good stuff snipped

your name, your paddling name and signature
contact info, email, phone, address
Age,
Height, weight, so that we can visualize you in your boat,
family and Marital status, any other personal,
when you started paddling,
area where you live,
what boats in your quiver,
experiences, and experience level,
and most important, any sick story you can share!
good stuff snipped

I am Andrei (leavign out last name), address
(y'all should be able to
decode that one!). I'm 5 ft 10 in, 200 lbs (or 175 cm, 91 kg) and until
this year I had almost no interest in water, beyond swimming. This year, my
best friend and boss bought a 13 ft boat for her husband, so I spent more
time with his kayak (Walden Paddlers' Voyageur--link:http:/
http://www.waldensports.com/products.../voyageur.html , he has the
oliove green one but it seems to have been discontinued of late ) that he
was no longer using. That was in April 2004; I took several trips in it in
the local river (not a deep river) and in early November I ordered my first
own kayak,( http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=1795860 )
an inflatable Coleman, 9 ft , 295 lbs max. kayak. I've taken several trips
down the river and been getting more and more into paddling. Unfortunately,
the water is getting rather chilly in Virginia and this kayak doesn't even
have a spray skirt option, so I get plenty of water spalshed in it.
Needless to say, that makes it rather uncomfortable to paddle ths late in
the year.

So far, my longest time in the Voyageur was around 8 hours (not by choice,
unfortunately; also got a bad sunburn from it) and about 4 hours in the
Coleman (by choice, no sunburn). Due to the fact that I don't get off work
till 5 PM and by that time it's getting dark (at this time of the year) I
won't be able to share many stories (as you can tell, I need more
experience).

For the kayak shopper, the Coleman is a good one to get if you're just
starting out; it's cheap, fairly easy to maintain and easy to handle. Can't
tell you if it can handle "sea" or "ocean" type situations, since I've
never been in such a situation; so far, though, it seems to be a good
beginner's kayak.

I'm not into any kayaking clubs since I'm pretty much unable to keep to a
stable schedule. I pretty much paddle whenever my muscles and time allow
me. My "paddling name" is same as my first name--andrei (lower case), and
my "joke name" for my kayak is "Titanic", since all it would take to sink
it is to rip a minimum of two of the main air pockets. As you can tell, I'm
not very experienced in paddling, but hope to "get there" soon. I live in
the Tidewater/Hampton Roads area of Virginia, USA. If you're in the area
you'll be able to spot me as the only one insane enough to go in an bright
red inflatable kayak.

--andrei.