I bought an inflatable kayak a few weeks ago, but today was my first trip, and who better to help paddle than Jasper? When we had a boat in Beaufort, I bought our dog Buster a life jacket so he could go with us. He was too old to start being a boater, so it has sat around unused. It fits Jasper though, so he was styling a nice red floaty coat.
It took me about 20 minutes to inflate the boat and get everything tied down. I can do it faster, but I was trying to develop some good processes and habits. Any time I was working on the boat, Jasper would help by swimming out into the water and waiting for me to throw him something.
I finally gave up and found him something to fetch.
Jasper did remarkably well. He wasn't completely comfortable but was very well behaved. I could get him to sit still...
and I could get him to lay down, but I just couldn't get him to turn around and face forward. He would for a few minutes, but he would decide he would like to keep an eye on me as well. No spills, but I chose to take these photos with a little pocket camera that was replaced years ago.
Today's lessons:
- The wind on open water is not your friend in an inflatable boat.
- I need to think about taking Jasper out to the Great Salt Lake. He smelled bad enough diving home from a near by, clean reservoir. GSL is further away and nasty smelling.
- I should add a floating fetch toy to my kayak bag
- I need an entirely different system for carrying spare stuff and my dry bag. Today the kayak looked like a street person's shopping cart.
1 comment:
Looks like you are off to a good start though. I have a feeling the more you do it, the more relaxed Jasper will be.
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