Summer Photo Update

"I really should update my blog.", I tell myself with mild chagrin. Again and again I tell myself, yet I've been silent since spring of this year. What have I been doing? Good question, and as I've never been a responsible document-er, I'll have a hard time remembering it all. Boatwise, I've been building paddles and skin on frame boats. That's pretty much it. Here are a few pics of the highlights.

I took Rick out for his first paddle in a kayak.  He's a natural!

I made stripey paddles:

...introduced a new paddle configuration:

Building this one drove me sufficiently crazy that I raised the price for subsequent paddles from $270 to $300:

Then I lost my camera off the hood of my car, where I placed it so I wouldn't forget it.  What a fool!  When I finally replaced it, I was kayak fishing for salmon.  Here's the setup.  The 8 1/2 foot steelhead pole can reach around the ends of the boat from the cockpit.  I taped on flotation so the whole rig floats even with a 6 ounce banana weight attached.  You can also see the the white cutting board, and cheap fillet knife and sheath.  Inside the cockpit you'll see the tackle box.  This is all either thrift store or pawn shop gear:

What you don't see is the black locust club on the back deck.  I don't have a net.  I'm not sure if that's wise or stupid.  I'll let you know when I actually catch a salmon; they're down there!

Its important to leave a spot open for your paddle outrigger:

For trolling, I place the butt end of the rod in between my PFD and my body.  It works well, so well in fact that I caught this monster:

This means I'm trolling too deep!:

Hopefully next time I'll post a photo of a 30 pound Chinook on the deck.  I'm especially curious how I'll actually survive such a fight.

Then I launched the Summer 2011 version of Rebecca.  This one cruises a bit easier, surfs better, has more secondary stability, and turns more responsively, while still balancing perfectly in wind and waves:

I'm leaning towards the camera a little bit in that pic.  

I almost forgot!  I paddled Waldo Lake last weekend (and am going back tomorrow).  In the deepest parts of the lake, the water is this insane, gorgeous brilliant deep blue:

This next one is rather nondescript without something for scale and an explanation.  That is a photo of the bottom of Waldo Lake, 50 feet down.  The pattern you see is the shadow of the wave pattern on the surface!  Obviously, waves were coming from two directions, making this cool pattern: