Despite an outside temperature of 103 degrees Maya and I completed a 2.7 mile maiden voyage with her new kayak on Lake Cochituate. There was a nice breeze on the water which kept us from roasting but made the return leg into the wind more difficult. We put in at the boat ramp on Middle Lake and traveled through a small tunnel to South Lake where we circled a tiny island before returning. The Rock Hopper, Maya’s name for her kayak, is very stable and extremely fast. Maya had no trouble handling it despite a paddle which is clearly too small for her (even though we sized it according to recommendations). According to our GPS tracks Maya was able to do sprints of 5mph into the wind. While we were on the water Maya reviewed a basic forward paddling stroke and learned forward and backward sweep strokes, reverse paddling and braking strokes. I also showed her a draw stroke and a sculling draw stroke, the latter being the only one she did not master. We celebrated our return with a cold Gatorade and later in the evening with a visit to our new local ice cream shop. This entire project has been a fantastic father-daughter bonding experience. With Maya taking the lead on many aspects of construction and demonstrating she can keep up with her dad on the water she is really coming into her own right as a young woman. I look forward to our future paddles together and hope she will remember these times with her father long after I am gone and her grand children are tooling about in the Rock Hopper.

With kayak construction completed the only remaining task is to build a carrying cradle for the top of my car. Because the Audi is so tall I need to ensure that the mounted kayak is low enough that I can still drive into the garage without hitting the door. Once inside I use a pulley system to store the kayak near the ceiling of the garage. Everything is set for the Rock Hopper’s maiden voyage and Maya is very excited to get out on the water.

Nala had a play date with Quincy (Maya’s friend Bailey’s Labrador Retriever) this evening, which did both a world of good. Nala has been hesitant to explore the extent of her newly constrained domain (resulting from the new wireless electronic containment fence) after being shocked a few times. Quincy distracted her from those concerns, and she was back to her old antics. Quincy is battling cancer, and he, too, seemed to find new energy as he roughhoused with Nala. Meanwhile, Maya and I, with assistance from Bailey, put the final coat of varnish on Maya’s kayak, completing the project in one month flat.

On Tuesdays I play soccer at 6AM and on this morning had to turn back for my camera when I saw a beautiful orange sun rising over the fog laden field across the street from our home. I am still struggling to recover from a strained groin/quad muscle injury but did manage to get a good workout even though my shooting ability is still quite tentative. After work Maya and I started varnishing the kayak which she has named the Rock Hopper. In order to finish an entire coat in one pass we have the kayak suspended from the ceiling on a pulley system so that we can lower it to work on the deck and raise it to work on the hull.

Kyle spotted this fox in our field this evening and I was fortunate to have a camera close at hand. Jeanine, Kyle and Jamie (a classmate who is also attending Santa Clara University in the fall) returned from California this morning on the red-eye. Nicolai and Maya returned from visiting cousins in Minnesota this evening and Nala was collected from the kennel uniting the entire family for the first time in a week. I enjoyed having several days to myself but must confess a preference for the chaos that is my normal life.

Jeanine and Kyle spent the weekend at Lake Tahoe visiting the mother of a close friend of the family. Both reported that the 5 hour drive from the bay area was well worth the effort. They enjoyed hiking, boating, sightseeing, fine dining, and volleyball. I spent time in this area 30 years ago while attending graduate school in California and still have vivid memories of the natural beauty. When Jeanine and I visit Kyle over the coming years it will surely be one of our repeat ancillary destinations. Today I enjoyed an early morning soccer scrimmage, an afternoon spent watching the Women’s World Cup finals (disappointing finish for the US but one can only admire and be happy for the Japanese team), and the evening putting the final touches on Maya’s kayak (all that remains is varnishing).

After spending the morning working on Maya’s kayak I decided to do a little kayaking myself. It took about an hour to drive to Hingham Bay where I put in at the public boat ramp. The map pictured here is overlaid with my GPS log. I have long wanted to make this tour which included Button, Sarah, Langlee, Bumkin, Grape, Slate, and Ragged Islands. I covered 8.3 miles in roughly two and a half hours including a stop on Grape Island for a look around. I averaged a little better than 4 mph which was very respectable considering the amount of evasive maneuvering I had to do to cope with heavy boat traffic. It is safest to paddle into a big wake at right angles and this often took me off my heading. After 15 minutes on the water it occurred to me that I did not have my bilge pump on board (I removed it to size a clip for Maya’s kayak and forgot to replace it). A capsize would have been very hard to recover from and so I opted for maximum safety turning into every wake. Because the weather was exceptionally nice and and the seas were calm I decided not to use my spray skirt which in retrospect was a poor decision. A 3 foot boat wake swell looks awfully big when your cockpit opening sits only 4 inches above the waterline. About the only smart decision I made was to leave my SLR in the car. Although I missed some excellent photo opportunities, I am fairly certain either the camera or I would have wound up in the ocean if I had tried to use it while on the water.

With the hull and deck completed I began work on the kayak coaming (the lip around the cockpit opening to which a spray skirt is attached) today. Progress is much slower without my little assistant. Not a single word from Minnesota which can only mean that Maya and Nico are having so much fun with their cousins that there is no time to call home. Jeanine and Kyle are having a great experience in California where the orientation at Santa Clara University is reported to be going very well. They left this evening for Lake Tahoe where they will spend the weekend with a friend of the family.

The new turf field at Concord Carlisle High School is located at the top of a hill covered in beautiful wildflowers. On Thursday’s I practice soccer from 8 to 9:30PM and this evening I took things slow so as not to aggravate an injured muscle. With temperatures in the 90s it was easy to stretch out and get warmed up!

As I left work today, the outside temperature as reported by my Audi was 96 degrees.

This evening I bonded the deck and hull of Maya’s kayak together. This operation involves the use of an epoxy syringe taped to the end of a 6 foot pole operated by a dowel rod threaded through eye screws. You reach all the way up to the bow and stern using this contraption and squeeze a thickened epoxy mixture into the shear seam from the cockpit opening. I used a headlamp to see what I was doing and then taped a filleting tool to the 6 foot pole to smooth out the joint for a very tidy outcome. At this rate of progress I expect to have the kayak completed by the end of next weekend and the varnishing completed by the following weekend.

Tomorrow marks 12 weeks since I joined several of my colleagues in a weight loss challenge. This morning after soccer practice I checked my weight and have lost 30 pounds. I have not been in the 150’s for more than a decade and feel very good about my progress. My love handles are all but gone and I think this is a good place to stabilize. My approach was to reduce calories in and increase calories burned. Naturally, I celebrated with ice cream. I spent several hours working on the kayak which is approaching completion and watched the US vs Brazil World Cup soccer match with the boys; one of the most exciting games I have ever witnessed. Go USA!

I worked with Nala today to acclimate her to a new wireless electronic fence. The system we have had in place for several years depends on a buried wire which defines her permitted roaming area. After the wire broke for what must be the tenth time we decided to investigate a wireless version. The technology has progressed substantially since I last looked at these systems. We are evaluating a product which uses a bidirectional Wi-Fi link between base and collar which allows us to know how far she is from the house at any time and also can monitor the condition of the collar battery remotely. The only downside of this approach is that the containment area must be circular. We found a transmitter location in the house which results in an optimal field. Now the trick is to retrain Nala from her old boundaries to the new ones.

For the last week Maya has been attending the Summer Stages dance camp at the Concord Academy. This evening Jeanine and I attended her end-of-session recital. She danced routines in ballet, jazz, modern, African, and hip-hop. When asked which I liked best I answered truthfully, “All of them!”