What's that? Gary has a canoe? Why yes. Dad and I have been talking about getting a canoe for nearly a decade, and a few months ago, we finally did it. The Missourian, by Osagian Canoes, is seventeen feet of aluminum beauty. I arrived delivered on a freight truck, enclosed in a 20'x4'x4' cardboard box. With a beam of 44" at the widest point, with a square stern for motor mounting, this boat is stable, and with all that width and a maximum draft of 13", it can hold up to 1000 pounds of people and cargo. It is a little cumbersome to paddle, but is ideal for long touring or a good day of fishing.
To transport our new craft, I threw together a quick and dirty rack out of 2x4s and joist hangers. Mostly eyeballed the project, and after a revision before the second trip out, it really serves its purpose.
Also big news: we went to our second hurling tournament at the Green Lake Gaelic Games in Seattle a few weeks ago. I started out in the defense for the Portland team (the Columbia Red Branch) and only sat out for about a minute of two games. The first was a defeat (versus the Vancouver B.C. Harps, best team in North America) and in the second game, we narrowly pulled a victory (vs. the Seattle Gaels). In the Gaels game, I started out defending against an older gentleman who has been playing hurling since the 1960s. He's still pretty fast, and I let him know up front that I was terrified of him. He laughed and actually gave me some pointers. I also finished up the second half of the coaches training, which now gives me the certification as a GAA Hurling Coach 1. My qualifications are for early player development, fundamentals training, and youth coaching. There is a second level of certification I can gain, which covers gameplay and field strategy. I don't know when that course will be run.
In the mean time, we are having a tough time with scheduling to get practices in. We've also been shut out of our normal practice field, due to renovations. We've found some alternatives, with baseball backstops, which allow for some good striking practice. I'm getting better at ground strikes, and eventually I'll be able to hit the ball far enough to be impressive.
Flew to Reno the other day. Got to spend some time with my uncle and cousins, and then I got to drive the distance back to Pullman, in a rented moving truck...
That was a fun eleven hour trip.
Epoxy project is nearing completion... Maybe my skin won't be constantly dyed black anymore.
Your "dirty" canoe rack is awesome! You are going to have to share with Jim how you did that so he can construct one for ours. Maybe we will have to meet in the middle for some canoeing!
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