End of July

I pressed towards bed resolving to paddle the next morning. Despite countless packing for such trips, I still spent a good hour getting everything ready. 

Then, I had only one piece of everything, a complete set packed into my only kayak bag. With the prepared pack, the day had to get ready for me. Several kayaks and paddles later, it was no longer going to a high school prom. Some vanity minutes fretting over what boat to bring and what paddle to use. 

The packing started as a memory mess. One must remember to bring a fully charged phone, but sometimes one can forget about the waterproof case and the lanyard to secure it. Sunglasses or sunscreen were often left behind if the packing happened at night. Eventually I had to pull out the checklist and go through each line to make sure. Yet the checklist did not add a second step about filling up the bottle you must bring...

Getting out for a few hours require the same gear as getting out for a week, especially if one is paddling out solo. Ignore our first law of Murphy at our own peril - a contradiction of expedition kayakers, whose first law ought to be optimism to go out to the mighty sea. With the checklist one quickly picked up items for comms, route, safety gear, even stopping a few seconds considering a pee bag. There might a need to call someone, dump water, repair a leak, cut a rope...each a small reality check in an otherwise fantasized perfect day out at sea. Before paddling out, the sky is always sunny, the sea calm, the tides favorable, and the breeze sweet...

You tell yourself that tomorrow you will leave behind the constraint of land, the worries, the demands and mania, and feel the world moves at your own power and pace. That is the promise of freedom by an alluring sea. And even before touching the water, the connection with the sea had began as my eyes lapsed, and my continuous thoughts meet its big blue expanse...