Screw waiting for the big idea

Backstory. A couple of weeks ago I bought a used kayak, of a make and model that has enchanted me since I tried out a new one a couple of years ago. What I bought cost half what a new one does, and has all the features I loved at first sight, and for which I've managed to set aside a few bucks a week ever since.

Nothing is easy, getting into the details of the new machine included. The bad part of the deal is that I probably paid about $50 too much. The good part is that the kayak has idiosyncrasies. A number of these completely buffaloed the earnest libertarian type who sold me the thing. I'm resolving these one at a time. The Internet only helps you if you know how to research.

Nothing is easy. Kayaks have three types of steering systems: none at all, rudders, or skegs. The uber-purists go for none at all. Everyone else chooses the rudder, which moves and with which one can actually steer, or the skeg*, which merely simplifies steering by paddle. One would think that a sport a benign as kayaking would have mellow ways to resolve these differences.

Not.

I had (still have, actually) a rudder kayak, whose chief benefit is that it came free. I'm moving to a skeg kayak, which in some circles is tantamount to defection. There's a lot to learn about the thing.

Nothing is easy. There are two types of skeg mechanisms. One uses a metal cable (cyclists can envision a really really long rear derailleur cable) to raise and lower the skeg. The other uses a small diameter rope.

The kayak I bought has a rope skeg, which requires some tuning. But it turns out that the cable skeg people and the rope skeg people are barely on speaking terms. This makes it very difficult to get accurate, objective information on tuning and using skegs. So I'm faking it to a degree.

Something, though, is easy, and that is using the kayak. It's shorter than the old one, so slightly slower, but spectacularly nimble. It has already shown its stuff in waves and surf around here, and I'm looking forward to using it on my favourite rivers and marshes.

I'll drop in just one random thought among many rattling round my head. I want to be sure that all the states getting a piece of the tropical depression formerly known as Lee enjoy it, and notice that we in the northeast always want to share the love. I'm also waiting to see whether Rick Perry's prayers succeed in steering any of that rain toward the dust bowl formerly known as Texas. So far, it ain't working, Ricky.

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* What is called a skeg in kayak-land is more like a centreboard in sailboat-world. Nothing indeed is easy.