OKC Kayak Word Soup

OKC Kayak’s first ever no commission swap meet is about ready to begin.  Here is a sneak preview of some of the many items that are starting to arrive.

Recumbant bicycles Trek R200 and Burley Canto

Lots of free stuff

Camping Gear

Mountain bike powered boat

Aluminum Canoe

Lots of kayaks

….and who knows what else.

Wanna know why I am about to change the band-aid on my face? Keep reading….

When I graduated from college I swore up and down that this was the very last time that I would ever be in a classroom. I literally hated school. Perhaps part of it was the fact that I get easily bored from just sitting around. Well, ironically, I have been purposely putting myself through more class work through my professional organization, the Paddlesports Industry Association (PIA). This organization’s purpose is to promote paddlesport recreation, access, and education. No other group does as much for the sport or for the folks who like me are frugally unemployed in the industry (a.k.a. trying to convince themselves that someday they will get paid to paddle.)

For the last four years I have been involved in many ongoing education classes. Part of this enabled me to certify as a Wilderness First Responder, another portion upped my coaching skills with ACA and BCU certifications, but the part that I have gained the most practical knowledge from was the PIA’s Paddlesport Business School. Coursework included everything from marketing, retail store design, managing effective employees, and so much more. This second year of training fulfilled the remainder of the requirements I needed to certify as Oklahoma’s first Certified Professional Paddler or CPP.

Now, lest you be fooled, being Oklahoma’s first CPP ever comes with great responsibility. Anyone who has ever been on a trip with us or has attended one of our paddles knows that I am serious as a heart attack about risk management and safety. Occasionally I may even go a little overboard, as evident by my first aid kit that is as large as a 33 gallon garbage sack. Frequently I get made fun of for my overly cautious approach. I have even been accused of making people wear lifejackets on hiking trips, although I can assure you that this has never happened. The end result though is a perfect safety record, so neither I nor my insurance man is complaining.

Following several days of PIA coursework indoors beside the Meramec River in Missouri, seventy degree temps forced us to have an impromptu outdoor classroom on a nearby Class I stream the last day of the school. Let me repeat folks, Class I. This means that at most this waterway is characterized by nothing more than a few riffles. No waterfalls, no standing waves, no giant obstacles, NADA!!!

When it came time to pair up canoe partners, I had a host of other friends and colleagues to choose from. I immediately sought out my buddy Jared Carr, owner of Osagian canoes. Now, I spend a darn lot of time in kayaks, and a decent amount of time in canoes, but this guy is something like the third generation of family members who have been making aluminum canoes forever. This guy can do a J-Stroke in his sleep and would prove to be just the man this tandem canoe team would need to make our little craft look good in front of all our peers. …or would he?

About forty of us launched our canoes on the river in about 15 inches of water. The weather and company were making for the perfect float. Our group had the entire river to ourselves. I would be willing to wager a bet that we were one of less than a couple of dozen of folks to have paddled the river since the last of the tourists staggered home after Labor Day weekend had come and gone. For this very reason, the trees and other debris that had fallen over the course of the winter had not been removed either.

Canoe after canoe managed to be drawn towards one particular “strainer,” a large tree that had lost its footing on the stream bank during the last bout of high water. (Missouri folks term these things ROOTWAHS, which roughly translates in a upturned tree with a big wad of roots on the end.) I cautioned Jared to hold back until the traffic jam of canoes worked their way beyond this mess. Otherwise, we too risked getting hung up in this collage of tree limbs and Old Town Discovery 169’s on this all too narrow stretch of the creek. “Good plan,” Jared replied. Immediately after deciding this, our buddy Robby Baker from TNT Hideaway canoe livery in Florida booked an extended stay in the ROOTWAH hotel. He got tangled up like a family of contortionists playing the game of twister. We tried our hardest to hide our laughter with an abundance of pseudo concern for the man. (To my defense, this same guy spent five full days trying to make me tip my kayak when I recently was in Florida for another conference.)

After things at the rootwah had finally cleared a bit, we began our approach. We were easily sliding our watercraft past the obstacle, when suddenly the stern spun out of control bring us into the tree as well. We had a bit of speed up, so Jared was forced to tuck his head to avoid an overhanging tree limb that was as thick as my leg. I too was faced with the choice of taking the limb in my chest, causing the quick moving canoe to come to a dead stop, or bringing some of my limbo moves out of retirement from my roller skating days. I stretched my upper torso backwards, sprawling my back across the stern of the canoe. Not a moment later, I was whacked in the face as Jared turned loose of the branch that he was trying to duck under. Instantly, I knew that this was not good. Luckily most of my peers were already ahead of me. This surely must have been karma for making by fellow school attendees play a game of memory that had all the matches removed, or for tricking my friend Cheryl into thinking the decoratively designed rosettes of butter were really white chocolate morsels.

Time was certainly of the essence in treating my wounds. This was not because it was some dire injury, but instead because we had just spent the entire day learning about how to market your business through the internet using sites like facebook, myspace, and UTube. I was envisioning all forty of my peers popping a picture of my scraped cheek onto every social networking site out there. This certainly was not the sort of highly visible marketing angle that I was looking for.

I went home with nothing seriously injured except my pride. At least I had seven hours of driving time to thing up stories about how the raspberry on my chin got there.

….. bicycle wreck, violent girlfriend, really crazy shaving incident. HMMM!!!!!

Outdoor Gear Swap and Sale

Nobody is perfect.   We have all heard this line.  Luckily, I have a few good friends that like me enough to tell me when I am waivering from the needed path.  Kevin Wagner, one of my best friends from San Diego, is one of these folks.  One of his biggest pet peeves is when he spends all sorts of volunteer elf hours creating a kick butt website for us, only for me to upload some distorted image or even worse none at all.

The other day after fixing a bunch of screwed up images that I had uploaded, he finally delivered an ultimatum.  This directive ordered me to never put out another blog without a photo.  In his words, “people don’t give a poop about what I am writing, but they do want to see some pics.” He and lovely wife Jodi, went so far as to send me a new waterproof camera.

Yes, penance is in order, so I am starting small.  I just got through downloading some free photo resizing software, and am in the process of resizing some of the many pics that I already have.  Enjoy the photos from the Baja party.  …. and I really will post some actually great photos from the trip soon too.

Thanks Kevin and Jodi for taking an interest in this Okie kayak kid!

The Baja party was great.  We enjoyed lots of yummy deserts, ate over 6 gallons of chili, used 17 rolls of toilet paper, and 3 cans of Lysol.  At least 57 people were present despite a dozen no shows and several cancelations.  We all went home with sore tummies, not from my cooking, but from all the deep belly laughs.

Beautiful photos were conjoined with incriminating stories about the participants.  All those who could not join us in Baja were truly jealous after seeing our plethora of pictures or sea anemones, seals, sea lions, sea slugs, starfish (sea stars), sea urchins, and so much more.   Nora Sinkankas and others literally drooled on themselves when we told our whale stories.

A big thank you to Cindy Sherbon, Casey Wieczorek, Nancy Hardman, and their families for allowing me to abuse them all night.  You are true friends and absolutely family.   (By the way, everyone who attended, only half the stories were actually true.  Imagine that!!!)

Michael Sinkankas took home the prize in the best dressed Baja themed costume using an OKC Kayak Shirt.  Go Michael.  Dave Brinker only came for the few swimsuit photos that were shown.  And Casey proved once again that she really is a weirdo!

Now, are we going to do this again?  Absolutely.  If you are new to the group, we have had fish frys, pool parties, picnics, slide shows, glow in the dark rubber chicken volleyball, and so much more.  Even  if you have never joined us for a paddle,  you are and will be made to feel welcome at these events.  Social paddles are also a good way to meet new friends.  I have always said that the kayaks are fun, the places we travel to spectacular, but most importantly, the fellowship unmatched.

Don’t take my word for it,  We have folks who drive from Enid, Stillwater, Norman, Weatherford, and even Wichita, KS just for our social paddles and other events.  Get involved now via the continuing socials, open pool kayaking, and more.  Photos will soon be posted on the blog at www.okckayak.com.

Jack put it best in his thank you note, “Dave, What a fun evening!  …and the food was great too!  The dinner and floor show was at least a $25 show!,” ……and in my opinion, the company priceless.

Thank you to all who participated in this fun night.

Sincerely,

Dave

You are foolish if you think I am going to spill the beans on our recent amazing adventure in Baja via this Blog.  No way, Jose’!  Aint gonna happen.  If you want to see, hear, taste and smell for yourself then keep reading……
Care to hear some tall tales from our recent Baja Mexico sea kayaking trip, see photos so beautiful photoshop would be jealous, and eat some grub with other nice paddlers?  We are having a gathering at Dave Lindo’s house this Sunday, January 18th at 6:00 p.m.  This is an open invite (and no it does not cost a thing).  Even if you have never been out for a paddle with us before, you are welcome to attend.  It will be a fun night with a wonderful group.  All I do ask is that you RSVP by email so that I know how many I am cooking for.  Directions will be provided when you RSVP.   Email me directly at dave@okckayak.com please.

Hope to see every last stinking one of you!

Dave Lindo

Well, here I sit with my “To Do” list that Dave left for me (and Tony) while he is off “who knows where” having a fabulous time paddling and playing and we sit back minding the shop.  However, don’t get me wrong - we are more than happy to do his bidding while he is having the time of his life in Nevada, Arizona, California, Mexico, etc.   Tony and I have talked this over, and we DO NOT hold grudges but we do expect paybacks and you know what they say about paybacks!  Dave, do you know what they say about paybacks?!

In all sincerity, we want to you to know how much we have appreciated your business, your support, and your encouragement this year as the business moved into its new location.  If you have not visited us yet, our days/hours of operation are Tuesdays - Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.  We will close at 2:00 p.m. on December 31st and be closed on January 1.  We are adding daily to our selection of clothing and accessories - especially for this colder weather - and the new boats are filling up the shop quickly and are quite colorful in all shapes, sizes and prices. 

The paddling continues with social paddles at Lake Hefner every Sunday at 2:00 p.m. unless the wind blows us off the lake or the ice gets too thick.  (I had a wonderful paddle there on Christmas day!)  Also, we have lots of new classes and open kayaking sessions throughout the month of January at the pool at Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC).  Check out the calendar for these paddling opportunities.  It’s a great way to keep in shape for the spring season, which is just around the corner.  At least we can tell ourselves that!  (It’s hard to complain when it was 75 degrees today!)

From the OKC Kayak family to all of our extended family, best wishes for a most blessed Christmas and New Years!  Thanks again for all you have done to make this a great year and a sucessful start of many more to come.

Linda, Dave, Tony, Casey and all!

It must be sweeps week or something.  You know the week that television networks try to cram pack with their best shows in an attempt to bloat their ratings so that they can charge advertisers a premium rate the coming year.  Discover Oklahoma is rebroadcasting the OKC Kayak program that they filmed about us this past summer.  Wow, what nice folks.  The gal who called to inform us about this, even said that it was one of Shel Wagner’s favorite episodes from last year.  Yeah, me too!!!

This will air on this Saturday, December 13th at 6:30 p.m.  (CBS)

My thanks again to the great people at Discover Oklahoma and everyone who starred in this production.

Jay Brannon “Hammer Toes” is an amazing friend of mine and helper elf to the shop.  He himself is about as darn funny of an individual as I have ever met.  Here is an Eskimo song he forwarded to me which I find quite appropriate)

My small adventures

When with a shore wind I drifted out

In my kayak.

And though I was in danger

My fears,

Those small ones

That I thought so big

For all the vital things

I had to get and reach.

And yet there is only

One great thing.

To live and see my friends and on my journeys

The great day that dawns

And the light that fills the world.

An Eskimo song transalated by Knud Rasammussen in

“ Intellectual Culture of the Copper Eskimo” (paraphrased)

Just a thought:

I have learned what a generous, appreciative and literate person you are.

I read this and thought of you.

This touched me and I think it would be appreciated by all your friends you communicate with at OKC Kayak.

I also think kayakers might be more connected with nature and their feelings just as this Eakimo is.

Perhaps all won’t make sense to you but I thought you would like the poem.

MERRY CHRISTMAS,

Your friend Jay