My friend Sunil has only paddled a kayak once, many years ago. So I invited him to go paddling in mine. He was apprehensive at first. My boat is more temperamental than the typical rental kayak. I was cruel and didn't help him get right back out. That Cedar River water was very cold. In this photo, he is balancing the boat with the "ripple" technique.
No more than five minutes later, he was out in the open lake, heading for Mercer Island. Sunil encountered his first wind waves on a lake. We went aground in some gravel, and I was temporarily hung up on a sunken log. We intentionally steered away from the anchored speed boat with the sunbathing beauties aboard.
We took a break from paddling to walk around on the river delta. We checked the bottom to make sure it was sand, not mud. Six years ago I took Kevin W. out there and we came to shore with a boat load of leeches. Look ma, no leeches! Aren't waterproof cameras wonderful?
Returning to the river, Sunil was very much more confident and stable.
In fact, he was confident enough to put down the paddle and take a picture of me.
Note that my new blog header photo was taken by Sunil.
