XC Ski Break

After the Martin Luther King Holiday I had a very busy week planning my first xc ski trip. I joined the Solar group to build my qajaq and they have tons of other fun activities and classes. I decided to take cross country ski lessons with them. The lesson took place in Roscommon, Michigan at the XC Ski Headquarters.

So I invited myself up to my friend Sharon's place for the weekend. She is into xc skiing and had been inviting me for a while, so no, I'm not that pushy.







We actually had quite a group for the weekend at their hunting lodge called Nawaka. We had 10 people for the weekend. I didn't know they had snowmobiles, so I got my first real ride and it was a blast.

Saturday morning Sharon, Patty, Amiee, her new friend Jamie and I went just south of Mio to go cross country skiing. It was a lot of fun and I fell up and down every hill on our first loop. This was only my third outing on my new skis and of course the lesson wasn't until Sunday morning.































I got up early sunday and drove the hour and fifteen minutes to Roscommon for my lesson. This is a shot of the 3 mile long driveway out of Nawakwa.





I met 24 other Solorites on a very cold 10 below morning for our class. I finally learned how to get up after falling, coulda used that the day before!





I drove back to Nawakwa where we had another fun packed snowmobile ride and a nice relaxing evening in front of the fire. Sorry, no photos of the gathering by the fire, too tired to remember.





I drove home Monday just in time to get some more work done on the qajaq.

Measure twice...cut once

This weekend it was time to add the deck beams. This is challenging as it is a compound angle and no, I didn't know what that meant. The gunwales are at a 73 degree angle, so the deck beams were cut at a 17 degree angle where they meet. Then you have to figure out the horizontal angle since the boat curves in at the ends. It's pretty simple, just place the piece of wood across the gunwales and mark underneath along the gunwale where it meets. Cut, flip, repeat and you should have a perfect fit. The simple things are hard for me, but I eventually got them all cut.





The next step was to drill 2 holes thru the gunwales and into the deck beams for dowels. What I didn't realize was that every time I pounded the dowels into place, the gunwales shifted. By the end of it the gunwales had shifted an inch so the ends no longer met & I once again had a wonky kayak. I was very frustrated and mad at myself. Up steps Master Chuck to the rescue. We only had to replace the last deck beam in the stern and then we pounded and pulled the kayak back into shape. Whew! Once again I have a symetrical kayak.

Daniel is a Senior in High School and is building her own qajaq at school for credit. She has had a few setbacks, so we invited her to the shop to get back on track over the Holiday weekend. She was starting over with new wood for her gunwales.

Chuck had a little accident and had to re-attatch his "tailfin".

Look Dorothy Ken is sewing! He's actually lashing the deck beams to the gunwales for added strength and support. This is my next step.