The Sunday Paddles: An Authentic Experience

Warning, trigger alert, I am about to use the word "authentic." Actually, both trigger and authentic send me spare. Both words are used as code to say "I have not had an original thought since I was potty trained, but I will throw in two abused, over-used and mis-used words to pretend I have something erudite to say."

So, with that out of the way, here is an "authentic" picture from this morning's solo sea kayak trip. For the first Sunday in months and months, I had nobody sign up for the regular Sunday sea kayak trip that I organize. Even Nick, who always comes, was somewhere else, and Doug stayed home in bed!

But, I made a pact with myself, if no-one else, that I would be out on the water every Sunday - rain, wind, gale warnings, dangerous surf conditions, nothing would stop me. Knowing I would be solo, I decided on an early morning paddle; sunrise is my favourite time to be on the water. I got up about 4.45 am, and trolleyed (dictionary: verb, the act of wheeling a kayak on a home made trolley constructed from scrap timber and golf cart wheels picked up during hard waste week) down to my local beach which had a bit of a surf coming in this morning.

I tried to stay dry launching but, no luck, I copped one in the chest heading out. And this is what it looked like. I know the sun came up, because it got light, but apparently, the sun sidled up behind a thick blanket of grey as I noticed no discernible "sunrise."

The important thing is: one, I did what Dan John always talks about - I showed up, and two, I am happy to post this authentic but totally drab photograph, because, despite what the influencers want you to believe, life has drab days too and getting shit done is mostly about showing up.