Taz mania?

Who knew that 25 lbs of carbon-kevlar could get a girl this excited?

I am nothing short of ecstatic. The asparagus boat has been very good to me, but I am already outgrowing it. When I paddle this boat, I can feel potential. It has edges that I can't wait to get to know & use.

Of course, it's only new to me. The previous owner paddled it hard, and there is a lot to fix. The bow and stern both need major repair, there are several cracks in the hull, and the seam tape (between the deck and the hull) needs to be replaced. The biggest obstacle, however, was the seat.



Quite honestly, my butt didn't quite fit. And that hurt. After the first day I had some pretty amazing bruises where the hip supports dug into me. The boat felt so much better on the water than the green boat - I was determined to paddle it - but I paid for it. After one particularly rough wet-exit (I ended up with bruises the size of baseballs on both legs), my friend Laura (aka LA) told me we had to do something that night.




So we did. Nic, Joel and I took turns grinding the seat out. After trying a few different powertools and sacrificing a few inches of cockpit rim, we finally got it all. Dust and shavings were everywhere. Some toxic, epoxy cloud had come to snow all over my boat.



With help, I built a foam pedestal. After paddling other C1s during the week (like joel's and tom's, I had a good idea of what I wanted. I reinforced the busted cockpit rim with strips of hard plastic, and put duct tape over the cracks in the hull. It still needs a lot of work, but it was ready to get on the water.

Paddling the Taz post gut-rehab was totally different. Instead of being strapped on top of a boat (thereby balancing "on" it), we were connected. My lower body relaxed. I relaxed.

I realized that this could get dangerously fun.

Click here for the rest of the Taz pictures.