"Seakayaker"

I don't remember a lot most days but I do remember when Dean first got into paddling. He took and he continues to take it like most of us who paddle....serious. I was soon to see his passion for it evolve. Soon his skills became very evident and as I saw him working with Brian some nights on his rolls and later doing re-entry and rolls in the open ocean at St. Phillips you just get the kayaking feeling and the flood of memories ever so sweet that takes you back to your own accomplishments in a kayak.

There were days when we were out there and we wondered where everyone else was. How could they pass up this day on the water?

There were days like this when watching the  ocean wash from cliffs edge kept you in a space you couldn't get out of if you tried. I was talking to Sean about this the other day how it happens when you are on the water and you some how forget about everything else going on in your mind and you lapse into just being in the moment(s) of kayaking and it seems always as the shoreline approaches at the end of the paddle that you become acutely aware that you were in this kayak trance for the length of your paddle, and only reawaken to the thoughts that were in your head at the beginning of the paddle when you know you will soon be getting out of your boat. That is when I miss my kayak most. I just have a feeling Dean was in his own space in this shot.

There are always those days we are happy to share it with others who have perhaps similar thoughts to the craft of kayaking and the understanding that each has his own kayaking aura which is as individual as it is enveloping those around you. When you kayak with a group for a while I guess you just feel when they are paddling on their own, but with you, and you always enjoy when you come together to share something you may have just experienced on the water and then have the ability to gracefully ease off own your own accord again. This happens throughout the paddle with different and sometimes all paddlers each coming together in different circumstances, chatting for a bit, exchanging laughter or insights then slipping off again to ones own aura. I love that.