket, either of which would have multiple uses), signalling devices, and a variety of other useful items (fish hooks, wire, string, fish line, safety pins, bags, tape, button compass, etc.). I tried and the peanut butter container can be squashed into the bow or stern of my Swift Yukon canoe.

So, back to Sammy and Gear Pods. These Gear Pods are essentially, waterproof containers to do the same sort of thing I had in mind for the peanut butter jar, only they are intended to be more versatile and tougher. They also cost a bit more (it's hard to compare prices to free recycled plastic jars). They sell the Gear Pod jars either empty in a variety of sizes, or as part of pre-packaged kits. Some of the kits are specifically survival-oriented, while others are first-aid, shelter, or food oriented.

Sammy has my address and has promised to send me samples to test out over the coming months. I don't actually know anything more specific about what is being sent but I look forward to putting the Gear Pods to the test over the summer. I will have the opportunity to take them north to the shield and boreal forest of Saskatchewan, and out to the saltwater of the West Coast, and next winter, into the extreme cold of a Saskatchewan winter. So, stay tuned for updates and eventually a Gear Pod review!

National Life Jacket Day

May 20th last week was Red Cross National Lifejacket Day. I didn't hear anything about this occasion until late that night. Coincidentally, on the same day there was an unfortunate accident on Echo Lake in south eastern Saskatchewan. A group of school students was out on the lake when two of the canoes capsized due to sudden winds. One of the students that ended up in the cold water was not wearing a life jacket or PFD and apparently needed to be resuscitated by the RCMP. Thankfully, everyone was eventually OK though 4 students were treated at hospital for hypothermia (they were in the water for an hour).

So, with that event calling to attention the importance of PFDs, I received a phone call from CBC television the following morning, asking to talk to me about life jackets. I am the "Publicity Director" for the Saskatoon Canoe Club and I guess based on that they figured I was the guy to talk to. Coincidentally, I was home with nothing better to do than to build a deck (my daughter was in daycare for the day). After discussing the issue of paddlers and life jackets on the phone for a few minutes, they asked if I would be willing to do an on-camera interview. I agreed and 90 minutes later I was down at the boathouse.

The reporter and cameraman chatted for a bit, asking general questions about the SCC, it's policies, and it's equipment. The cameraman recorded a ton of video throughout, then they did a 3 or 4 minute interview. The questions were pretty straight-forward, and I answered as best as I could. One question threw me off a bit though - they asked if there was a story I could share relating to when I was thankful to be wearing a PFD. Of course, there are several things I could have mentioned (wiping out in Farside with Rob, wiping out in Corner Rapids with Rob photographing, wiping out with Rob....), but the only thing I could think of immediately was some lame story about the first time I went down Otter Rapids - I was so excited to be running the rapids that I had completely forgotten to zip up & buckle my life jacket. At the end of the interview she asked if there was anything else I would like to add. Of course, I couldn't think of a single thing to say.

It was only later while I was out for a paddle on the river that a whole host of ideas came to mind. I should have talked about proper PFD care (keep it out of sunlight, treat it with a protectant such as 303, clean it, dry it, check for damage, check it's buoyancy, check for breakdown of the fabric, and replace it when it's old), getting proper paddling skills, having the right equipment on board, wearing the right clothing, dressing for immersion, being aware of the weather and your surroundings, and not over-estimating one's skills. They were still at the boathouse filming extra footage so I stopped back in and talked to the reporter about my concerns. They were willing to re-shoot the interview, but advised me that they thought what they had was good enough, that it was PFD's specifically they were most interested in, and that the segment was going to be severely edited anyway.

So, I got back into the kayak and continued my paddle. The cameraman was in the area shooting for about an hour, shooting film inside the boathouse of the equipment, taking close-ups of the PFDs, shooting film of me paddling off into the high winds and chop on the river, etc.

When I later saw the video, I was rather surprised to have seen my interview cut down to that one lame story. You can find the video at http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/Local_News/Saskatchewan/ID=1500771460. Early in the piece are several kayakers shown out on the water without PFDs. One of them is Jimmy. It looks like he might even be teaching some lessons, something I would hope he would have better sense than to be doing without a PFD, especially on such a windy day on the river (perhaps that footage was shot some other time).

The news video also shows a fellow who talks about mandatory wearing of PFDs, something that has been coming up recently. I certainly hope the lawmakers in Canada do not decide to go that route. Although I am a strong advocate of proper PFD use, I believe people should be able to use their own judgement based on the conditions in which they are paddling. Perhaps it should be mandatory for school groups or situations involving groups of kids, but there are situations where I do not feel it necessary to have mine on at all times (calm waters, warm water, no kids on board, etc.)

Exploding Beer, Part II

The following was written a couple of years ago, but never finished and so never published.

I had my second exploding beer experience this evening and for the second time I have coated the exposed floor joists above a furnace room with yeast-laden beer. This evening's experience, thankfully, wasn't near the mess or volume (in both senses of the word) as last time.

A few years ago I decided to brew a nice strong beer well in advance of Christmas, a "fallen angel trippel" (trippel=knock you on your ass) from Paddockwood Brewing. This "christmas beer" was flavoured with lots of tasty chunks of orange peel and numerous spices. Since a trippel is a big strong beer finishing out at over 10% alcohol, a helluva pile of strong healthy yeast is required so that they are so busy they can rip through all that candy sugar-supplemented malt and race to the finish before they even notice that they fermented themselves into a toxic concoction of their own waste byproducts (ironically, ethanol, that lovely waste product of fermentation, is toxic to yeast). In order to get so many yeast just rarin' to go, I started with a sort of mini batch of beer (ie a starter). Once that was growing nicely, I then tossed those billions of happily churning and very active fungi into the larger 5 gallon batch of my christmas beer, slapped the airlock on and forgot about it for a few hours. At some point in the day I checked on the beer and was amazed to see how quickly this batch of beer took off (I know that was my goal, but it was truly amazing to see) with a nice bit of foam (krausen) accumulating on the surface, the beer churning violently within from the yeast activity, and the airlock nicely bubbling away. Happy that things were proceeding so well, I returned upstairs for lunch. I think I was enjoying a nice rye bread sandwich when I heard it. A giant "WOOP!" from the basement, followed by a steady "fwoosh". I flew down the stairs in time to see the last of about 3 gallons of beer foaming out the top of the carboy in a yeasty orange and spice flavoured geyser, with a judicious portion of the beer dripping from pretty much everything in the room. It seems that the krausen had risen to the airlock and began coming out of the airlock. The airlock had then become plugged with the chunks of orange peel that were in the wort, trapping the CO₂ that was being produced by the rapidly fermenting yeast (CO₂ and alcohol are the waste products of fermentation, the process by which yeast consumes sugars for energy in the absence of O₂). Not only did that begin to build up pressure behind the airlock, but it also caused a good deal of the CO₂ to go into solution (just as it does when carbonating the beer after bottling). That pressure just continued to build up in the carboy until it released with a dramatic explosion, perhaps a couple of hours after first becoming plugged. The pressure in the airspace of the carboy caused the initial loud noise I heard and shot the airlock and carboy to the ceiling, with a good measure of the krausen to boot. Immediately after the explosion and the release of the pressure, an awful lot of CO₂ came suddenly out of solution. This then caused the subsequent geyser of wort shooting out of the carboy and the loss of gallons of precious Belgian beer. Not to mention more mess.

Other than losing about half of my batch of beer, and making a sticky mess of my basement storage room, the beer itself suffered no ill effects. It finished out at a respectably high alcohol content of over 10%, and tasted great after it had over a year to age. As I recall, it was a little rough the first Christmas, but mellowed a lot with lots of time and was excellent by it's second Christmas. Such a big beer with a high alcohol content is not something you want to drink "green", but rather is to be put away to the back of the storage room and forgotten about for a very long time.

This evening's explosion was similar, but smaller in every way. I did not notice the noise, just the mess. The airlock and bung had gone missing, having ricocheted off into some dark corner of the furnace room. The beer was "smaller" (lower sugar content in the wort and thus lower alcohol in the end product), and the pressures involved must have been lower as not nearly so much beer was lost. However, there still was a mess on the floor joists in the ceiling above.

So, having learned my lesson twice now, I really should start using a nice big blowoff tube in my carboys!

My Daughter's a Winner at Campgirlz.com

I've been meaning to post for a few months now about a new website out there called Campgirlz.com. As a father of a couple of young daughters, I'm interested in the Campgirlz website because I hope to get those daughters interested in an effort to counter the Barbie & Disney crap out there that they are exposed to. Campgirlz.com isn't just for kids though, it's targeted at female campers of all ages.

Back in April, Campgirlz.com had a photo contest. No particular criteria were imposed and my daughter & I went through our photos and picked one from last summer during our Kingsmere trip to submit (I let things get too close to the deadline and missed the opportunity to have my older daughter pick out a picture too). Well, lo & behold, she was picked as a winner! For her efforts, she won a bandanna and hat (both from Gander Mountain), a Campgirlz.com t-shirt and a pencil! She is sharing the t-shirt which was a bit large for her with her older sister.

You can find the announcement at http://www.campgirlz.com/?p=435.

L. playing with her award-winning Polly Pockets on Kingsmere Lake.

How NOT to Pack a Kayak

We'll be heading to the West Coast this summer and that trip will have us paddling with others that will be in kayaks. Since there is no drinking water available where we are going, we'll have to bring our own fresh water (5 days x 6 people x 3L/day = 90L of H₂O!). When we go to pack our canoe and the two kayaks we'll have to keep this little video in mind. Does this paddler look ready to take on the swell of the open Pacific Ocean to you?

Badger's Blog: How to Maintain Oiled Gunnels and Wood Paddles

Badger's Blog: How to Maintain Oiled Gunnels and Wood Paddles

Having a look at the Badger Blog has reminded that I need to get my seats & thwarts oiled before the season starts!

Pulled Pork

I'm smoking a pork butt for supper on Sunday. I am going to update this post as I go.

The subject: 9lb Pork butt, bone in. $3.59/pound. Purchased at Prairie Meats. I'm not sure if this is a good price, or a bad one. (After reading on the 'net, it seems that this is not a good price. Our American neighbours can get it at well under a dollar per pound while folks out in Ontario are paying about $2.50 - I'll keeping my eye out for sale prices for future pork endeavours, perhaps talking directly to my local hog producer.)

The recipe: http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?p=99#post99

For advice on the timing, I've been referring to various posts at http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/ which suggest that pork butt can take anywhere from 12 to 24 hours before it's ready to pull. The variance is due to the size and shape of the meat, the smoking/cooking temperature, the fat & connective tissue content of the particular pieces of meat, and more. Affecting the cooking temperature are factors like outside temperature, wind, sunshine, etc. The experts at the aforementioned forum also suggest that it is MUCH better to have your butt done early and to let it "rest" longer than to be waiting on the meat to reach an internal temperature of 190°F.

So, here's how things are playing out:

Saturday, 8:00 pm - Applied pork rub following recipe at http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?p=99#post99. The recipe calls for a 1/4 cup of freshly cracked pepper. That's a lot of pepper to grind by hand so I connected the cordless drill to the pepper grinder in order to do it in a more efficient (and manly) manner.

Sunday, 12:00 am - Took the pork out of the fridge, applied more rub. Set up smoker in the back yard and loaded smoker with several rocks to help hold & recover heat when the door opens. Filled water pan with boiling water to help the cabinet (and the rocks) heat up. The ambient temperature is about 6°C so the heat setting on the smoker cabinet is full bore in order to combat the cold of night. Also have the smoke generator turned on to pre-heat it, and to help warm the cabinet.

1:00 am - Put pork into the smoker and loaded 4 hours, 40 minutes worth of wood "bisquettes". Used 2/3 apple, 1/3 hickory.

1:40 am - Checked the smoker temperature before heading off to bed - the cabinet thermometer is already reading at about 185°F! That's a quicker rise than I expected considering the big slab of meat is still relatively cool and moist, and it's not very warm outside. Rather than head off to bed as planned, I'm staying up to tweak the temperature in order to have the cabinet running at the desired 200 - 210°F. The heat control on my Bradley smoker is a simple slider, with not temperature setting. Thus, it requires some monitoring and adjusting in order to hit a target.

My desire to get a PID temperature controller has just jumped up a couple of notches! In the meantime, I make an adjustment, wait a fair bit of time for the cabinet to react and stabilise, then check and make another adjustment. This is repeated until the target is reached. However, changing outside temperatures or wind affect this, and the changing food inside the cabinet also affect this so it's a moving target.

In the meantime, I have had the time to write all of the above....

2:15 am - The cabinet is at close to the same temperature as 35 minutes earlier, perhaps just a few degrees higher. So, it seems like I can safely head off to bed now for a few hours.

7:15 am - I had the alarm set for 6 am, but apparently I didn't turn it on. Got up to check on things, and all seemed OK. Temperature is stilll low at about 190°F so it's not like it's goign to burn up too soon. Back to bed...

9:00 am - Checking on things again.... Temp still at about 190 or 195. Refilled water bowl with boiling water and inserted probe of digital thermometer.

Overnight low was about 1°C  for several hours. Current temperature is 11°C, it's calm and the sun is shining.

4:50 pm - Guests will be here in less than an hour, and the butt isn't done yet! The internal temperature is 169°F and I need it to be up to at least 175 (higher is better) before I pull it. I think I'm going to have to put it in the oven to finish it off. I don't know, do I leave it alone for another hour or so (the cabinet is at about 230°F), or do I take preemptive action?

While I was at it, this afternoon I did two "Bacon Explosions" similar to what I did last fall for the Grey Cup. I used another hours worth of apple wood smoke on that. One is stuffed with bacon, fried onion & mushrooms, and the other has less of the same, but a can of green chilis added. That stuffing is wrapped in pork sausage meat, wrapped in a woven bacon wrap. I'll follow up with photos.

6:00 pm - Bacon Explosion for an appetizer!

Jay digs into the Bacon Explosion - Fried mushrooms, onions & bacon wrapped in pork sausage meat, wrapped in woven bacon.

6:15 pm - I left the pork in the smoker and it reached 178°F, then I took it out, wrapped it in foil, then a towel, and put it into a small cooler (the FTC method - no, I'm not making this up!). There it "rested" about 20 minutes before I unwrapped it all and used a couple of forks to pull the pork. Oh, man was it ever moist and tender - literally falling apart! Of course I sampled as I went, and oh man, was it good.

6:40 pm - Supper's on!

Pulled pork ready to eat.

Not my best picture, but damn, that was a good sandwich!

Not Jay's best picture either, but I think that's one happy pork-eater.

17 hours of cooking created one of the best meats I have ever prepared. Was it worth the sleep deprivation? Hell yes. My sandwiches at work have been pretty darned good at work all week too. In fact, I think this stuff might be getter better with age. My only comment would be that perhaps bacon-wrapped bacon is a bit much for an appetizer that is followed immediately by a massive feed of more smoked pork. Today (Wednesday) I vacuum bagged the remaining leftovers and tossed it in the freezer to keep for a later date. The second bacon explosion was also vacuum bagged and I'll bring that with me tomorrow night and re-heat it in Jay's oven during his birthday celebration.

Next time.... put it in earlier, set the smoker to high (depending on the weather), and go to bed while the smoker and the pork take care of themselves. 

Summer Plans

Our family is making plans for summer paddling. It looks like we will find ourselves in the Broken Group Islands, Pacific Rim National Park, for a few days in July.

Here is a map of the area.

Here is a video showing off some aspects of the Broken Group. Also note the "related videos" on YouTube. It looks like I have more viewing ahead of me (or I'll just wait to see it for myself).



And here is a link to a neat little video that shows the scenery, and fog, very well.

Burning Hell Paddles to the Dawson City Music Festival

This is pretty cool, I heard recently on CBC Radio 3 that The Burning Hell will be playing at the Dawson City Music Fetival (#1 on the list of music festivals I want to visit some day!) this summer. What's cool about that is how they are getting there. They will first drive across the country to Whitehorse, an epic journey in itself. However, not satisfied to do things the usual way, they will then be hopping into canoes and PADDLING the 730 kilometers to Dawson City down the Yukon River. What a helluva way to do it!

In related news, The Burning Hell write on their blog about why Bruno, SK, has the "coolest indie music scene in Canada." You can read all about it at http://www.wearetheburninghell.com/node/106. Here's an excerpt:

Sorry Montreal: your glory days are over, and no amount of fires or arcades or little moustaches, tight pants and 80s sunglasses can save you. Bruno, Saskatchewan is the best indie music scene in Canada.

Who knew?


And in other news, I just realised the The Burning Hell member Mathias Kom is half of a duo with Kim Barlow known as Spring Breakup. Kim & Mathias played a house concert in my basement last year.

It's Springtime & Time To Ride

OK, so some of us haven't quit riding all year, but the number of excuses not to ride is rapidly dwindling with the warm springtime weather. My kids and I have been out quite a bit lately and my younger daughter (4) really loves being the stoker behind me on her Adams Trail-a-Bike. It's so much easier to pull than the trailer and she pedals too. My older daughter (7) loves riding her own bike but enjoys stints on the Trail-a-Bike too. When she's back there, I can really feel her contributing which is something I don't detect with the younger one. Our range so far with the older daughter riding her own bike is a 6.6 km return trip to the grocery store. I look forward to seeing that grow over the summer.

I came across this video over at bicyclesmile.com and thought I'd share it with you here. Gives lots of warm happy "springtime with the kids" feelings.

The Canadian Gold Medal Hockey Song