Back to Building

After our Watertribe race I'm just getting back to building. Actually consdiering the North Carolina 100 mile challenge in September. Thought I might do it as a "Paddling for Planting" fundraiser for our NYC church plants. We'll see. I have completed the strips on the one side and cut the centerline. It went quite well. I actually used my electric saber saw to make the initial cut and trimmed the edges with sandpaper and a razor knife. Now I will need to miter the ends of each piece as I install them on the opposite side.

I've also been shaping the ends of the inside stems and preparing them for the outside stems. I used the tablesaw to cut off some of the excess of the outside stems and put a bit of an angle on them as you can see. I chose walnut for the outside stems and coming. Should make a nice contrast color to the rest of the wood. Its been fun watching the hull take shape.

We made it!

Ben and I finished the Watertribe Ultra Marathon in 23 hours 40 minutes. Out of the 18 starters in this part of the race we finished 8th. 8 dropped out due to cold, wind and choppy bays. The winners were a couple in a surf ski racing kayak that paddled the 68 miles in 10 hours. Pretty impresive. But Ben and I beat our goal of 24 hours and had a great time doing it. Conditions were tough due to the cold but the wind at our backs helped move us along an extra mile an hour or so. Ben did a great job of keeping us on course - except for a few paddling wrong turns :). We had trouble seeing the flats (shalow areas at low tide) in the bay at night and he sacrifically pulled us back to deep water so I could keep my feet dry and warm. Thanks Ben for your sacrificial wading in the water. The night paddling was better than I thought with light from the stars, moon and surrounding light. Fortunately we weren't miles from any shore at night and in calmer water. We stopped around 10 for supper and I caught a quick nap while Ben cooked up a backpacking meal and made some hot coffee. Chicken Teriyaki & rice out of a bag never tasted so good. By 3 am I couldn't keep my eyes open any more - actually tried paddling w/ them closed - and needed another power nap. Since we got cold if we stopped Ben kept paddling and I napped in the front seat. Just like Jesus sleeping in the boat except there was no storm. We arrived at Grand Tours Kayaking Center, the first checkpoint as many of the paddlers from the night before were getting up and underway. Two of the sailboats were captized by rogue waves on the ocean but the sailors were safe. Sailing or paddling in a rough ocean is no joke. We stayed ont he inside. More details, videos and tracking maps on the watertribe website like to the right. All in all it was a great experience that I loved doing with my son. Emily & the kids picked us up later that morning and we joined Debra back at the hotel.