Too Bad I Don't Have Photos
Jan. 13th, 2008 12:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kateelliottWhat was I doing at 730 am this morning?
I was out on the ocean, watching the sun rise over Diamond Head. Actually, I was not lounging or sightseeing; I was paddling, hoping I wasn't going to die soon, because I went out on the 7 am paddle rather than the 830 am paddle.
The novice paddlers (which I am) mostly go out on the 830 paddle, together with experienced paddlers; it's more geared to them, more teaching, a bit slower paced (although still strenuous for newbies), coach eyes on the first timers, the tenth timers, etc.
But because I already had to get up early to take the Spouse to the airport at an hour at which I am usually not awake, I figured I would take the 700 am paddle for once.
Well. These are the ones who get up early enough every Sunday for the 7 am paddle. People who paddle the regatta season together are paired up in canoes (the team outrigger canoe holds six: seat 1 sets the stroke; seat 2 calls the change; seats 3, 4 and 5 are the grunts, I guess; seat 6 is steers(wo)man), so the pace of the strokes is on a much faster beat than is typical for the later practice.
Instead of paddling out to the Diamond Head buoy in three 10 minute+ times, we went out in two 15 minute+ times. Trust me, there's a big difference when you don't get additional rests in between, compounded in our case because ours was always the last canoe. And we did only two sets (15 minutes back in) coming back in, too. By the fourth set, I was grimly hanging on, focused purely on one stroke at a time, when our steerswoman suddenly called out:
"Dolphins at 9 oclock!"
And there they were, a pod of dolphins cavorting (the proper verb for dolphins, surely).
Funny how the little things give you the lift you need to get through the tough part.
I was out on the ocean, watching the sun rise over Diamond Head. Actually, I was not lounging or sightseeing; I was paddling, hoping I wasn't going to die soon, because I went out on the 7 am paddle rather than the 830 am paddle.
The novice paddlers (which I am) mostly go out on the 830 paddle, together with experienced paddlers; it's more geared to them, more teaching, a bit slower paced (although still strenuous for newbies), coach eyes on the first timers, the tenth timers, etc.
But because I already had to get up early to take the Spouse to the airport at an hour at which I am usually not awake, I figured I would take the 700 am paddle for once.
Well. These are the ones who get up early enough every Sunday for the 7 am paddle. People who paddle the regatta season together are paired up in canoes (the team outrigger canoe holds six: seat 1 sets the stroke; seat 2 calls the change; seats 3, 4 and 5 are the grunts, I guess; seat 6 is steers(wo)man), so the pace of the strokes is on a much faster beat than is typical for the later practice.
Instead of paddling out to the Diamond Head buoy in three 10 minute+ times, we went out in two 15 minute+ times. Trust me, there's a big difference when you don't get additional rests in between, compounded in our case because ours was always the last canoe. And we did only two sets (15 minutes back in) coming back in, too. By the fourth set, I was grimly hanging on, focused purely on one stroke at a time, when our steerswoman suddenly called out:
"Dolphins at 9 oclock!"
And there they were, a pod of dolphins cavorting (the proper verb for dolphins, surely).
Funny how the little things give you the lift you need to get through the tough part.