All Posts Written by "ken"
Bridge work
The eastern half of the Hood Canal Bridge is nearing the end of its structural service life, according to the engineering gurus at WSDOT. Just repairing the structure would not significantly extend the life of the bridge, so rebuilding has been selected as the more cost-effective solution. When it’s completed, the bridge will have a […]
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Blast from the past
I’ve often wondered how long an untended website will stick around. If no one visits, if it never gets updated, will it stay online forever anyway, a sort of cyber-time capsule? Is there a purge system of some kind, that flushes away the dead sites, or do they stay on, not really alive but not […]
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Fu-Sang
What would you think if I told you that, although Robert Gray sailed across the Columbia River bar in 1792, he wasn’t the first explorer to do so? Or if I mentioned that Juan de Fuca wasn’t the first outsider who traveled on the straits that bear his name? What if you were to find […]
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Puget Sound Challenge – Day 10
In two decades of sea kayaking, I have paddled the waters between Tacoma’s Titlow Beach and Point Defiance more than anywhere else. For six glorious years, I was fortunate enough to live at Salmon Beach, a community of homes stuck between the sandy cliffs and the Tacoma Narrows, and I was able to get out […]
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Other stories
The Puget Sound Challenge occupies much of my time and energy at the moment. The idea of paddling this 150 NM course on a SUP was (and still is), a notion that appeals to me on a very basic level: no one’s done it before. First is better than best, and you never know what […]
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First day back
When you’re on the water, paddling into a pocket cove on a sunny afternoon, and you wave to the people on shore, they almost always wave back using all their fingers. When you get back home again, back to work, back to the city, you’ll notice that people often use only one. We’re just so […]
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A Progress report
After another superb weekend on the water, I thought it might be time to review the progress thus far, as well as look ahead to the remaining portion of the Puget Sound Challenge. Since I started back in February, I’ve paddled a total of 110.5NM. Feb 27 Belfair State Park – Menard’s Landing 12NMFeb 28 […]
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Puget Sound Challenge – Day 9
The epic days make the best stories. The days when the wind is howling and the seas are big and nasty, when the food and the sleeping bag get soaked and you end up getting washed ashore on some rocky beach just before dark. Big days, when you are forced to question your sanity and […]
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Puget Sound Challenge – Day 8
When the fog is thick, there are times when it is not enough to stay within sight of shore. Crossings in the fog require some faith and a willingness to deprive the senses, the sense of sight, anyway. If you have a compass, you learn to rely on it to get you to the other […]
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Hail to the bus driver
The sky is starting to lighten as I write this, and it won’t be long before another day is upon us. My ride should be here in about an hour. I am not opposed to shuttling myself – when it’s practical, I’ll do the job on my bike – but there are more times than […]
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A story of sea kayaking and science on the rugged coast of Alaska. Coming – Spring 2014.
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