Hi All,

Well, I got all the yard work done on Saturday , Sunday was all mine. It was a beautiful spring day here in southern
California. The Orange blossoms were nauseatingly strong yesterday morning but I was undaunted. I loaded up the new
canoe and set off to do some paddling. I decided to go paddle around the Newport Harbor. My wife elected not to go since
it IS salt water and wherever there's salt water there could be SHARKS. Taking my wife to see "Jaws" 30 years ago was
big mistake. Anyway I set off alone. I pulled into Newport Dunes and hauled the canoe, my paddles and an ice chest down
to the water. Off I go!
I had forgotten how difficult solo paddling is in a brisk wind in a 16 ft. boat. By 10:30, I hit the main channel and
the wind had died down. With the wind gone, I was beginning to notice how damned hot it was. 91° on a dockside
thermometer in the shade. It was also rather busy in the harbor so I kept as close the right as possible.
There were a few surprises I observed while paddling in the harbor:

1. I vaguely remember that non motorized vessels had the right of way over powered craft.
Not so in Newport. If you are about to get run over by someone obviously wealthier than you, you better get out of their
way. One elderly guy say's to me, you'd better get the F@#K out of the way or get wet He went on to say that his lawyer
could beat my lawyer anytime. Hmm, I wasn't really in his way. I was about 4 slips away from the one he was aiming for.

2. The Harbor patrol guys have no sense of humor. They confiscated the remains of my 12 pack of Samuel Adams and almost
wrote me a ticket for not having running lights. Running lights on a canoe? It was around 6:30pm and still somewhere in
the 80's and full sun. Rat *******s! I hope they enjoyed the beer....

Well, I will be much better prepared for my next foray into the watery world next weekend.

Malcontent