Kayaking the Tasman Sea and 'Adventuring'

      I find the psychology behind why people go on dangerous journeys interesting.  Many adventurers do what they do just because it's dangerous, whether it's summiting an 800m+ peak or paddling across channels.  In the end, they are doing these things just to say they did it, or maybe so they can be in the books as the first ones to do it.  Ad they can justify these things by saying they are exploring or whatever, but in the end they are just doing it because it is dangerous.  It's not to see anything cool or explore new things.

     So the news that Scott Donaldson is attempting a crossing of the Tasman Sea from Australia to New Zealand across the notoriously stormy and brutal South Sea (you can follow his progress here), reminded me of Andrew MacAuley's 2007 ill fated attempt which ended up with him presumably drowning just 30 miles short of New Zealand. 
They never fund his body, just his kayak.  Solo: Lost at Sea is a really good documentary worth checking out about his journey, featuring eerie footage both video and photos, that was taken from an SD card they found on the kayak.  The conditions on the Tasman Sea, combined with spending 30 days in ultra tight quarters with him actually sleeping in the kayak is crazy.  But the drive that people have to do certain things just to say they did it is remarkable as well.

     Although the kayak that Scott Donaldson is now paddling isn't really a kayak in my opinion, it's a custom designed boat with a sleeping cabin, similar to the one that James Castrission and Justin Jones paddled across the Tasman sea which he happens to be paddling kayak style.  Apparently Castrission and Jones have now made a career out of doing doing long and dangerous expeditions for the sake of doing long and dangerous expeditions.  I guess the media calls them 'adventurers' much like Sir Ranulph Fiennes, but I don't buy into it.  I suppose all the power to them to be doing these things instead of working in a factory or an office, although they aren't really doing anything for society as they pretend they are, other than being entertainment.

Links:
AndrewMcAuley.com
Andrew McAuley Wikipedia
Doubleditch.co.nz (Scott Donaldson's website)
Casandjonesy.com.au
Sir Ranulph Fiennes

Full Frame Time - Nikon D600 vs. Canon 6D Considerations

     I bought the bullet and got a Full frame, FX sensor Nikon D600.  I am always looking for better low light performance and dynamic range and this will up the performance over my current D300s.  Less blow outs and dark spots in landscape/outdoor shots, which I primarily use mine for.  I was waiting for the D600 body to get down to $1600 or so, but I saw a sale at BJ photo (NOT a porn site :) in Waterloo for $1800 that also included a full version of Lightroom and Photoshop Elements as well.  Not a bad deal.  Seems I can still get around $900 for my D300s…  either that, or I can buy a couple lenses and become a wedding photographer.  Or not.

My other concern with this is it’s a 24.9 megapixel camera.  The raw sizes are going to be quite huge and I wonder how processing will be with my 5+ year old computer.

     After my 18-200 lens for my D300S died a couple months ago, I was wondering what I wanted to d, since I was without a lens as that was my only one.  I wanted to upgrade a full frame camera, but the lenses for FX sensors are not only more expensive, they are heavier as well, which is a concern when backpacking.  I decided that was acceptable as a tradeoff, but the question was also what brand.  I am certainly not a Nikon fan by any means, although I am familiar with them.  Canon is not so much better either from what I read online, they are both dicks about warranty, and picking and choosing what they feel like repairing, and squeezing out the little repair guy by not selling parts to anyone, which I detest, but there’s not much choice, similar to the mobile carrier situation in Canada – they are all in collusion and all are evil, out to screw their own consumers. 

     That aside, I was considering Canon as well.  Might as well, not like I was tied to any lenses and I heard some good things about their products.  So, it was the Canon 5D Mark III or the Nikon D600.  Glancing at the stats on paper, the 6D has some extra bells and whistles such as WiFi and GPS, which I don’t care much about.  I have no problem plugging in a USB cable, and for the GPS, I do geotag shots quite a bit, but I prefer to carry my handheld GPS instead of keeping the camera GPS on between shots and sucking the battery.  So neither of those are draws for me.  There are some differences, the Nikon has higher resolution, more autofocus points, shot speed and a 100% viewfinder advantages.  One other large difference for me is the Nikon as a built in flash, whereas the Canon requires an external flash.  The 6D has battery life, maybe some better low light capabilities (based on lower resolution/less noise at higher ISO), and possibly better white balance correlation.  The low light performance is a difficult question.  

     Low light performance can be two different things and is a complicated issue.  Either high dynamic range (pulling details from shadows), or just plain old high ISO performance..  less noise at high ISO, faster shutter speeds allowable when there is not much available light.  The Nikon is certinly better in the huigh dynamic range, whereas the Canon _may_ be better in the high ISO, which many people seem to say.  DxOmark does scientific sensor tests, labeling the D600 as the best, but that's just the sensor itself.  After that there's processing, if you save your photos as JPG and not RAW format.  There's also the low light autofocus performance to consider.  The consensus is that at east in JPG mode the Canon is better, and it may be a bit better in the low light autofocus department as well.  If that's not complicated enough, there's the difference in megapixels, since downsampled photos always are sharper and have less noise.  It's the photoreceptor  per pixel ratio. So - it is a difficult topic, although the general consenus is the Canon is better at low light high ISO performance.  In the end both are capable cameras. 

     But one thing tipped it over for me to decide on Nikon in my mind, which people don’t tend to talk about in reviews I’ve read, is the types of lenses available.  After using the all purpose ultrazoom 18-200 lens quite a bit on the D300S, I am a fan of it.  When traveling or backpacking, I am only taking one lens with me.  End of story.  I am not taking a while bag of different lenses.  Some people hate these all in one lenses because, I admit they do have some tradeoffs in distortion and the like, but it suits my needs well for situations where I want a wide lens and when I need to zoom in on wildlife or some details far away.  The equivalent lens in FX is the 28-300mmNikon lens.  Canon doesn’t have a lens like that.  Well, actually they do have a 20-300 lens but it is ultra expensive and much heavier than the Nikon version, and performance isn’t all that great.  Sure, I will get some prime lenses, some low f stop lenses for certain occasions when i have the luxury of carrying around a bag of lenses with me, but like I said, I do like the all in one lens for traveling, and canon just doesn’t have a lens that is in this category, so the Nikon it is.

Grizzly Elite 2 Tone Kydex Sheath

When I bought my Mora Bushcraft Black knife on eBay a few weeks back, on a whim I also purchased an aftermarket sheath for it from Grizzly Outdoors after looking around the web at aftermarket sheaths made for this knife.  Grizzly Outdoors fabricates knife sheaths and holsters from a material called Kydex.  Kydex is a thermoplastic sheet, originally produced in 1965 for aircraft interiors, but has gained popularity in recent years for other uses.  It’s a mix of acrylic and PVC, which gives it good forming properties but also strength, rigidity and scratch resistance.  It’s formed by heating the material up to soften it, and then sometimes using vacuum bags to form the material around objects, the shape will hold after it cools down.  In addition, it can be cut, drilled, and milled easily with regular tools.

I wanted an aftermarket sheath because the Mora supplied sheath didn’t have a good belt clip or firesteel attachment> Grizzly Outdoors offers quite a few variants of sheaths for a variety of popular outdoor and bushcraft knives, and the Grizzly Outdoors Elite 2-tone was the sheath for this knife that attracted my eye with a firesteel attachment.  ThisKydex sheath is basically a simple pocket made from two sheets of Kydex, black on the front and olive drab color on the back, riveted together.  The Kydex is thick and very stiff.  I am sure some ‘traditionalists’ wouldn’t like the plastic sheath and would prefer a leather one, but for me the performance is with the Kydex – it would absorb water, rot or mold, and takes zero maintenance.  The pocket has been custom formed around a Mora Bushcraft Black knife, and has great retention, much better than the OEM sheath.  The only way the knife will come out of the sheath is if you purposely draw it.  The sheath has some slots milled around the perimeter between the rivets, which would be useful for securing the knife to a bag or pack, or also just wrapping some paracord or spectra cord around to have on hand.

The optional belt clip I ordered with the sheath is expertly crafted as part of the back sheet of Kydex, and is very functional.  The hook will hook around a 2” wide belt, but it is also useful for  justhooking onto a waistband as well, it also has good retention.

     This sheath comes with a firesteel attached to the front of the sheath with some fasteners through two of the rivets.  The firesteel itself has a Kydex handle and the bungee cord attached to it secures it in place.

Since it is custom made, it is a small lead time, but it only took a month from when I ordered it to when I found it in my mailbox. The sheath actually cost more than the knife itself, but I am pleased that I got this aftermarket sheath.  The added functionality and retention is great, and it’s good to have a firesteel on hand right by it.  Not to mention, The Grizzly Outdoors Elite 2 tone Knife Sheath with the Mora Bushcraft Black knife looks like a badass piece of gear that’s ready to handle any adventure.

Making My Own Paddle Workshop Part 1

     I have been thinking about getting a canoe this year instead of renting.  It would be nice to have something nicer and lighter than the beat up piece of crap that you get if you rent, not to mention have a boat that you know how it handles and are familiar with, and also the convenience of having it and using it whenever you want.  But, I also need some paddles for the canoe.  A friend of mine told me about a paddle maker nearby Guelph that hold make your own paddle workshops that sounds like something I’d like to do a lot, since I like woodworking and making my own things.

      The workshop was organized through a group at the Evergreen Ranch, an interesting ranch and  meeting space for the collective that meets there for music and other things such as this workshop.  The paddle maker is Bruce Smith who makes paddles and also conducts these popular paddle making workshops in the area.  Normally the paddlemaking is conducted in one 8 hour session but this one is broken up into two sessions two weeks apart to be much fresher for the second part.  Bruce prepares the blanks for the paddles, planes and removes a good bulk of the material, so you are only doing the important shaping of the wood, not tediously removing  the bulk.  I chose a Tripper paddle with a shaft length of 34”.  The wood is a black cherry for the workshop and is made out of a single piece of 1.125” thick wood.

     Bruce is a great teacher and it’s evident he has been doing this for a long time.  Even though it does take a little bit of physical activity to shave the wood, it is quite easy (at least for me) to do, and is much easier that I would think it would be.

     The first step to making a paddle after the blank is to mark the centerline and edges that you want to shave down to.  You want to shave the edges down to 5mm, and the Bruce’s method/design for the tip is to thicken it to 10mm at the very end to give it some durability for using the paddle to push off, or when you hit shallow bottom.  Some other paddle makers wrap the end in fiberglass or use inserts for this purpose as well.  

     Then you use a spokeshave to start removing material by beveling the edges from the middle to the thickness you marked on the sides.  The lower part of the paddle is then flattened so there is no ridge in the middle and the paddle is relatively thin before the tip, to allow some blade flex.  The wood, depending on the grain, knots, and other variables such as sap wood or heart wood, grain directions, etc, gives the wood a carving character, and it needs to be worked differently in different areas.  Sometimes pushing the spokeshave is better than pulling, or pulling at a diagonal is better than pulling along the blade to minimize chatter.  It is very much a feel thing than a straightforward just do it thing.

     Next comes the shaft, having to make an oval shape   The worry when doing this kind of work is that you will mess something up and take too much wood off.  As everyone always says, you can always take more off later, but you can’t put it back on.  The method for rounding the shaft is shave corners at 45 degrees, then give a stoke on either side at 22.5 degreest to make a polygon.  Do this for all four corners, then keep repeating until it feels like it should with your hand.  Then use the rasp to clean up any ridges and make the surface more uniform.

out of a rectangular cross section, and it is surpridsingly easier than I thought, with just a spokeshave and a flat rasp..

     Making my own paddle will be quite satisfying and is a fun thing to do to have a paddle for my canoe.  Next session in two weeks will be to finish the handle and transition form shaft to blade, rough sand then finish sand the paddle, then I bring it home to stain, possibly wood burn, and finish oil/varnish.  More photos and logging then!

The Portageur’s blog has an excellent descriptive writeupand photos of the steps to make a paddle when he did it in a Bruce Smith workshop several years ago, check it out as well.

Links:

W. Bruce Smith Paddles

Evergreen Ranch

Portageur’s Blog – Paddle Making with Bruce Smith

Art of Manliness – How to Make Your Own Paddle