2013 Guide James Perry

I have been getting excited since tasting an energy bar a friend had made and gave me on a outdoor adventure.  Since then, I have researched a number of homemade energy bars and are currently coming up with my favorite bar put together from all of these with a local Door County twist…Door County Dried Cherries.   Stay tuned for some exciting experiments with homemade energy bar concoctions this spring!  A little sesame joke from one of my favorite comedians, Mitch Headburg, “What is a sesame?”

1. Fruit and Nut Bars  via the kitchn
2. Raw Lemon-Coconut Bars Similar to larabars.  via The Mother Nature Network
3. Super-Charged Energy Bars  via The Never Home Maker
4. Homemade Vegan Energy Bar Recipe  via The no meat athlete
5. No bake vegan energy bars, don’t let those fancy words fool you, yum! via Food Confidence

Let us know: Do you have a favorite energy bar or homemade energy bar you want to try to recreate or some ingredients(dried cherries) you would like to see in an energy bar?  We are creating our own version now.

The reason so much emphasis is placed on sea kayaking at Adventure Island (http://www.slickrock.com/kayakbelize.html) is that, in addition to it being fun in it’s own right, it also serves as the chief mode of transportation to nearby snorkeling hot spots. That’s why every guest attends sea kayaking orientation first thing after breakfast the morning following their arrival on Batfish, Slickrock’s private shuttle boat.

A Slickrock sea kayak guide explains the basics of the “T-rescue” technique on land before the group heads out into the lagoon.

(Caption: A Slickrock sea kayak guide explains the basics of the “T-rescue” technique on land before the group heads out into the lagoon.)

For beginners, our orientation class covers all the basics: how to do a safety check of the equipment, how to hold your paddle, entering and exiting the boat, the use of the spray skirt, etc.

Even expert sea kayakers attend the orientation. At Glover’s Reef we snorkel right out of our kayaks. That means learning how to safely exit and re-enter a sea kayak while in deep water.

Because our guests are generally from the US or Canada, where water temperatures are colder, few sea kayakers ever think about purposefully getting out of their sea kayak. At Glover’s Reef, the water is 80 degrees so we slip out and back into our kayaks all day long.

A second reason even expert kayakers are asked to take orientation is that we teach our guests something called the “T – rescue”, and then practice it right after the demo (at right). This technique is a safe and easy way for one kayaker to assist their partner in righting an overturned kayak in deep water and steadying their boat so they can climb back in.

Once both these skills have been learned, our guests are free to explore the reef far and wide, even without a guide, as long as they have a buddy.

Franklin Seal

Slickrock Adventures

Experience the sunset, bonfires, photos & fireworks with your Door County kayak guide.

Paddle begins on Saturday, June 15th 2013 at 7:30 at our Door County Kayak Tours location off of HWY 42 in Juddville.  This paddle ends late, so be prepared with a change of warm clothes, patience, and a relaxing attitude.

Interested to see a Door County Aerial Video of Fyrbal.

Call to reserve your spot today! (920) 868-1400

So we hope to offer an opportunity for you to get that next merit badge! Don’t think it will be too easy, kayaking goes back to the time of the Native Cultures like the Inuits, there is deep history with many interesting sports they used to play, e.g. Having a race upside down in a kayak, by putting the paddle over the bottom of your kayak and racing a friend. Might not want to try that friendly competition until you have mastered the wet exit.

Kayaking merit badge requirements requires prior BSA swimmer test.

1. Explain the potential hazards encounter while participating in kayaking activities, including weather and water-related hazards, and what you should do to anticipate, help prevent, mitigate, and respond to these hazards.
2. Review prevention, symptoms, and first-aid treatment for the following injuries or illnesses that can occur while kayaking: blisters, cold-water shock and hypothermia, hyperthermia, dehydration, sunburn, sprains, and strains.
3. Review the BSA Safety Afloat policy.
4. Review the characteristics of life jackets most appropriate for kayaking and understand why one must always be worn while paddling. Then demonstrate how to select and fit a life jacket for kayaking. What “Type” life jacket is required to kayak?
5. Review the importance of safety equipment such as a signal device, extra paddle, sponge, bilge pump, and throw bag.
6. Kayak Nomenclature.
7. Review the differences in the design between recreational, whitewater, and sea or touring kayaks. Include how length, width, initial and secondary stability, and rocker are involved in the design of each type.
8. Review the advantages and disadvantages of the materials most commonly used to make kayaks. Explain the care, maintenance, and storage of a kayak.
9. Using the trucker’s hitch and bowline, demonstrate how to secure a kayak to a rack on a vehicle or a trailer, or to a rack on land.
10. How to choose a kayak paddle.
11. The different materials from which paddles are made, parts of a paddle, and the care and maintenance of a paddle.

Using a properly equipped kayak with an open cockpit, a sit-on-top, or an inflatable kayak, do the following:

1. Safely capsize and perform a wet exit.
2. Reenter the kayak with assistance from a buddy boat.
3. Demonstrate a kayak-over-kayak rescue.
4. Demonstrate the HELP position.
5. Capsize the kayak, swim it and the paddle to shore, and empty water from the kayak with assistance, if needed.

By yourself with a properly equipped kayak demonstrate the following:

1. Forward stroke
2. Backstroke
3. Forward sweep
4. Reverse sweep
5. Draw stroke(s)
6. Stern draw
7. Paddle a straight line for 25 yards, make a sharp turn, and return 25 yards in a straight line.
8. 360 degrees rotation to the right and 360 degrees rotation to the left.
9. Move abeam to the right 10 feet and to the left 10 feet.
10. Stop the boat in one boat length.
11. Paddle a buoyed course of a length determined by your counselor that includes two right turns and two left turns performed while under way.

Well, good thing kayaking is fun, because that is a lot of knowledge to learn. Help out your fellow troop mates and lets hear some comments that answer these requirements!

Lesson # 3 Body Dragging

When I learned to fly a practice kite I found myself constantly resisting the pull from the kite. Leaning backwards so I would not go flying forward. My first experiences body dragging have taught me to think of the kite in a completely different way.

For those who do not know what body dragging is; it is using a kite to pull yourself through the water. No board is involved. This is done to allow an individual to experience the force of the kite and the coordination required to fly it.

When it was no longer necessary to resist the pull of the kite I was able to feel the power of the kite and the effects of my technique. Skipping across the water in a wetsuit was amazing. The whole process is very intuitive. A person can feel how their movements can effect the kite, and without doing anything can form a basic idea of what different strokes will do to them in the water.

I have body dragged three times. The most recent time, I was able to arc my back and peer out over the water. I watched the kite while it moved through my peripherals  and I skimmed across Bailey’s Harbor.

Landscape/Gearage Updates;

1. Wood pallet Fence, I have been getting a few complaints about neighbors seeing the trailers with the kayaks on them. The cedar trees I have planted are taking a while to take off, as well as having the electric company spray them with poison, even thought they weren’t under the electric lines.  We have a local pallet resource down the way from us, a little cherry orchard, who has plenty of wooden pallets, two of them would provide a good amount of height for a fence, as well as creating a landscape opportunity with vines, moss, etc. What should I do with the fence to make it unique?
2. 
3. Outside shower/foot wash. Hot Tub. Some place to rinse off, some place to relax.
5. Larger Garden with chickens, we put a little bit of energy into the soil in the fall, so hopefully we will have a nice garden this next summer.
6. Flower and plant landscaping around driveway, maybe a river of flowers.
7. Still thinking what to do with the gearage, I don’t like the garage doors, but currently they are the easiest and least expensive option, maybe there are some ideas to change the design or look and feel of the doors.
8. Another gearage or addon to the current gearage to allow parking of the trailers.
9. A Gibbon Slackline practice area, near the trampoline, stacked and padded with wood chips around it. For practicing balance before getting in a kayak.
10. 

Preparing for the mountain, required vigorous training!

It didn’t take long before we were enjoying our selves.

The town is lit up for the Holidays, New Years and the rest of the ski season.  Living in a fairy tale.

It finally snowed…alot!

Jumping into a cloud pillow.

There are still miles to go before I sleep.

We always have room in my day for friends, kayak guests, strangers, and curious adventurers.  Come say hi to vail and me right meow.  Life is short, make it sweet.

Well, just in case it does happen, now would be a good time to grab some Door County Gift Certificates for a Kayak Tour this next summer.

Check out NatGeo for more info about our planet’s fresh water:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/04/water/water-animation

Meet Brody’s new friend Tony! Tony loves to bask in the sun over at Cave Point County Park. He also enjoys a brisk swim as long as his best friend, Brody, watches over him.  Tony loves playing chess, as well as challenging himself with rubix cubes.  His favorite animal friend is a Wamandark, half Whale Shark, half Charmander.  He is fascinated with the flames of the charmander & the powerful movements of the largest non-mammalian vertebrate. When the night sky covers his cave, Tony marvels over the constellations, recently discovering Aquila. Yet, Tony’s favorite constellation is Delphinus because it’s a little nugget just like himself!

His favorite jokes are knock knock jokes. His favorite one in particular combines two classic jokes;

“Why did the chicken cross the road?”
“umm, I dont know”
“To get to her friends house”
“knock knock”
“who’s there?”
“the chicken! duh!”

Tony’s Story:
A long time ago, Tony packed his little things in his little briefcase and walked his little legs down the big coast. He was wrongfully accused along his travels and sent to prison for life! In prison, he befriended a kayak tour guide named Brody who was also wrongfully accused and given a life sentence. Even though they were two completely different creatures from different backgrounds they shared a common experience that created a strong bond between them. This bond grew so strong it seemed as if nothing could ever break it. They also shared a dream that every creature on this planet should be given a chance to pursue, and that dream is freedom! As time went on, Tony realized he had to make a plan before it was too late. One day he broke free from the chains that were causing him pain and made a break for the coast. Years went by and Brody eventually was liberated and all charges were dropped as he was found innocent! He remembered a talk he and Tony had shared years ago of a beautiful coast in a distant land… DOOR COUNTY! He paddled and paddled until he reached Cave Point where the two were reunited! Beautiful beaches, dolomite caves, and sunshine forever! They pass each other once a day and exchange smiles that only the two of them will ever understand. The smiles represent more than happiness, more than freedom… they represent hope!
Don’t ever give up, and don’t ever lose hope in your dreams to come paddle with us down the beautiful coast of Door County!

Happy 4th o’ July Door County! Enjoy the explosion of colors in the evening sky in Baileys Harbor tonight!

Aside from the traditional 4th of July events such as BBQ’s, fireworks and boating, Door County has some of the most fun outdoor activities one can imagine. What is our favorite? Kayaking of course! With 298 miles of shoreline waiting for you to partake on a kayaking adventure there is no reason not to get out on the water on us.

Besides kayaking, our guides at Door County Kayak Tours share a wide array of personal interests and hobbies. Every year around the 4th we make an extra effort to enhance our team bonding and are always on the lookout for an adventure. Our next two weeks are not just filled with work-but also skydiving, kiteboarding, ziplining, climbing, off road segway-ing and fishing (just to name a few).

These past 2 days we’ve been blessed with a full day of kiting lessons in Bailey’s Harbor and a chartered fishing trip with Reel Addiction Charters in Ellison Bay. A big thanks to Captain Tim for taking the crew out and helping us come home with 12 salmon…enough dinner for a few weeks! With a great kickoff to the 4th of July craziness we look forward to many more adventures in the upcoming weeks- stay posted!!

Thanks for listening, and if you’re ever wanting to fish be sure to check out Reel Addiction Charters

-Tina

Exploring off Ridges Rd. in Bailey's Harbor

Emma, Brody and Tina after a day of kiting

My first fish of the evening!

The whole crew with our "catch"

The first meeting came on the way back from a tour of Cave Point.  One lady had asked if we were going to see any birds on the trip, and I could only promise that there would be a plethora of Gulls along the way.  Sure enough, as we made thee approach back to the launch site, from the vast blue abyss that is Lake Michigan, a white-headed wonder soared in above and made its nest in a shoreline cedar.  Sometimes, you do get what you wish for*

The second meeting was a bit different, but just as grand.  Just last Tuesday, on a two person private tour, a mother Bald Eagle and its Fledgling came in over the land from the South, and put on quite the display of outstretched wings.  It was the first time that I had seen a “teenager” Eagle and they are quite easy to distinguish, as they are mostly brown with white spots.  It was hard for me to maintain my excitement, but luckily the guests were just as enthused as I.

My brother is a trained Wilderness Guide out West in Washington, and always emphasized that one should always keep their chin up because of the way our eyes and faces are designed.  We can easily look down without moving our heads, but we can not easily look up.  Try it- keep your chin up so you can see the sky, and you can still see below and out in front. If your chin is down so that you may better see your feet, anything above is in your blind spot.

Keep Your Chin Up and Your Eyes on the Sky^
Sincerely,
Keith

Maybe some new signage coming soon.

web links- always looking to exchange links with any DC businesses.

kayaks- a few new kayaks

buses.- darn transmission is costing me an arm and a leg.

Gorgeous spring so far!

Then went skating the ramp with my buddy Tom B, still getting better. One pump at a time.

Motorcycle ride on my new/old 1974 Honda CB750 Bike.  Checked out the sunset. YES!

Grabbed the fun maker for tomorrows chaos!  Rail sliding all day!  This thing is going to be soooooooo fun!  I am in need of more wind!