more training

saturday,  june 23, 2012 our latest training run, a night paddle this time around. we wanted to get on the river near the area where we would be at the first night, thinking we would be smart but really i don't think it would've mattered where we were on the river seeing as how it was 9:40pm when we put in and you couldn't see anything anyway. we also chose a night with damn near the least amount of moon possible -waxing crescent-, a good thing really since the race is planned around a full-ish moon, theoretically we'll have a bit more visibility, barring any weather calamities, during the actual run. once we got going visibility was surprising, with no moon you could still see enough to keep it pointed in the right direction but not enough to spot a channel marker or wing dike. had to keep listening for those and it seemed like they would always sneak up on us. you definitely couldn't see the random piece of debris that you would hit with your paddle and would scare the bejeezus out of a someone, making them screamed like a little girl and almost capsize the boat 10 min into the trip. it could've been a body for all i know! 

  the lack of visual reference was more disorienting than i anticipated it would be. i believe that led to what felt like a lack of rhythm, like we couldn't find a groove. after the fact sam printed a graph from the gps data which showed we were actually on track with our pace and stayed relatively in the channel but while we were in the water we felt lost and there was that damn headwind, almost the entire way. we only paddled 23miles (from Lexington to Waverly ), and it was amazing how discouraging a headwind can be for 23 miles...

  the issue of gear and how much of what we need is still evolving, i believe we are close to our race setup. we purchase some nice paddles from kc paddler. wenonah boundary waters 52" bent shaft paddles for both of us. kc paddler is a pretty killer place and they were extremely helpful. i knew we needed to modify our paddle choice and this proved it these paddles are significantly lighter, they have a shorter handle, they are more comfortable, just a better experience all around. storage of gear is getting better, i secured a couple of plastic bins that seemed pretty good. a water jug holder and spare paddle holders are on the agenda. and finally the boat.
   when.this whole adventure started we were going to use the wasson family boat, a late 1970's  Loweline 15' aluminum canoe that my dad purchased new. she has spent the majority of her life plying the waters of many a stream in the ozarks, unfortunately she also has the dents and dings to show for it. the design of the boat was never intended for long distance racing but she has the proper soul for adventure. there are a few cracked ribs that allowed what i think canoeists call oil-canning while in the water. to remedy that i made a makeshift mid boat support out of 2x4's. it was not an aesthetically pleasing repair but it worked pretty damn good and carried us on a 20 mile and a 50 mile excursion down the missouri river. i look forward to taking her out on more adventures in the near future. she has treated us well but this race was not hers to run. after our 50 mile outing sam and i were both wound up about all things to do with the MR340 and the more we snooped on the MR340 forum the bigger the question of boat choice got. sam took the plunge on a 17' grumman canoe from craigslist and this night outing was our maiden voyage in her. there was a noticeable difference in the way the grumman was able to glide in the water, once we got to cruising speed she seemed happy to stay there. i did not notice a significant benefit in the steering, although that could've been all the wind we were fighting, we'll know better the next time we get out.