The novels depict the life and adventures of two characters Captain “Lucky” Jack Aubrey, and Dr. Stephen Maturin. Jack obviously is the model for Lord Cochrane. Stephen is pure genius invention on O’Brian’s part. Jack is the man’s man, fighting captain eager to win fame and glory by capturing prizes and winning battles. Jack who picks up trigonometry and calculus later in life becomes a master sailor and navigator, which also allows him to become a brilliant naval tactician. While Stephen a Catalan/Irish physician is a natural philosopher and an intellegence agent for England against Napoleon. Due to his mixed parentage and keen intellect he speaks French, Catalan, Castillian, some Portuguese, Latin and Greek, and knows the name of every bird and beast that can walk, fly, or swim.

I began the Aubrey Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian with zeal. I pushed through the first 10 books two years ago. As I got closer to the end I slowed down, wanting to savor each book like chocolate. But alas, I have finished the whole box in one sitting like a glutton. Now I am only left with splendid memories in my head of each book. Moments where my life was full of stress and I thought I couldn’t bear it any longer, I would get out of bed and go to my reading chair in the living room, flip the light on, and open one of Patrick O’Brian’s novels. Aubrey and Maturin managed to collapse the weight of life long enough for me to decompress and finally fall to sleep, dreaming of our dear HMS Surprise at sea, with a fine top gallant breeze moving her along at 10 knots and only deep blue under hull for a thousand miles in any direction. For those of us that have played at sea, the wind and the waves put us at ease. It gives us a sense of joy to be in an environment so wild, so tempestuous, and ultimately that free.

Some of the best days in my life have been on open water with the wind at my back away from complications on land. Both Aubrey and Maturin as characters were deeply flawed. But their friendship and their ability to go to sea allowed each of them to endure O’Brian’s sometimes malevolent story driven machinations.

Here are but a few (spoiler warning) :

• Aubrey is accused of defrauding the London Stock exchange and is disrated from the navy and thrown in the pillory.
• Aubrey looses his fortune to a fraudulent prospector who misleads him into believing there is Silver on his property
• Stephen in the grips of a serious Opium addiction accidentally kills a man during surgery
• Stephen while trying to evade French intelligence services is forced to allow a small Mediterranean town to believe he has a mistress, which of course is instantly reported back to his wife Diana. Who consequently runs off to Sweden with a handsome young army officer.
• Once reconciled Diana and Stephen have a child while Stephen is at sea. The child turns out to be autistic which causes Diana to abandon the child and run off with a new lover.
• Once reconciled again. Diana dies in a carriage accident on the way home from the Harbor.

With each of these knife wounds, it’s easy to see why going to sea might provide some refuge. And while listed out like this above, it looks melodramatic, O’Brian’s style is often to portray these events out of narrative, and characters often discuss them after they’ve occurred. The force of the novel’s is in my opinion in the portrayal of two very flawed, but seemingly real characters. Jack who is Dionysian, and Stephen Apollonian. Jack represents the baser instincts that crave food, women, wealth, and violence. Stephen craves knowledge, wisdom, and peace. Also each possesses certain traits. Jack is open, honest, friendly and eager to please. Where Stephen is quiet, introspective, sullen, if not mercurial. I’ve said this before, but the reason why this works so well, is that no one person is all of these things, and we see a little of ourselves in each character.

All in all, I of course enjoyed every battle and cutting out action and would reread each many times trying to picture in my head how each ship would tack, and jibe to gain an advantage. I love hearing about quick tacks and raking the other ship’s stern to cut up their rudder, rigging, and sails. Often the HMS Surprise was outmatched against larger more heavily armed ships, and it was a master stroke of writing to continually hammer home the fighting qualities of Captain “Lucky” Jack Aubrey, and his crack crew who could fire three broadsides in five minutes to the other ship’s two.

I also found great delight in Stephen’s subtle schemes and discoveries as an intellegence agent for the Navy. His diary written completely in code, and his ability to walk off the ship and in most cases begin to blend in wherever he was.

Some might dismiss these novels as pure genre trash, but I would challenge any reader to find better examples of character development. Not to mention that the character development takes place through 21 books. I’ve certainly read other books that have moved me as well. Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. Jose Saramago’s Blindness, William Faulkner’s-The Sound and The Fury, Cormac MacCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses. However, finding 21 books that capture your imagination so vividly, conveys so much information about life in another time and another place with such accuracy is not likely to happen again in my lifetime.

The last unfinished Novel, simply titled 21 left me feeling a little sad that O’Brian couldn’t finish it. It felt like someone got a bite out of the last chocolate right as I was ready to take a bite.

Ironically I am incapable of biking to work today. The inguinal hernia repair is healing nicely though. I have of course biked to work many many days, through rain, sleet, snow. This day isn’t so much for the cycle commuters as it is for advocacy. If you haven’t biked today, every day is a new opportunity to start!

Ironically I saw this article on Boing Boing. The question was raised that it may actually take more energy in food to fuel the cyclist than it would to fuel a car.

I, just like Mr. Green from the Sierra Club call bullshit on this car vs bike argument.

Even if cyclists consumed %20 percent more calories each. The oil and gas each cyclist would use in driving themselves alone, not to mention repairs, all of the oil needed to make the plastic and tires for new cars, the emissions of those cars far outweighs food shipments to centralized distribution on trucks, planes, ships, and trains.

It may sound like an emotional argument, but it seems pretty plain to see when even in a small city like Kalamazoo. All of my co-workers drive to work alone, burning gas in new cars.

If you look at the numbers at the US Department of Labor Site you will see the total percentage of the population that is employed. Of course this doesn’t even count all of the non-documented immigrant workers in the US who are possibly driving to work alone too. We are consuming 9,253,000 barrels of oil a day for cars.

If we were to cut that even in half from a consumer standpoint it would put a serious dent in the amount of oil consumed. If everyone needed say %20 percent more calories based on a higher activity level could this really even equal the amount of oil needed to drive a car for a year on a daily commute? I don’t think so.

If I had to pick a future, I would pick one where suburban sprawl is eliminated, open spaces are preserved, people cycle and walk to work, buses and trains are used for longer distances, cars are run on alternative energy (non-fossil fuel), and Newcastle wins the FA Cup, The Smiths get back together and I Kayak Surf full time.

Cycling to work has so many advantages. US Oil Consumption is a big part of it, but, at this point Oil Prices are predicted to rise to $200.00 USD a barrel for the next year making gas over $4.00 a gallon. I know I will be able to weather that easily by cycling. But this has been a lifestyle choice. Living close to work, being physically active, and also very into cycling has been a good thing for me. Why not give it a shot!

Managing Inexperienced Paddlers on the Water

Myself and Jim Svensson took two more inexperienced paddlers to paddle through the islands in July of 2005. I won’t give a blow by blow of the account. But I will offer some advice for other sea kayakers who are thinking of taking less experienced paddlers on a trip.

Jim Svensson and I are both BCU 4 Star Paddlers with thousands of miles under our hulls. We have done many trips together on Lake Superior, we have both paddled Pukaskwa National Park in Canada, we also did the Silver Islet to Rossport trip together. I have many many hours surf kayaking on Lake Michigan and even a couple of trips to the Pacific to surf. I’ve done a lot of the islands on Lake Michigan and Huron. However each of these trips was done with paddlers of at least equal paddling skill, if not higher than our own skill level. This was our first trip with beginners.

I want to start with some things about the trip to give an idea of the plan, because believe it or not I did have a plan.

We wanted to do a loop from Sand Beach back to Bayfield. We had an outfitter drop us off at Sand Beach and we would paddle back to Bayfield. We wanted to hit Sand Island with all of the caves and cliffs, and especially Devil’s Island, we also wanted to circle out and see Outer Island. Maybe even circumnavigate Outer before heading back.

Planning and Preparation for the Sea Kayaking Trip

I made a point of taking them out and doing rescues. We performed t-rescues, eskimo rescues, all-in rescues, and even a hand of god or two for fun. I wanted to get them comfortable with the idea that maybe not everything would go as planned. Also I wanted them to not freak out if someone swam, which I was predicting might happen if there were any clapotis waves near cliffs or caves. I also worked with one of them on developing a roll, directional strokes and some surfing.

I also took one of them out to Ludington to the WMCKA spring gathering. We paddled into 25 knot winds on Sunday afternoon and then surfed back to shore. Great fun, but also an eye opener in watching how little progress our duckling made.

They key thing is that one of our paddlers was really taking the trip quite seriously, and the other did not prepare.

The couple did however take my warnings about cold water, and possible cold weather seriously and bought a ton of gear before the trip. One bought a Goretex Meridian Drysuit, the other bought a really nice IR Drytop and a farmer jane wet suit. I felt that they were at least prepared from an equipment standpoint.

As the days wound down to the trip, our other paddler still engaged in work duties had not been out to paddle very much. I made a conscientious effort to talk with her about the challenges of the trip and to make sure she understood them.

This is really where I failed her. She could not understand the challenges of the trip, because she had no frame of reference for how strong the wind might be, how big the waves would be, or how unrelenting Lake Superior could be. I wanted everyone to have a good trip, so I allowed her to go. When really I should have just been a good friend and told her we would modify the trip plan to be less ambitious, or that she could not go.

I asked Doug Van Doren about leadership on the water. His take is that the strongest paddler will often naturally end up leading the other paddlers through an emergency, whether or not this person is designated as the leader or not.

With that in mind, I was committed whether I knew it or not.

Crossings into the Wind

Our troubles really began on the leg between Devil’s Island and South Twin. There is a long leg far from shore where there is no protection. One also has to go around Rock Island. The weather for most of the day around Devil’s Island had been ideal. It was very calm with no huge waves. I snaked my foster silhouette into every cave I could fit into. Once finished we ended up on the south east corner of the island looking at the crossing. The wind was getting up and we had to make a break for it.

Part of the problem with the Apostles is the designated campsites. Every paddling group must designate which campsite they will be staying at on what night. Under ideal conditions this is fine, but it unfortunately influences decisions with some of the more OCD folks. I am more of a free spirit in this regard. I feel that as long as it’s safe, and that I am low impact I am willing to bend a few rules. But others tend to take this quite literally to the point of jeopardizing safety, which I am OCD about. In this instance I should have been more vocal about making sure we were safe, rather than jeopardizing the groups safety in a crossing that one of us wasn’t read for.

About thirty minutes into the crossing the wind picked up to about 15 knots. To Jim and I this was a good thing, we despise flat conditions and would rather have a little texture to remind us of why we drove 14 hours to paddle. To our inexperienced paddlers it was an insurmountable obstacle. Our least prepared paddler began to waver, then fade, and finally to become unstable. I remember looking at the conditions and seeing how slowly she was moving, and I had clipped my tow carabiner to my life jacket prior to starting the crossing.

Jim and I began using the GPS as a gauge of how slowly we were going we started at three miles per hour, then two, then one.

I saw the first accidental dip of a vertical paddle and a quick low brace to recover. After she almost went into the drink, I made an instantaneous decision to tow her without asking her. I glided up to her bow and told her, “We’re going to do a little towing to get around the tip of Rock Island.” She looked almost relieved.

I began to haul ass for the northern tip of Rock Island right away. Pretty soon we were halfway, then three quarters of the way, and then Jim thankfully offered to take over for a bit. Our other inexperienced paddler seemed to be struggling, but making progress. Jim also really hauled it and pretty soon, we were discussing linked towing. So I clipped in on the lead to Jim’s Explorer’s bow and began to lead again. Once we did this we were really making good progress. Ironically once I had made it to the tip of Rock Island I had to pee like you wouldn’t believe. I can still remember two years later how bad I had to go. We were now with the wind, but I unclipped to pee on Rock Island. Jim led the tow the remaining half mile to South Twin.

In that 30 seconds I believe we corrected a very bad situation. The wind continued to grow the sky grew gray and the wind built eventually to about 25 knots. So quick and decisive decisions on the water tend to make for better feelings off the water, rather than worrying about someone’s feelings. I remember that look on her face when I clipped in to this day. Her face just said, “I surrender”. Also I can remember that feeling of relief for my own part as Rock Island quickly came into view. I got some serious satisfaction while I was towing to hear Jim report our speed from his deck GPS. I could barely hear him through the increasing howl in the wind, “3 miles per hour, four, four point five”.

We tried to quickly cover the distance before the weather built ahead of us. We might have had to consider turning and going with the wind, back to Devil’s Island. A quartering sea and that small slip on the south end would have been hard to hit dead on with the wind. The consequences for missing would have been catastrophic, because there is no land fall between Devil’s Island and Minnesota.

Lesson’s Learned from Tow #1

1. Quick Decision to tow based on decreasing speed and stability of the weaker paddler was a good decision.
2. Linked towing exerted far less energy than towing solo.
3. A Camelback full of gatorade does hydrate a paddler very well, but also makes them have to pee every 20 minutes.

Tow #2 From Cat Island to Outer Island

Again I should stress that trip plans should have been changed by me to perhaps camp where we were, or to run with the wind until we were in the lee of the islands and then camp somewhere else. With the wind already beginning to make some beautiful blue green waves and foamy whitecaps, it would be tough going for our less experienced paddlers, but a fun day playing in the wind for Jim and myself.

However the first day turned out fine even with the towing, so I made a decision to go for it. We quickly ran into problems as the wind out of the north east was beginning to really build some nice swells. This made things very difficult for our least experienced paddler. She quickly slowed to around one mile an hour. She also became unsteady. I then quickly made another decision to clip in and tow her. Jim then clipped in and led the tow for about twenty minutes. It was tough going. We swapped spots on the lead twice. Finally the wind had begun to howl around the southern tip of Outer Island, which is a sand spit. It offered no protection. We knew the camp site was on the other side. So we struggled valiantly around the tip of the island for at least another twenty minutes.

I remember the white caps really beginning to pile over the deck of my kayak, digging my carbon fiber superior Greenland paddle into the water and torquing my torso with every once of strength I possessed. I don’t know how much strength I had left, but I remember thinking, wow! I really wish I could turn and sprint to catch that wave. (I think it is really I kind of mental illness to be thinking of surfing under those circumstances).

We were defeated as we rounded the sand spit. We started to wash onto the beach. Which was steep and cobbled. We began having the time honored catastrophic problem of using ropes in dangerous situations. The stronger paddler was being out paced by a side surfing sea kayak victim. I watched our weaker paddler side surf into the beach under tow, and Jim and I frantically trying to make a decision on what evil thing to do next. Either un-clip and let her go, or try to pull her back out to sea. I made the decision for myself. I quickly released my tow from the victim, as Jim was in the lead, but Jim did not. This led to some tangles and serious crashing on the beach with our two boats lined together. It was an ugly landing. Jim and I managed to bring the kayaks up the beach above the water line.

Tow #2 Lessons Learned

1. Linked towing when a landing is imminent has its limitations.
2. Communication between the two towing paddlers is crucial
3. Ropes and surf landings are always problematic.

In retrospect once we had rounded the tip of the island we should have dropped to a single tow so that one paddler could make a quick decision about when to drop the tow and just wait to pick up the pieces from the landing.

We managed to get everyone on dry land on Outer Island safely. So there were some good things about the day.

The next day we did an evaluation of the weather. It looked like the next day would have a twenty knot wind from the north east. And then would start to veer to due east. With all of the islands we had left to do, and the prospect of possibly more towing. We decided to make a break for it and run with the wind to get as close to Bayfield as we could with the twenty knot tail wind.

As I remember the outside of Stockton Island was quite beautiful. There were many sea stacks. As it turned out with the tail wind at 20 knots all day, we covered 21 miles in relatively short order. We decided to run all the way in to Bayfield that night. We had finally altered the trip to meet the group which was probably the best thing we did from a leadership perspective. Our two inexperienced paddlers were pretty toasted. But very happy to be on dry land.

I’ve included some of the gory details but not all. I think the main lessons to be learned from all of this is the following:

• Know the limitations of the paddling group and adjust the trip accordingly
• Be flexible and prepared to change the trip midstream to meet the needs of the weakest member
• Be prepared to tell someone they can’t come if the trip is not flexible.
• Be prepared to tow if the group begins to slow when performing an open crossing
• Watch the weather and know what the back-out plans were
• Be ready to make decisions quickly and to worry about hurt feelings later

Thankfully there have been no hurt feelings from this trip. But I still have some very serious nagging guilt for not being prepared to adjust course or say no when the trip preparation and training didn’t come together as I would’ve liked. In truth if our other inexperienced paddler had swum, needed a tow, or gotten sea sick, we could have been really hosed.

As with just about everything I do, I think there is a certain element of risk involved. The benefits certainly outweighed the risks for this trip. I wouldn’t advise someone not to do a trip based purely out of fear of the unknown. But having had a lot of practice in wind and waves, my BCU training, and being physically fit shape that perspective. I would really encourage folks with only one or two of these elements to seek out the training, and also to head out to play in conditions as much as they can within a margin of safety.

For those with a hankering to see Tom I think this video is welcome news. I did prefer his last tour press release where he said he said the whole reason he went on tour was that he had some business in Illinois, and a guy in Indiana owed him money. There was no Youtube video for the last press release though….

I don’t think I will be fortunate enough to travel to See Tom Waits live. My fortunate time was seeing him in Detroit with Dad in 2005.

Travel Log Post from Rapid Transit Blog

Surf and Travel. What better combination? Every Surf Paddler’s deepest dream is to surf a virgin break, with very little competition.

The photos from this surf trip to Morocco are really beautiful. Travel and surfing is something that I long to do. Laura and I keep talking about going to Costa Rica. I would love to go in winter to do some kayak surfing.

Morocco is very beautiful, and I had no idea it had any good surf at all. But I guess it makes sense if the Atlantic side has big swells you’re likely to see surf like they get in the Basque country. I remember getting excited when I saw how big the surf was in Baiko and Mundaka this winter.

It would be great to do a Paul Bowles Sheltering Sky type mosey through Africa to do Kayak Surfing on the west coast. Granted I would pass on catching a horrible disease and dying. But the traveling sounds great.

Check out the full Rapid Transit Post and all the pictures.

On a usability note: the notepad entries on the bottom of the pictures look cool, but are completely illegible.

I do like the idea that it is evil spirits inhabiting my body that makes me kayak surf. Perhaps I can somehow join forces with them to catch more waves, break fewer paddles and get that carbon road bike I’ve been after.

Tomorrow I face the surgeons knife. Hopefully this will lead to a short road to recovery. I know in my heart it will be longer than I’d like. But I hope to be out kayak surfing some time in early June.

I will most likely be doing a lot more strength training before I begin serious running/cycling again.

Wish me luck!

The 1984 film of Hayao Miyazaki’s graphic novel captured my imagination as a child. The giant airships, the toxic jungle, and most of all Nausicaa’s Mehve or Mowe glider. I really like the German word Mowe, as it means seagull, which is what the glider looks like when you see it. The Graphic Novel is probably one of the best things I’ve ever read. For me it is up there with Spiegelman’s Maus.

The Graphic Novel is a tale of the after math of a major ecological disaster. In this story humans destroyed the world in seven days of fire. The remainder of the human population is now threatened by a toxic jungle filled with giant insects and miasma. The major nation states are now vying for the territory that is left as the toxic jungle increases in size. Nausicaa is from the Valley of Wind, a small fiefdom to the kingdom of Torumeka near the acid lake. Winds off the acid lake keep the miasma and jungle from encroaching on the small jungle. War finds the Valley of the Wind and young Nausicaa a girl with a special telepathic link to other living creatures. She is thrust into the conflict between Torumeka and Pejite and manages to create her own side in the conflict striving to live in balance with the new eco system that was created after the seven days of fire.

These crazy Japanese guys have built up a working model of Nausicaa’s enigmatic Mowe.

The gap is closing on my childhood dreams. What’s next? A real lightsaber? Maybe it’s better that we don’t get those…

Check out the test flight video of the Mowe.

Leonard Cohen-I’m Your Man

Most people probably have outgrown Leonard Cohen, but I’ve found that as I’ve gotten older each song has burned a little brighter. Perhaps as my relationships have grown more complicated, and my experience wider, I appreciate him even more. I had Famous Blue Raincoat on infinite repeat through out college. I knew all of the words to Everybody Knows at one time.

I watched I’m Your Man Nick Cave, of whom I’ve always been a huge fan, didn’t leave me very impressed. His version of I’m Your Man seemed to be thrown off by the overly loud backup singers. Nor did Rufus Wainwright’s cover of Everybody Knows. Incidentally I like a few Rufus tunes, but his was actually the worst Leonard Cohen cover to which I’ve ever been subjected. Rufus’ campy drag queen delivery hit every phrase wrong and made the song seem insipid and dumb.

Bono and the Edge from U2 make an appearance and a performance. Bono’s comments while sometimes ego maniacal are purely complimentary and made me see the song Hallelujah completely different. You will have to watch the movie to see what he said.

Antony, of Antony and the Johnson’s also did a great cover of If it Be Your Will. He did a rip roaring version of this song. His voice is really unusual, it has that sort of vibrato/tremolo character to it that makes it sound a bit like the folk singer who did all the songs for the animated version of the Hobbit. *think “The gre-aaaa—aaaa-tttt adventu———rrrreee.” He is unusual and uncomfortable to watch, but great to hear.

However that said, Teddy Thompson’s cover of Tonight Will be Fine is possibly the best cover I’ve heard of a Leonard Cohen song (maybe John Cale’s and Jeff Buckley’s cover of Hallelujah is a three-way tie with this song). Unfortunately the recording that I liked the best was Teddy’s rehearsal from the special features of the DVD. I hope to find it somewhere someday.

This song says so many things about the elastic and circular nature of love between married people that it actually frightens me a little.

Tonight Will Be Fine

Sometimes I find I get to thinking of the past.
We swore to each other then that our love would surely last.
You kept right on loving, I went on a fast,
now I am too thin and your love is too vast.
But I know from your eyes
and I know from your smile
that tonight will be fine,
will be fine, will be fine, will be fine
for a while.

I choose the rooms that I live in with care,
the windows are small and the walls almost bare,
there’s only one bed and there’s only one prayer;
I listen all night for your step on the stair.

But I know from your eyes
and I know from your smile
that tonight will be fine,
will be fine, will be fine, will be fine
for a while.

Oh sometimes I see her undressing for me,
she’s the soft naked lady love meant her to be
and she’s moving her body so brave and so free.
If I’ve got to remember that’s a fine memory.

And I know from her eyes
and I know from her smile
that tonight will be fine,
will be fine, will be fine, will be fine
for a while.

Job Prevents Kalamazoo Man from Kayak Surfing

The surf is building on Lake Michigan. To quote Ben Stiller, I feel the need to grab some time in the green room!

I have ordered a composite Mega Neutron. I am hoping it is delivered and available by the time fall rolls around.

Until then I feel like a cuckold, my beautiful lake is out generating waves while I am away.