Saturday, November 30, 2013

Tropea Forever


Yesterday was a bad weather day.  Today is a bad weather day.  When I woke up this morning it was 35 degrees out.  Last night it was hailing and now it’s raining.  The wind is coming from the south, so I’m not trying to kayak through this cold dreary day.

The zip tie holding my seat together tore just as I was pulling into port on Monday.  So I went out to buy a thicker zip tie.  I only wanted one, not a bag of a hundred.  I told the fellow behind the counter why it was that I only wanted one, and he gave me four for free.  But they’re too thick and don’t fit through the seat.  I used some good marine grade string instead.  It’s how I fixed the kayak I was training in over the summer when the seat broke in exactly the same way.

I wanted to paddle this morning.  I got mostly ready while I watched the occasional lightning bolt in the distance.  It wrecked me to be stuck in port again.  Again and again.  I’m spending more days walking around than sitting on my butt.

I’ll have to be patient.  If I only get to kayak two days a week, then so be it.  I want to make lots of progress, but it’s not to be.

I wonder, would I be going out in rougher conditions if I were a better paddler.  Ultimately what it comes down to is that paddling into a strong headwind is not fun.  I want to enjoy my kayaking so I wait.  Still, I wonder.


In the mean time, I sent a couple letters asking about work in New Zealand.  Would it be a terrible thing if I took a sufficiently well paying job south of the equator for a few months while the worst of the winter passed.  I wonder if there is such a job.

I had hoped that I could be in Greece before winter hit hard like this, but it was not to be.

Patience. Being angry at Nelo for delivering my kayak a month and a half late despite the expressed imperative of a timely launch and promises made, will solve nothing.  Patience.  This weather will pass, and I will kayak.  I will see great things and enjoy warm clear waters.  Good things come to those who...  Blech, who am I kidding.  It hurts, but I’ll persevere.  Somehow.

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  1. Sorry for your frustration. If it helps: Your quest is about the journey - enjoy every moment of it. Happy Chanukkah :)

  2. Happy Chanuka. You're absolutely right!

  3. Better times will come, they always do! Fingers crossed they come soon, be it with better weather or a sojourn in New Zealand.