Showdown in the Cooks: Pick Up Push-Bike Racing So, I was biking to practice today as usual. I hear this repetitive noise coming up from behind me and figure it’s a slow going motorcycle. I look to my right and it turns out to be some guy on a push-bike passing me. Now, as many of you know, I’m somewhat of a competitive person and wouldn’t let something like this just happen without putting up a fight. So I immediately match his pace and get on his back wheel. I’m just cruising there for a bit and every now and then [View Full Entry]

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Good Day I had a great paddle today. When I showed up they already had two boats in the water and brought down a third. Unfortunately we only had 13 paddlers so we had to leave a boat on shore and, as you may guess, I was the lucky extra who didn’t get a boat. I was eerily not upset about it though, I actually laughed about it. Just the other day I had been talking to Richie about not getting seats ever and when Fletcher said I was going to be left he looked at me and we had [View Full Entry]

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Taking Offsets One of the things I’m really interested in doing is taking the offsets from as many boats as I can. The offsets let me have a way of comparing different boats without having the boats next to each other. In effect it lets me turn the hull into a bunch of numbers. With these numbers I hope to create digital models of the canoes (working on an ama right now), allowing me to put two canoes from different parts of the world next to each other. I also hope that in the future I may be able to [View Full Entry]

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Lost New Friend Returns So some of you may recall from a post way back that when I arrived at Tiare village I meet a German girl, Christina, who was working at the dentist office. A few weeks into the stay she decided to move off Rarotonga to work at the dentist shop in Aitutaki. Before she left we were supposed to catch up on a Sunday and head down to Muri beach. Unfortunately with no cell phone we missed each other. She left the following Monday so I didn’t get to meet her. I was very sad about this [View Full Entry]

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Island Craft So I though I’d say a bit about Island Craft, the place that I’ve been doing a lot of my work. Island Craft is owned by Fletcher Melvin and it’s been a family business for three generations, I think. I know they’ve got a small shop in the airport and their main commercial store is in Avarua. I feel like there may be another store somewhere but I can’t remember. I also know they’ve got their main shop and offices on the back road behind the Avarua shop. To get there head toward Vonnia’s Warehouse, go past it [View Full Entry]

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It is windy here. Very very windy. Dave (from the airport) tells me 40-50 knots. Maybe that’s not so bad if you’re on the Gulf of Mexico about now, but I think the rest of you can appreciate it. It’s really made me realize how much the wind effects biking. When I’m going into town with the wind I fly. When I’m heading back I might be able to go faster jogging my bike. I’m guessing that a significant part of the resistance in biking is from the wind (probably even more so if you had a better bike) so [View Full Entry]

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Paradise? Not everyday is perfect in paradise. Had a paddle today and, as is often the case, I only got a seat for less than half of practice. I did get to use ‘my own’ paddle (one I fixed and get to use while I’m here) but the shaft is too slippery and I loose my grip on occasion. The second half I took out a single, which is cool, but it was wicked choppy today. I did alright going into the waves but coming back I just wasn’t doing that well and got very frustrated; not every practice is good. [View Full Entry]

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So some of you want to know what I’m doing out here. As you have probably heard, there are no boats being built on Rarotonga right now so repairing paddles and learning how to use them. This post will show you roughly what I do. The repair I’m showing is about as bad as it gets, the whole blade broke in half. I’ve done two of these so far; most repairs are a lot smaller. To do this one the fist thing I do is clean up the break, so that I can easily glue the new piece of wood on. [View Full Entry]

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Second Race So, remember last time how I was a little annoyed I didn't get to race? I got to race this time. Twice. Total of 23 kilometers. I was in the novice race which was 8k and we won easily because there was no competition. The last race was the men's senior race, which was almost canceled because it was getting late but I pointed out that we normally start practice at this time anyways. Anyways, the men's junior team races in this event (they're pretty good) but one of the guys had to go to work so I [View Full Entry]

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The Changeover I’m paddling on the ama side of the boat; the left side. The pace is rapid, probably 90 strokes or so a second. The conditions probably aren’t the worst but definitely qualify as dismal. A strong wind whips the spray of the paddlers in front of me into my face and makes my grip slippery - not that the stinging rain isn’t doing so anyways. I hear a sharp ‘Hup!’ come from two seats in front of me, meaning a changeover is coming I take one more stroke and the boat simultaneously shifts. My left had carries my blade [View Full Entry]

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