A More Successful Trip

David, Tracy and I went on a much more successful kayaking trip last night. We dropped Tracy's car off at the takeout point and put in at the same place as our previous trip, but this time headed downstream rather than upstream. David had a box for his phone (which survived being thoroughly soaked!), wallet and keys, we had extra towels and clothes in dry bags, and all wore our life jackets. As such, there were no incidents: it was a nice, calm paddle, and nice that it could be a one-way trip.

Ironically, the reason we'd not been wearing our life jackets was because we assumed they'd be uncomfortable. I mean, I spent good money on them, tried them on in the store, and they were fairly comfortable. But having had those horrible orange things they make you wear at lake parks when I was a kid, I maintained this image of life jackets as, well, horrible orange things. These, once seated and comfortable in the boat, were barely noticeable. They certainly didn't interfere with movement nor put unpleasant pressure anywhere. And it was nice to know that if someone flipped, they'd have something to buoy them until they got their wits about them. So we'll keep wearing them - which is nice, really. Saves room in the boats for gear, since we don't have to stow the jackets.

I also ordered a box for my camera, yesterday, a Pelican 1450 case with pick-n-pluck foam. Laid out all the bits of my camera kit in Visio (dreadful tool - MS should be shot for what they did to it) and ensured that there'd be an inch of foam between each piece and the sides of the case. Even left enough room for the lens I want (but don't have): the EF 70-200 F2.8L IS USM. Looked at smaller boxes, but those weren't deep enough, or had so much extra space that I didn't gain anything by not allocating space for the lens I don't have. So now I have planned growth potential. Once the box comes, I'll be able to haul the camera around with me and not worry about it getting damaged. The only downside is that it's not exactly going to be fast access.... But good protection seemed better than fast access. And I'm not really sure how I'd have managed both, anyway.