The Kayak Season Begins (Without Me)!

The Kayak Season Begins (Without Me)! 

Welcome to my blog!  I've never done such a thing before, so you will have to bear with me as I find my way through this new territory!  I love writing, and I am trying to put myself into a daily routine of doing somekind of writing.  So, this will be one of the ways I will try to meet my goal.  


This blog, however, I am intending to be mostly about my adventures in kayaking.  I am not a super-kayaker, the way some of my friends are.  I only have one boat, only paddle on the weekends, and I am pretty slow, as far as paddlers go.  However, I love being out on the water in my kayak, and I love challenging myself, as scared as I get at times out on the water.  The people I have met through this activity are who I think of as "my people"--passionate about paddling and everything related to paddling.  I feel as though I have finally met my tribe!  


Today, The Kayak Season was supposed to begin for me.  Some of the great paddlers I have met through the Jersey Shore Sea Kayaking Association (JSSKA) were meeting down at Berkeley Island State Park for a paddle today.  Yesterday, I organized my paddling gear, packed up my car, and went to bed at a decent hour so I would have energy for my first day out on the water.  It has been a brutal winter, and I haven't been in my boat since October.  


However, this morning, the cough that had been bothering me all week took a turn for the worse, and due to the productiveness of the cough, and the green color and copiousness of the "production", I decided that I should stay home.  I was bummed, but I knew I needed to take some medicine, rest, and drink plenty of fluids.  


So this is where today finds me.  At home, enviously thinking of my friends out on the water.  Well, soon enough I will be out there again.


In the meantime, I have a couple of things I have to think about for the season.  I have a couple of weighty decisions to make.  


First of all, I have to decide whether I will be doing KFAC again this summer.  KFAC stands for Kayak For A Cause.  It is a charity event that I have done for the past three years.  Kayakers raise money for a variety of charities, and then on the appointed day, paddle across the Long Island Sound.  The first year, I did it out of desperation to get through the pain of an excruciating breakup.  It was a challenge to myself to make good out of bad, and to continue to paddle despite the loss of my paddling partner and boyfriend.


I admit now, I had no clue what I was getting myself into.  I signed up alone and got assigned to a pod (or team) of people who I had never met before.  Looking back, I think I was pretty brave to do what I did.  I guess heartbreak makes people a little crazy, a little desperate, a little more likely to take risks.  In the end, it didn't get me over the heartbreak(only time and copious amounts of crying did that), but it did give me a cause, a goal, a focus that had been lost.  For that, I am so grateful.  


And I did something incredible.  I raised a good amount of money for deserving charities and paddled my way across Long Island Sound.  It was an amazing day, and it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be.  And then, I did it two more times, each time raising more money from supportive family, friends, and colleagues.  If nothing else, it made me realize how many generous people there are in the world who are willing to support me in this endeavor!  


But now, three years on, I am wondering if I should do it again this year.  Last year seemed to be emotionally and physically more draining than it had in the past.  It was exceedingly hot, and some of the people on our team were not very experienced.  One person got sick.  Another person flipped out of their boat twice. I also had some issues with  the way things were handled.  I think things were probably handled the same way each year, but because I was more experienced, they were more noticeable to me.  I won't go into depth here about things but it left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. 




In a few weeks is the annual KFAC Kick-Off Party.  There has been a bit of a changing of the guard, and the new organization has been touting many changes in the way the event will be run.  The new vision will be revealed at the party.  I am going to go to the party and see what they say.  After the party, I will probably make my decision of whether or not I will sign up.  


There are so many good things about this event.  Raising money for the organizations, the camaraderie with my podmates, the actual act of paddling across Long Island Sound.  All amazing.  I know I will miss out if I don't do it.  But part of me is burned out.  Maybe I need a break for a year.  I can always come back.  


Stay tuned for this and other decisions!