A Nice Day for a Paddle

Yesterday seemed a good day for a paddle, the Lake was pretty calm and the temperature was around 6˚C. A welcome break from the cold weather we experienced last week. I installed the GoPro HD on to the nose of the Coreban with a suction mount and off I went. SUP'ed from the foot of Port Union Road to Frenchman's Bay and back, 12.5 kms in 2 1/2 hrs, not too bad, considering that I paddled into a light NE wind for the first half of the trip. Still a long way off from the 65 kms I plan to paddle in the SUP for MS 2011 in August, but a good start. Found that my feet and wrists were a little tender after the paddle. And also, a big thanks to Surf Ontario for loaning me the equipment. Check out the route I took here, and click on the image to see the video.

A Spring Snowstorm...

After some relatively decent weather, I woke up on Wednesday morning to a Spring Snowstorm. Overnight, the NE winds had kicked up quite a swell and generated some messy, but decent size waves. In the late afternoon, the wind switched to a more Northerly direction and the waves cleaned up nicely. Kristoffer and I headed down to our local break and surfed until dark. The break on the West side of the Gazebo was working for a change, and we scored some nice lefts there. I heard that a couple of guys who surfed "The Cove" got stuck down there, and couldn't make it out until the hill got ploughed...

The Training Begins...

And so it began. A beautiful morning, sunny and a balmy 2˚C. The Lake was like glass, ideal conditions to start training for the Paddle for MS. I spent an hour paddling around at the foot of Port Union Road and probably paddled about 2 kilometers in all, getting used to the Coreban SUP. It's a great core body workout, burns around an incredible 800 calories an hour, and it's also a lot of fun. Didn't fall off once and discovered that a 5/4/3 wetsuit is way too warm as I was sweating after about 15 minutes. Gloves and a hood are not necessary either. You had better get a move on and contact Surf Ontario to take advantage of their 10% off any SUP Sale if you order before 1 April 2011. They now have 7 brands to choose from. You don't want to miss that...

Getting into Shape...

At the beginning of the year I decided that it was about time that I lost some weight and got into shape. After all, the 2011 Paddle for MS will be here before we know it. A surfing buddy, Geoff, introduced me to "Lose It!", a free program that he had been using. I signed up, filled in all the necessary information on January 9th, and set a goal of losing 25 lbs. by the end of March. Basically all you do is follow the programs suggestion as to how many calories you should consume each day. Track that, and the amount of exercise you do and that's basically it. Even I had no trouble with that! Anyway, I am pleased to announce that as of today I have lost 23.2 lbs. and should reach my goal of losing 25 lbs. on March 20th. Wonder what my next goal should be? Any suggestions? Thanks Geoff, for making this so easy...

Alaia, Surfboard or Submarine...

We had a small swell on Saturday, so I oiled her up, attached a leash, and took her for a swim in the Lake. First off, on the bright side, the Alaia remained in one piece. That is to say, the five pieces of wood that comprise her all stayed together and didn't drift off in different directions. Also, although I had just oiled the deck with Linseed Oil, it was not slippery and I didn't need to use any wax. Paddling was another story. Zero floatation means that you are basically swimming out to the line-up on top of a piece of wood that is 1" thick . Once in position, sitting on the board is also a bit of an adventure as the only part of my body out of the water were my head and shoulders. Paddling, or "Swimming" onto a wave is almost impossible, although I did manage to get two rides almost all the way into the shore by lying prone on the Alaia and pushing off from the bottom of the Lake with my feet. I will have to persevere with this, as the waves were far too small and did not have enough power to properly test things out. Also, being almost completely submerged in ice cold water did not help. I think this will be a lot more fun in the summer...

A Speed Boost...

The Linksys BEFSX41 Wired Router that I had been using on my network for the last 8 years finally died, so I replaced it with a Linksys WRT54G2 Wireless G Router that I was using mainly for Apple TV and my iPod Touch. After configuring it for Port Forwarding and all the other stuff related to the WebCams, Weather Station and Website, I was surprised to find an added bonus. After testing the connection speed, I found that my download speed is now twice what it was previously. This may not affect my Website Visitors much, but it has made a huge difference to my downloading capabilities. Please let me know if you notice an improvement...

Paddle for MS 2011...

In a moment of weakness, I agreed to participate in the 2011 Paddle for MS Fundraiser, organized by Mike and Grant of Surf Ontario. The 2010 Inaugural Paddle for MS raised over $7000, and was such a big success, that it was decided to make this an annual event. So, the plan is to set off from Hamilton, around the first weekend in August, just before sunrise, and paddle 65 kilometres to Toronto. Apparently, depending on the wind direction and paddling at 5 kilometres per hour, this should take around 14 hours to complete. Sounds like a breeze? Sounds like I am a little delusional? Well, I don't know about that, but I have decided that I had better start getting into shape soon, as August suddenly does not seem so far off. And, of course, seeing that I don't like doing things in "Half Measures", I will have to try to paddle the entire 65 kilometers, and not one of the shorter distances...