Nice Paddle, Then a Disaster

I had a lovely paddle with my friend Gowan on Sunday. He only gets up to Peekskill a few times a year, and he likes to get out on the water. I try to have a nice paddle each time he visits when the weather is pleasant. He's not a standup paddler, but he enjoys paddling along in my Bic kayak.

Great paddle, until my board was stove in!

Name:		Swamp Hole Disaster
Date:		Aug 11, 2013 3:16 pm
Map: (valid until Feb 9, 2014)		View on Map
Distance:		4.04 miles
Elapsed Time:		1:27:23
Avg Speed:		2.8 mph
Max Speed:		3.8 mph
Avg Pace:		21' 36" per mile
Min Altitude:		0 ft
Max Altitude:		0 ft
Start Time:		2013-08-11T19:16:54Z
Start Location:
	Latitude:	41º 12' 23" N
	Longitude:	73º 53' 40" W
End Location:
	Latitude:	41º 12' 23" N
	Longitude:	73º 53' 40" W

We did four miles from Swamp Hole (Croton Landing) to Croton Point then north then south. We had a blast on the beautiful day, but then when I pulled my board out of the water there were some huge holes in the bottom!

A lovely group of four holes near the front of the board. They were about an inch deep.

My finger went right in.

A fifth towards the back.

Here's the map of the damage.

This is very serious damage, and I'm baffled that I didn't feel it. I usually feel every little eddie under the board, so that fact that it was perforated like this without me knowing about it bothers me.

I'm also having serious doubts about this being a good river board. The design is great, but if it can't take a serious hit, then I don't know… NSPs are pretty tough. My NSP hit a rock so hard I flew off the front of the board. There was a small impact crack, but nothing like this. My Exocet Kona is pretty tough, but this Exocet model doesn't seem to be made from the same stuff.

I took the board into East Coast Surf Products in Larchmont today. Bill the proprietor is going to fix it, but even he was impressed with the damage. He also showed me that the skin of the Marlin is pretty thin. He was peeling away the damaged areas an he could just chip away the skin with his pocket knife. He said he could not do that with an NSP -- there are a lot more glass layers.

I highly recommend East Coast Surf Products for board repairs.

Gloves or Not Gloves

While we can tout the physical benefits of standup paddling quite a lot, one place where standup paddling damages my body is my hands. Not that I started off with smooth, baby-bottom skin on my palms, but after paddling regularly for a couple of years, they're starting to look a little gnarly. I'm reminded of some of the descriptions of tree roots in The Fellowship of the Ring. Yes, that's not very romantic, but it's the truth.

Gloves make a difference. They preserve my palms and keep them from turning into a horny, calloused mess. I've tried a few, but the ones I like best are NRS Men's Boater's Gloves. These fingerless gloves protect my palms and are pretty comfortable.

Yes, I took this image from the NRS website.

Another advantage of gloves is that they provide a more consistent friction on your paddle. This must be true for other people too; the way my hand slides down the shaft of the paddle changes depending on whether my skin is wet or dry. (That sounded unintentionally dirty.) Gloves provide a more consistent slide, wet or dry. That makes a difference in your paddling technique and it's the other main reason I wear them.

On the other hand, these gloves don't protect your fingers. Maybe I'll need to invest in some full-fingered gloves soon.

The remains of two blisters after my last paddle. Good thing I just bought a big, bustling box of Band-Aids. (Alliteration alert) My five year-old daughter Guinevere had to take the shot because my hands were unavailable, and my nose just wouldn't have worked.