Looks like a board

I finally bit the bullet and glued on the sides! I kind of feel like jumping up and down.... it looks like a board!!

monday night camping

I think it should be a series! My friends and I saw that the weather was supposed to be bad the rest of the week, so we loaded into canoes, paddled down to a small island on the Connecticut River and set up camp. It was really nice to get away from campus, and it made a Monday feel like the weekend. Unfortunately, now Tuesday feels like monday, but at least Friday will be one day sooner this week!

Green Team

Reusable water bottles have been a part of my everyday life for longer than I can remember. Friends always made fun of me that if I lost my water bottle, I would go crazy. Unfortunately, not everyone uses their water bottle as religiously as I do. As a green initiative, Dartmouth started selling reusable water bottles in all of the cafeterias last week. They have been a huge hit, and hopefully it can lead to the cafeterias not selling bottled water.

Awkward!

Since the weather was nice, it was time to get back on rock. Up until now, I have only climbed at the cliff that is close to the parking lot. Today we went to the farthest cliff. Not only did we go to the farthest cliff, but we went to the farthest cliff in the most bass akwards way, as in an extra hour of lugging climbing gear thorough the woods. Nothing like the scenic route! Once there we did a few good routes, until it was time for Andrew to clean the route, as in take out the quick draws.

There was a point in the route where the rock took a curve and it was a really tight squeeze for a few feet. If you planned it right, you could squeeze through in a matter of a few seconds. If you couldn't get a quickdraw out, it could be more in the range of 20-30 minutes. That was where Andrew was. Eventually he had to lie down on the ledge backwards facing the ground and try to reach behind him to un-clip the draw.

The draw wouldn't budge, so we ended up re-leading the route; but on the bright side, the view was great from the ledge!

Coming together!

I took the clamps off the bottom and got to work shaping my paddleboard out in order to put on the sides today. It is really satisfying to see the board taking shape. I figured out, through some trial and error that a router was the best method for cleaning the sides. After two hours of routing the sides, I had accumulated about an inch of sawdust - everywhere.

It ain't over yet!

There is still snow to be found, I swear! Just to prove it, I got up at 4:00 this morning to skin up and take one run down Stowe. I hadn't been to Stowe since going to summer ski camps there when I was eight, so it was a great deja vu experience. On top of that, the views were great. We shouldn't really talk about the actual snow conditions, but the overall experience was great and I was back for class (almost on time) by 10! Nap time?

Looks like a Lorin Job!

Once again, my handiwork is looking really really professional. On the bright side, the bottom is glued on!

Hardware

Ah, so at last its looking like a standup paddleboard, and now I need to think about what hardware I am going to put on my SUP when it is done. I thought for a while and decided on two sets of tie downs, a port, a finger tab, finbox, and a gopro/lock screw in the front. Below, you can see me gluing in foam to mount the finbox into and screening for where I plan on putting the port. I would hate to need to cut open my SUP in order to recover my car keys!

Awesome Dinner!

Sometimes I just get the itch to cook. So this week I decided we were going to have a party. It was Passover, after all, so I had a semi excuse. Hannah, Andrew, and I threw together a plan, borrowed pans from the dining hall and got cooking. Hannah made a mean flourless chocolate cake while I made brisket, kugel, soup, tzimses, and salad. Andrew, since he was around DJ'd and got the sharp end of the stick - chopping the haroset and slicing the brisket. This brisket recipe has been in my family a long time, but I don't think it ever came out so good. Sorry dad, but Andrew cuts thinner slices!

With three bottles of wine and thirteen friends packed around a table, dinner came out a blast, and now it looks like I might be eating brisket sandwiches for a while!

Pretty good day at work!

I'm not going to lie. Representing Smartwool has been great fun so far! Yesterday, I had the chance to meet the other ambassador in my area, Eric and my tech rep Devon and her roomate. Instead of just going out for lunch like some of the other regions, we decided on a hike. Instead of just following the trail and reaching one peak, we reached two! I could pretend now that it was completely on purpose, but in all honesty, we were just enjoying talking too much and missed our turn off. Either way, it is obvious that the NH ambassadors have raised the bar for extreme business meetings!

Sunshine!

Means it is time to get outside! Today we decided to string up the slackline, and I was able to walk almost the whole length. Between crashes and just lying around, we decided it was time to put some serious art on Hannah's cast. It you were wondering - it says 5'2" represent!

Holey Fish!!

I normally wouldn't do this, but my dad has been talking about flyfishing for as long as I can remember. He even has his own rod. Throughout my highschool years, he would go out fishing every now and then and not get a bite. One year, my mom picked more crawdaddies off of the bottom of the lake than he even saw fish!

This year has been hugely different. I don't know what it is - timing, water levels, temperature, or just plain old luck, but he and my mom have been catching 30 trout on average! I can't help but boast a bit :) So while I am at college, eating cafeteria food, he and my mom are feasting on trout. Typical, right? I think they planned it that way!

A little bit of this...

A little bit of that

All that just to get the top onto the paddleboard! In order to get the top to fit the curve of the ribs near the tip of the board, I needed to adjust the angle a bit. With some glue, a lot of clamps, some sanding and a bit of luck, I was able to wrestle the top onto the frame. To clamp it all down, I used saran wrap! Overall, with the mummy wrap gone, I was quite pleased! It is starting to get exciting!!!

Go big!

Today, I had the pleasure of bringing my friend, Hannah, for a new cast. When asked what colors she wanted, I may or may not have played an influential role in having her pick out the brightest combo - lime green and pink. At least with a watermelon cast, she can't get in too down of a mood!

Back for more!!

Miguel was going out again the next day, and with the sun out, I wasn't going to miss it for the world! Since yesterday I had just learned how to belay, and tie myself into a harness, it was obviously time to learn how to clean. Cleaning a route means taking the carabiners out on the way up, tying in 'direct' at the top, untying from the main rope and trusting you direct tie-off, then rerouting the rope, retrusting the rope and untying your direct. All of this is just to get all of the carabiners back!

By the end of the day, I was getting some serious one more route syndrome and by the time I got back to campus, I just about fell asleep at dinner.

Sketchy? Naw!

During our climbing adventure, Hannah and I met another climber briefly who said that he was coming up to Rumney and we were welcome to join him. We said of course we would and traded numbers. We planned on going up until Hannah hurt herself, so then I was stuck going alone with someone I had never met. Thankfully, I was able to talk Andrew to come along and it ended up being a great day of climbing.

Some of greatest experiences have been trying new sports with new people. My motto is to always take advantage of an offer to try a new sport. We climbed some 8's, 9's and tens but before I could get too carried away, Andrew had to get back to campus. He is a math major, and unfortunately had a problem set due. One thing is for sure - I'm hooked!

Getting on the water

Not even a cast can dampen the spring weather. Since climbing is kind of out of the picture this term for Hannah, we pulled out the canoes and hit the water. As I fully know, when you're hurt, every activity you can do should be maximized. so I guess canoeing will be the name of the game!

Home

As long as I am in the woodshop, I can feel pretty much at home anywhere. I finally got back to the shop today and it sure felt refreshing. I needed to get the twist out of the spine of the SUP and finally landed on a consistent way to do it. I laid two straight pieces on blocks that were a certain height above the rails. It was amazing how well it showed every twist. I then hammered in shims to even it out.