As an avid fan of kayaking, New York City AND fireworks,
Well, I couldn’t resist choosing this photo for our Photo of the Day. Of course, I would have liked to choose it for my July 4 selection, but I only saw the photo yesterday. It’s a beaut, and makes me think I should get into my boat next year on the 4th, camera in hand. And while you’re admiring the picture, take a moment and click around the site of the LIC Community Boathouse, which does a fine job promoting paddling in the area.
I’ve read a couple of things about this new site Farecast, and figured I’d go take a look for myself. The site is still in beta, or out of beta though hardly ready for primetime, but what it offers is a unique and much-needed (or at least very useful) take on the whole Web 2.0 travel site thing. What FareCast does is shows you the price history of a particular flight and then offers you what the price forecast is.
That is, through a series of complex algorithms…and some weird juju I don’t profess to understand, black magic if you will, the site will tell you if the price is trending up or down. They also offer a confidence meter showing the likelihood they are right and how the price differs according to time of day.
In other words, it takes what a company like kayak offers and then throws a lot more useful information at you. Really pretty cool. The sad thing is that , as I mentioned, the site hardly works yet, with the ability to view only outgoing flights from Boston and Seattle. But so far, this could be a really cool new way to shop for flights.
It’s been a while since I last checked in with one of my favorite magazines: Canoe and Kayak. There are almost always great articles and photos there that discuss the best places to paddle, review of gear and often profiles of prominent paddling figures. In regards to this latter, I point you to a series of paddler profiles that you will enjoy.
The first is a profile of Simon Osborne, who took a rather ballsy trip circumnavigating the United Kingdom. Yes, and he did so with little or no paddle experience, and all for a good cause, too: leukemia research. Another one is of paddler Justine Curgenven, who led the first only women’s-only circumnavigation of Tasmania. And then there is Nigel Foster, whose brief story of paddler v. bear will make you think twice about paddling up North. All good little savory bites of paddling nutrition this Friday morning.
Rafting the Grand Canyon is one of those things we’ve blogged about here a few times that remains a true epic adventure right here at home. One of the great things about the Canyon is that it is a trip most anyone can do. Older people, younger ones ,men and women .Way back when Willy over at Divester rafted the canyon and posted some fine photos, and there are lots of articles out there about it. But most of them are a your typical “I know what I did last summer narratives.
But Philip Greenspun has put together a much more informative article on the subject that is worth reading if you ,like many of us ,have rafting the canyon on your life list. Greenspun explains the various ways you can get down the river, provides lots of fact, but more, he posts many many fabulous pictures of his trip. This is a solid, shiny gem of an article.
I’m not sure how to begin to describe this site I came across on kayaking. I mean, it’s not about kayaking exactly. Well, it is, but it’s not about kayaking in the way that you and I think about kayaking. It’s not about heading out for fun and relaxation on a body of water…or maybe it is. Ugh. Well, look, I spent some time slicking around the site called Commando Kayaking, and despite the strange guy whose ghoulish, Viking face graces every page, I want to say it is really cool. The site seems to be about how one can take ones kayak pretty much anywhere…and now only how the commando kayaker does this, but why he must. There are also instructions here for how to roll, how to perfect paddle techniques and, the wonderfully named exercise called the Qajaasaarneq.
Seriously, though, the site is pretty cool. Off-beat to be sure, but if you’re like me, a paddler and a fan of the obscure, you’ll spend some time here.
