A Vital Paddling Tool...

GuideLines - The Float Plan: A Vital Paddling Tool.

Years ago, when I took the US Coast Guard Auxiliary-- Safe Boating Course, filing a boating plan with someone was a safety measure that makes sense.  It's about letting someone know where you're going, how long you're going to be out and your estimated time of return.  Then if things happen and they do, there is someone available to help or alert authorities.

Airplane pilots have checklist and one necessity is filing a flight plan.  Safe boating requires the same thing...

The Story of Stuff

The Story of Stuff

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Annie Leonard is the author and host of our very own The Story of Stuff. She is author of The Story of Stuff, the book, published by Free Press of Simon and Schuster on March 9, 2010.

Annie has spent nearly two decades investigating and organizing on environmental health and justice issues. She has traveled to 40 countries, visiting literally hundreds of factories where our stuff is made and dumps where our stuff is dumped. Witnessing first hand the horrendous impacts of both over- and under- consumption around the world, Annie is fiercely dedicated to reclaiming and transforming our industrial and economic systems so they serve, rather than undermine, ecological sustainability and social equity...


I urge any reader of this to visit her site via the links above and educate or re-educate yourself about our environment and our STUFF...

Sea Kayaking Experience...

I've started a sea kayaking website to disseminate information about kayaking...  That's all well and good but I don't want to mislead anyone.  I have kayaked and I love doing it but I am not an experienced kayaker by any means.  That really hit home today when I was doing internet searches about my chosen topic about sea kayaking and I discovered SherriKayaks, a site dedicated to paddling kayaks and outdoor programs.

"Sherri Mertz, owner and lead instructor for SherriKayaks, is a sea kayaker, whitewater kayaker, and canoeist with over 20 years of paddling experience.  She has been a kayak instructor since 1998 certified by both the British Canoe Union (BCU) and the American Canoe Association (ACA)."  I quoted her description from her website.  I'm very impressed with her capabilities and plan to take some classes from her and/or her staff since she's only about 50 miles from me.

Now that I've started my website and hope to offer information along with sea kayaking gear and accessories, I feel it's incumbent upon myself to offer honest reliable information from the standpoint of being a novice seeking to improve and enjoy the sport and activity of kayaking.  It's also important to understand the seriousness of kayaking so one can truly enjoy the moment...

My first act information sharing... is to direct people who read this blog to visit Sherri's website to get an in-depth understanding of kayaking and consider taking their lessons or tours.


Happy Currents...

Improve Your Sea Kayaking Skills in 7 Planned Steps

Improve Your Sea Kayaking Skills In 7 Planned Steps : AdvenQuest

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Earth Day 2010

Be powerless to do everything today...

Walk when you can, bike instead of drive, paddle a canoe or kayak instead of cranking up the power boat. These are just small things to do today... as a way to generate awareness of how we treat our earth.

Our lives are geared towards consuming. It's what makes our economy run with us consuming and others manufacturing to provide the goods. The goods are everything we perceive to be necessary for quality of life. Do we need four TVs in a home with two people? Do we need inefficient personal modes of transportation that consume 40 gallons of gasoline a week? Do we need homes that are probably too big and inefficient as we waste electricity, natural gas and water going about our daily routines?

And yet homes are built not to conserve natural resources as a by-product of our need for shelter but as a means to display our wealth. Our built environment is inefficient in many aspects as the need for factories, stores, offices, schools, churches, etc. are only meant to house manufacturing and suppling consumable goods, or instructing or spiritually guiding with little concern for conservation. Our built environment needs to be transformed AND it is beginning...

Change can only come through awareness and motivation. Sure, we consume on a large scale but do we really need to devour our natural resources and pollute the very source of our sustenance. Earth Day on April 22nd is meant to raise awareness of our situation and plight.

Now there's many who don't think there's a problem as they flick their cigarette butts out of their car or powerboat. People throwing their McDonald's bag on the ground instead of a garbage can don't worry about the cause of their actions. Many manufacturers don't seem to care about spewing out hazardous gases, poisoning our water or ground in their efforts to profit by supplying our demands for stuff. It's a vicious cycle that fuels our economy BUT with awareness and right efforts to modify this treadmill, we can begin to save our earth... our only source for air, water, food and shelter.

I for one will make an effort to do with less, to conserve, to recycle and to take a part in the stewardship of our planet. I hope to awaken myself to all possibilities and act accordingly. Earth Day is such a day in raising the awareness of this need. But everyday awareness is needed to sustain our environment...

So when I get a chance, I'll paddle my kayak around and pick up the plastic, aluminum and paper waste floating along the shores of the lake or river I'm on. I'll read more, watch less TV, drive less and bike more to get places.

AND I'll try to be a good steward of our earth every day...


Happy currents and be aware on Earth Day and everyday...