Talking Story Archives - Page 95 of 114

First day back

Posted by Ken Campbell April 9, 2009 0 Comment 972 views

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 […]

A Progress report

Posted by Ken Campbell April 8, 2009 0 Comment 1003 views

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 […]

Puget Sound Challenge – Day 9

Posted by Ken Campbell April 7, 2009 0 Comment 1067 views

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 […]

Puget Sound Challenge – Day 8

Posted by Ken Campbell April 6, 2009 0 Comment 863 views

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 […]

Hail to the bus driver

Posted by Ken Campbell April 4, 2009 0 Comment 936 views

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 […]

Third time’s a charm

Posted by Ken Campbell April 2, 2009 0 Comment 865 views

I’m going back out there again this weekend, back to where I left off. I figure I’ll start from Suquamish on Saturday morning, paddle the length of Bainbridge Island, then meet the family at Manchester. A little car camping, maybe a round or two of cribbage… much more civilized than the way I rolled on […]

In search of safety

Posted by Ken Campbell April 1, 2009 0 Comment 884 views

Buck Tilton, co-founder of the Wilderness Medical Institute has this to say: “Adventure, then, is a stretch of the mind, an expansion of the heart. Without adventure, life becomes a book with only one page. Without adventure, the human spirit withers, and then dies. ‘Give me the storm and tempest of thought and action,’ wrote […]

Expectations v. Results

Posted by Ken Campbell March 30, 2009 0 Comment 1001 views

I thought I would need to paddle at night. Given that the wind is a major factor in the touring paddleboard game, I expected that I would need to do a certain amount of my paddling after dark, when the wind usually abates. I went as far as installing a mount for a light near […]

A Change

Posted by Ken Campbell March 29, 2009 0 Comment 1002 views

A bit of housekeeping today… I’ve had a few people ask me, just in the last week, why the “Comment” feature on this site had been disabled. No good reason, I suppose. So I turned it on… you can now leave your thoughts, suggestions and other input right here, just a click away. If you […]