Paddling in the Sunshine State

Last week you may have noticed I was a little bit quite, and that is because I took a nice week off to canoe train in Florida.  The canoe training "camp" is our transition from ski season to paddling season.  It gives us a nice base going into the spring for the early races in the season, and provides a much more pleasant environment to do a 4 hour paddle than Michigan is the first week in March.  This isn't the type of Florida spring break where you go south and to the coast, but a north-central Florida river trip.   This year we paddled 32 hours over 8 days, ran 5 days, did yoga on 2 days, and ate everything in sight.  That's what I call a successful training trip.

(Lunch stop on the river)

This camp isn't just with my family, but with paddlers from all over North America, and this year a group from the UK.  It's a great way to get together with everyone after a long winter.  With so many people attending, there are 30-40 boats on the water each day.  Everyone is really eager to switch partners, so each day is a chance to paddle with one or two different people.  

When we aren't paddling or eating, everyone sits around the campfire and chats.  This year I spent quite a bit of time talking with our new British friends, Mark, Mike, Shirine, and James.  It didn't take much convincing, but next Easter my husband Mike and I plan to head over to the Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race.  It is a 125 mile race where paddlers/teams start individually based on what time they think they will hit the outgoing tide at the end of the race.  In addition to this very different starting style, there are 77 portages!  The most portages I have done in a race is 6, so that will definitely be something to practice.

The training trip to Florida did exactly what it was intended to do- gave me some long hours in the boat, let me meet some new people and get to know old friends better, and it let the snow melt out of southern Michigan.