By Vladimir Brezina
Finally! I knew there had to be some use for these things! ;-)
Spotted off Cape Ann, MA: A man on a paddle board tending to his lobster pots.
His comment: “This is harder in winter.”
Copyright
Wind Against Current by Vladimir Brezina and Johna Till Johnson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.Authors
Vladimir Brezina (RIP)
... kayaked the waters around New York for more than 15 years in his red Feathercraft folding kayak. He was originally from (the former) Czechoslovakia and lived in the U.K. and California before settling down in New York. He was a neuroscientist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He died in 2016.Johna Till Johnson
... is a kayaker and technology researcher at Nemertes Research. She's an erstwhile engineer, particle physicist, and science fiction writer. She was born in California and has lived in Italy, Norway, Hawaii, and a few other places. She currently resides in New York City.Recent Comments
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I’ll bet it is a lot harder in winter. Cool. I love these boards. There is a guy at Tahoe that uses his to dive down and retrieve tires, garbage, whatever to keep the lake clean. Nice guy.
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It sounds like they are surprisingly versatile :-)
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I tried yoga on one at the local pool last winter. It was pretty fun. I’m going up to the lake for a session on “real” water later in August. Wish me luck–I’m a total klutz and that water is sooooooooo cold!
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You’ll love it! And the cold water will motivate you to get back on quickly if you fall in ;-)
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I have wanted a Versa board for some time now. Very cool to see a SUP used “outside of the box.”
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Yes! First time I’ve seen this :-)
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They are great for checking crab pots too. :)
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Of course! Actually, I am not sure whether this guy was after lobsters or crabs. I assume lobsters, in that part of the world. But I am not familiar with the subtleties of lobster vs. crab trapping, and whether with that kind of trap, baited with a chicken—which is what it appears to be—you will get more lobsters or more crabs… :-)
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Good questions. :) We use chicken for our crab traps but don’t have lobster around here!
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Are you sure they were his? Ha!
George
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Which is why he has his own buoy colors displayed on the front of his boat, just like a real lobster boat would have! I found that especially cute :-)
BTW, George, I took these photos during the Blackburn Challenge itself… part of the reason for my very slow time this year ;-)
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I expect to see one with a small tent pitched on it.
G
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No doubt someone has that already somewhere.
Johna and I are still working on the problem of how to sleep comfortably in our two single kayaks in the open ocean, or even tied up in the mangroves…
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Vlad,
Have you read Verlen Kruger’s book, The Ultimate Canoe Challenge: 28,000 Miles Through North America. He and Steve Landick managed to do it on the open ocean. They had a couple of poles that turned their two canoes into a small catamaran.
The bugs in the mangroves would be a problem.
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I know about him, but haven’t read the book. Yes, that was our idea too. But the devil is in the details. I’ll take a look at their design—maybe they’ve got it all figured out. Thanks, George!!
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http://www.krugercanoes.com/Products.html
The poles are available here.
G
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Thanks, George!
I did seriously consider buying one of his canoes once…
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Very cool. I hope he had a good catch. So, umm… does he dress like that in the wintertime, too. Heh heh heh! :-D
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I didn’t think to ask ;-)
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I think that may be more in line with their traditional use. My husband says paddle boards are for folks who want to look cool and fashionable on the water. (shrugs) I’m sure the views are amazing and it is pretty cool he’s using the board for something other than a floating Patagonia billboard. :)
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Now that you mention it, he does fit right into a Patagonia catalog. They do like it if, in addition to looking cool, one is saving the planet (I think fishing, in a sustainable manner, may still be acceptable…)
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Having our planet’s safety in mind is never a bad thing. We just like to joke about ’em because they do look ‘cool’ standing atop one of those looking down at the rest of us. :)
Actually, I’ve been wanting to try it myself!
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Go for it!
(And providing us with tasty morsels is not a bad thing either :-) )
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Ha! I always wanted to try one of these! Someday…
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When you do, perhaps it will be best not to lay out lobster pots, trawl for fish, tow water skiers, etc., right on the first day ;-)
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They look so mellow on their boards, moving slowly along. Looks like fun.
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But they can move fast when they want to! Thinking that a kayak should be quite a bit faster, I am sometimes surprised :-)
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Must be quite a balancing act with those big sea-bug catchers. Those things are heavy.
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That’s what I was thinking. Especially if the sea isn’t calm…
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Takes all kinds of crazy. :-)
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Awesome
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It is :-)
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Very impressive… :-)
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Yes!
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I am always impressed by the speed accomplished paddlers can move their boards with. In the Blackburn Challenge, a 22 mile open ocean race, we start with them. We paddle a tandem racing canoe and can’t keep up with the best PBs. We are getting a little long in the tooth but standing on a board and paddling around Cape Ann is a feat by itself.
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And there are even longer races, like the 100-mile SUP race down the Hudson :-)
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On a surf board? Still looks luxurious by Pacific Islands’ standards. But again maybe this guy works harder bcs lobsters aren’t as abundant in winter as now.
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No idea about lobster abundance, but it must be pretty tough in winter. Water is near freezing, and it’s often stormy…
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Only in MA will you see THAT!!! My NH Yoga instructor is now all about this I would try but who will help me up and down and oh wait I do not swim and I do not want to become a sharks dinner :)
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I believe people do yoga on them while on the water… must be very relaxing :-)
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She is young and much more daring than I lol she seems to be having fun :)
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:-)
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In winter he could strap some blades and a sail to that board!
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And wear more clothes! ;-)
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Wow…Impressive!
Btw….actually went kayaking on a river today!
My first time!!
Your blog has inspired me!
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Excellent! And how did you like it?
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This is the second time recently I’ve heard about stand up paddle boards. I want to try it!
I love the idea of the guy using it to retrieve his lobster traps. Smart!
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Go for it! (The paddle board, not necessarily the lobster traps.) They are very cool right now! ;-)
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Winter? No thanks!
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That’s when the best catch is ;-)
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Figures!
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