Chunking Things

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Maiden Voyage

Santa Claus came early this year.  The jolly old elf got DH a Fenn Swordfish surf ski for being such a good boy this year.

In Dubai, the surf skis come in a container and are sold out of a guy's front yard.  When they're gone, they're gone.  You have to wait until the next container arrives.  The container arrived the last week of November, so we made arrangements to pick one up the second week of December.  Merry Christmas, my love!

We had to get a roof rack to pick up the boat.  We actually had to get cash out of ATMs for days to get the right amount of money to pay for the thing.  It's an adventure not having a local bank.  But don't get me started on that.

Finding a personal flotation device (PFD) suited to this form of watersport in the proper size was also a challenge.  I'm guessing most of the ocean kayakers and other paddlers are small people.  XL was hard to find.  Imagine our surprise when the one we found was PURPLE!!

We took the surf ski down the beach this weekend for a maiden voyage.  DH paddled both Friday and Saturday and seems as pleased as can be by the gift.

The first day was a lot of 'getting used to' and trying to figure out the way to remount after hulying.  These light, skinny hulls are very tippy.  The Swordfish is not a stable 'starter' boat.  It's Fenn's intermediate hull.  DH paddled on the local club's started boat all summer and decided when we purchased our own to go up a step.  Each progressive hull gets a little narrower, and by extension, tippier.

The first day paddling was a familiarization.  The second day paddling was all for fun and exercise.  I'm wondering how long it will be before I get to try this one out!

--Sandee Wagner

6 comments:

alexa said...

What a fun gift! I am sure Bert loves it. That would be so fun to do.

Unknown said...

Lexi,

You know Bert loves to paddle. He was like a kid when we got this! Very excited. Come visit. We'll play with the babies on the beach while you guys take turn paddling it. spw

Paul E. Goebel said...

I'll come paddle with Bert!

BoatParadise Classifieds said...

Hi, nice post. I have been wondering about this topic,so thanks for sharing. I will certainly be subscribing to your blog.

Unknown said...

Paulie,

You are welcome to come get wet any time! I just got my own (old and used) boat, but I'll be out there with Bert, myself. spw

Unknown said...

BoatParadise Classifieds,

Don't subscribe to this blog if you think it's going to be all about boating. I'm a neophyte at best. My DH is genuinely devoted, but still a novice. It will be all I can do to keep the right side up!! spw