On the beach, I set up a blank I had cut from a redwood 2x4 and proceeded to spend most of the day carving myself a new paddle. On this paddle I wanted to put ridges down the power faces like some Aleut paddles have. Unlike an Aleut paddle, I wanted to make it completely symmetrical so that meant carving ridges on both sides. As a result I had to do twice as much work and I didn’t finish carving it even after spending all day. People came and went, but one young boy seemed fascinated and spent several hours watching me. His parents seemed pleasantly baffled that their son would be so interested in a healthy hobby like this.
Sometimes FRIA arranges to have a sailing ship or two enter the cove and fire cannons at the fort. Two years ago there were two clipper ships having a mock battle in the cove! Last year they could not arrange a ship, so they had a little skit in the fort where the “Captain” of the ship rode up in a horse and claimed that his ship was docked in Bodega Bay for repairs. This year John Sperry (of FRIA and another Baidarka builder) told me that they could not get the clipper ships but were going to do something with the “Hawaiian Chieftain”. I assumed that this meant they were doing another skit with a supposed visit by an emissary from Hawaii. So I was pleasantly and totally surprised when a sailing ship materialized out of the fog offshore. The name of this ship is the “Hawaiian Chieftain” and that explained John’s cryptic statement. All us Baidarka paddlers jumped into their boats and paddled out to meet it. On board they had two cannons which they fired at the fort and the fort fired back at them! So I finally got to paddle close to a sailing ship as it fired the cannon!
I have been trying to make my Baidarka more comfortable to paddle in, and part of this was a foam block I cut to hold my knees in the boat. In a modern kayak you can glue pieces of foam in to hold your knees in the boat. These are called thigh braces. But this Baidarka has so little room that any thigh brace would prevent me from getting into the boat. My plan was to get in and then I cram this piece of foam between my knees. I made it a little wide and it has to be bent in half, inserted and then it expands and presses my knees apart and into the sides of the boat. If I have to wet exit the boat again one day, I’ll have to have the presence of mind (while upside down, in trouble, and holding my breath) to pull this foam block out first so that I will be able to slide my legs out.
I had this foam block with me at Fort Ross, but I was afraid to try rolling in the boat just yet. So I was careful to stay upright while the Hawaiian Chieftain was in the cove. Later in the afternoon when it was warm and sunny I got braver and paddled a few meters from shore to try out the foam block. First I tried the Greenland resting brace and was able to fall over and sweep back up. Then I tried the roll and was able to roll up on either side! As I had deduced, pinning my knees in the sides of the boat enabled me to hold onto it and roll it up! Next year I am going to put on a show. Every time the boat fires the cannon, I’m going to fall over into the water! And then roll the boat back up.