You Silly Id-uit

You know when you wake up with an idea in your head ? Well after the nightshift I awoke this morning thinking that I would take that wooden home made paddle down to the water, my Sea kayak is away right now so I had to use the wee thing.



The dog was wise and went back into the house. It was 8degC today with no wind, quite nice.

I went in with the normal paddle first and warmed up then did a couple of rolls. I then grabbed the wooden thingy. Very strange, I felt it was harder to control the boat's direction and also the stroke was not as smooth. The water seemed to judder past the blades which doesn't happen at all with the 'normal' paddle.

Anyway I tried to roll with it and had no luck. Another swim to the beach again today then, hands freezing and basically useless on reaching the shore.

I had another new bit of gear today which helped a lot with my 'head in the sea' moments. A friend bought me this for my birthday. He tried it on before giving it to me and was worried it was too little. I can testify that this thing is REALLY tight, but I think it needs to be.



It's action is probably spoiled slightly by the fact that I have to slot my glasses into it and so open up gaps on both sides.
The hood can also be slipped back when it's warm and easily stretches into this position despite it's initial close fit.



So there's you have it, two bits of gear tested today, the paddle needs more testing but the hood worked very well.