I took friday off of work at random. Thursday afternoon I decided I was going to... didn't have any plans other than 1) not go to work 2) get out on the water. We're into that part of the summer that I don't like so much... 80+ days at 80-90% humidity. Sticky and nasty. Nothing ever seems to dry out and the air is swampy. Anyhow.. After a couple of wasted hours friday tracking down a errand UPS shipment (don't get me started about that...) I headed down to the lake. I was thinking of going out fishing on the lake. When I got there I decided to go out on the saltpond instead. I went to borrow my mom's 'new' kayak that we all pitched in to get for her for xmas.
It's a Hobie Outback with the Mirage drive... pedal powered. I haven't seen too many people out there with these, but you need to try it. This particular model is setup for fishing, four fishing pole holders, tacklebox storage in front of the seat, large cooler well in back, and two very large bungie tie down areas for random sized stuff. I've had this out on windy/choppy days and it's very stable. The mirage drive has two flippers that stick out below the boat and when you pedal they flap back and forth. Simple. They drive the boat extremely well. At low speed you can easily 'paddle' for hours. Pick up the pace and you can beat anyone in any kayak. This is perfect for fishing cause you don't need to fumble with a paddle while casting etc. When you get into shallow water you push forward on one of the pedals and it tucks the flippers up against the bottomr of the boat. Adds maybe 1-2 inches to the draft.... not ideal for shallow river use, but in the salt pond it kicks ass.
I'm dying to try out the latest version of this boat, the Adventure Island.
A trimaran with the same mirage drive. Its a couple feet longer for more speed. Yeah...
Other stuff. The BFB is gettign closer to dialed-in. I changed the stem for a little more upright postion, and swapped the sh*tty seat for a Brooks B17. Other than that... Its cool. I'm still convinced the xtracycle/stokemonkey combo would be *perfect* on a recumbent. I have *way* too many open projects to finish before I even consider starting another though.
Oh, and the 'redcaps'/wild rasberries/"Japanese Wine Berries"(?) are getting ripe up in Po'Dunk. Go check them out. Mrs FlatTires was up there ysterday and picked about 5 gallons in a couple hours. She gave us some and they are incredible. Would be perfect for making some preserves Mrs 40 says. Check it out:
Have a good week!
-40
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