Update time

Yup, time for an update I feel.

Didn't realise I hadn't touched this since April, that's pretty poor on my part.

So the Summer has been good, both Kate and I have had enjoyable summers her in Toronto. I've been rowing regularly and coaching a lot. I'm now in charge of the Junior program at the Argo's rowing club, which will be fun this year as there is some promising talent amoung them and most have another couple years at junior too. It'll be interesting to see how much time I have to train myself when work starts again as it gets pretty tiring.

I went on a course to build a wooden kayak called a Night Heron, part of the Guillemot Kayaks fleet. It is made with marine ply and fiberglass the kit was pretty simple to build as it is precut boards that one pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle. There are some pics up here on my flickr of the build process. the boat is still undergoing finishing touches at home, but we've had it out on Lake Ontario already and it's great fun!

We also now own a car, a Subaru Legacy Outback 1998 model. very nice drive and i'm sure it will be even better in the winter, with it's heated seats, and 4 wheel drive.

We have 2 cats, something I've not blogged about, they're named Moshi & Mao, one loves to cuddle and be carried and the other detests being carried and just wants to lie on you the whole time.

Back on the water

Went out rowing today, I'd say this was my first proper rowing session on the water as I covered 17km with an average heart rate of 155. Up until now i've only been out doing short rows to get used to being in a boat again, rebuilding blisters, getting some skill back. Anyway I took all my toys down today, gps and bullet camera, although, the camera wasn't working for some reason so i just ran the gps, so below is my work I loaded onto the Garmin Connect website.

Life continues

So life here in Toronto is moving on at a steady pace somedays it's sloooow and somedays it's hectic, but i'll admit i've definitely had less of the latter.

Kate and I recently adopted 2 cats from the Humane society (they came as a bonded pair), at first impressions they didn't seem particularly bonded, as one (now named Moshi) was continually bullying the other (now name Mao). They've been here for around 10 days now and getting more settled and the bullying is subsiding as they acclimatise to their new home. Kate and I have both grown up with cats and other animals so it's nice having them around, one thing that is different here is that it is recommended that cats remain indoor pets. This apparently is due to the wild urban animals in Canada, such as raccoons and coyotes.

The cats we renamed to Moshi and Mao are 10 and 8 years old and have very different personalities. Here are a couple of pics of the boys.

Va'a / OC technique

Lemmy V1 Technique in Slowmo from Ocean Sports Media on Vimeo.

Lemmy Lambert is the co-builder and designer of the Va'a Factory V1 and V6 in Tahiti. An accomplished paddler himself, Lemmy and his team, Taaroa Dubois, Roland Teahui, Steeve Teihotaata and Heialanin Vairaaroa won the Te Aito, Super Aito 2009 V1 races, they also manufactured the V6 for Top Tahitian Team OPT, who won the 3 day 2009 Hawaiki Nui Va'a race.

Lemmy was just recently in Australia as coach of a V1 Clinic organized by Erica Hamp, Tracy Horan, the South Queensland Zone AOCRA Committee and Mark Kennedy (Va'a Factory Franchisee in Aust ZuluSurf) I had the pleasure of spending time with Lemmy at the 2 day Clinic and filming him demonstrating basic V1 Technique. The video above is part of that Clinic.

Canoe building by one of the best