red canoe

i am the proud owner of a red canoe. of course it will not be red for long, dark boat for dark waters. i stumbled upon this gem of a vessel in the search of finding boat rentals on lake tahoe so that big aust connor and myself could celebrate big aust's bday with some canoeing on emerald bay. after raelizing that renting a boat for just the day would cost as much as a used canoe on craigslist, the hunt was on. so, for a 100 dollars plus a couple of straps picked up at the hardware store we were in business.

 

the (born again) maiden voyage went surprisingly well. i was uncertain whether the canoe, which looked pretty haggard, and even had a contained leak that could take on water near the prow of the boat when charging  wake or swell head on, would keep us afloat. the day's voyage took us from bliss state park beach launch on the westside of lake tahoe. from there we paddled, slowly, for about 2 hours into emerald bay until we landed on the little island. after some relaxation on warm granite and in cool water we headed into the headwind and back to bliss beach. of course the goin was slower than the comin since one of the our paddles snapped while we arriving to the bay earlier in the day. this did not hamper the spirits of the trip tho. feeling more comfortable on the water and with a good sense of how long the paddle back would take we ventured further from shore and took a straighter line to our destination. in the end our trip was a success and we have plans that include paint, hot springs, rivers and new paddles. in the mean time tho i just need to take it off my car.