Digesting 2018: Running, Rusty and mom's Moroccan adventure (pt 2)

Running 
A bit of a mixed bag for me.... I was on fire (speed and distance) until mid June when I got a chest cold with a nasty cough. It took me more than two months (plus a doctor visit and meds) to get over it and it left me flat.

I've ticked over but sleeping 3-4hrs a night on too many nights really worked me over.

I don't recommend it.

I'm not running as much or as fast as I'd like to. This is something I need to make right. I need to take care with Rusty and so psychologically I need to get myself right to do more sessions without her to get in more distance for myself.

We have a Parys parkun on Saturdays and a MyRun on Sunday mornings. This was a MyRun in December.

I won't be hosting Forest Run again this year. Long story, but the main piece of land used for Forest Run has been sold and the new owner doesn't want anyone on his property, he is busy putting up fencing and apparently he will put buffalo on the land. I will do another social 'Not-Forest Run' in May.

I do have access to land around the sections that I used for further parts of the 30km and 46km Forest Run routes. But I'll need a few months for scouting and mapping, which I just don't have now.

Rusty
This doggy girl... She is my heart.

This dog keeps me sane and grounded. I definitely make more effort for her than I would do for myself. We go out walking or running every day and usually once a week we go to our favourite place Otters' Haunt to run with my friend Karen and Rusty's friends Rocksy and Skally. In summer we love to run to the quarry, swim there and then run back - around 7km loop.

We had a wobble two weeks ago when Rusty had a sore front leg and a sore back leg - and probably sore back too - after one of these outings. Vet visit and x-rays later, Rusts has arthritis in two spinal joints and also in the 'little fingers' of her front paws.

She is between 7 and 8 and is maybe closer to 8... Having a doggy in pain that can barely walk is very distressing for me. Fortunately, rest and pain killers got her on track in days but we'll need to look at long-term maintenance so that my special companion can continue to enjoy adventures with me.

Mom's Moroccan adventure (and her broken foot)

My mom - the gaiter-making elf of AR Gaiters - spent months preparing for her adventure - a trip to Morocco to hike up Mt Toubcal in the Atlas Mountains. Unfortunately, on her first afternoon of trekking, she broke her right foot - fractures on her tibia and fibia! That was a Friday afternoon. A donkey ride took her to the village where she waited for her group to return on the Sunday afternoon. They returned to Marrakesh and a hospital visit on the Tuesday morning confirmed the fracture.

She got on a flight home one-day early. I fetched her from the airport on the Thursday and we were at the orthopod on the Friday morning. He operated on the Monday morning - putting in plates and screws. She was out of hospital the same day - we stayed over at my uncle's place; mom was out of it.

We got back to Parys the next day and I moved in with mom; cooking, hanging and sleeping at her house at night but working between my house and the factory in the day and then putting in extra hours late into the night (or early into the morning depending on your perspective).

Mom was pretty much confined to her house until recently. She got the go-ahead to start putting weight on her foot in mid-Dec and two physio visits before Xmas got her more mobile. She started driving just over a week ago and can now walk without a crutch. She is making fast progress now.

I found it very difficult managing mom's household and my household with too much work on my plate; so I didn't spend nearly as much time with my mom as I would have liked to. She was a good patient, happy to eat anything that I put in her lunchboxes or cooked for dinner. I enjoyed hanging with her and watching Netflix together at night.

// end pt 2

Digesting 2018: YOLO & Vagabond (pt 1)

We're two weeks into January and I haven't even begun to digest last year. It was one helluva ride. 

This was my lowest blog-count year since 2006! It wasn't that I didn't have anything to write about, I just didn't get around to putting my thoughts down.

My memory of much of the year is actually pretty fuzzy. I worked too many hours on too little sleep, which over many months definitely messed with my memory.

While the year left me feeling like I'd been run over by a freight train, it had a dose of good with the bad. I have to really think about the good because bad has that awful way of permeating into every aspect of one's life whether it really was a significant proportion or not.

YOLO Compost Tumblers

My year started out with a bang on the YOLO  side - very, very busy. 

I had stock in the factory from before xmas and by the end of the first week of Jan I was all out. On one side, this is a great position - sold out and having a product that is in demand. On the other, being out of stock means a lot more admin. Customers have to be kept in the loop about how production is progressing and when they can expect their unit. This significantly ramps up the amount of communication needed for each order.

The year went in waves of building a little stock and then having orders exceeding production speed.

The winter months of June and July were quiet (as expected) and gave me the chance to focus on Vagabond (see below). August kicked off with the Decorex show, YOLO's second time there. We had another good show. The show coincides with spring, when people are searching online about gardening and composting... We've been busy ever since.

We do sell YOLO through Takealot too, although I've found it challenging to keep enough stock there. Mainly because I setup a production list including orders and a bunch of extras for Takealot and for factory stock and before I even get all of the units from the factory, I've already assigned them to direct orders. I've had quite a bit of stock on Takealot since mid-December.

We'll ramp up production this year. I'll have some more units going off to Australia in February.

YOLO really is a delight and I thoroughly enjoy my interactions with customers. I've learned a lot about composting since I started YOLO (most two years ago) and I keep learning from experience, articles and my customers as we go along.

It really is heartening how many people are trying to do better with their waste at home by refusing items that they don't need, reducing what they consume and use, reusing where they can, recycling what can be recycled and composting organic waste. Makes a huge difference!

If you haven't liked the YOLO Facebook page yet, please do so.

VAGABOND KAYAKS

Our new company, Vagabond Kayaks, has dominated my existence since before we launched at the beginning of July 2018. My role kicked in a few months before with the design and building of our website.

This is the biggest and most complicated website that I have ever created. I created well over 100 pages  (110 pages just for kayaks), wrote content, designed and created all of the graphics... In the build-up to launch we were working crazy non-stop hours with barely any breaks to eat or sleep.

All the while we were working in the factory and Celliers and our incredible team of workers were making moulds for the kayaks, running test kayaks and dealing with hundreds of elements that makes manufacturing what it is - not for the fainthearted. You need the constitution of an ox to wake up every day.

We went to a tradeshow in the US at the end of August, squeezed in a one-week roadtrip from Parys to East London to Cape Town to Parys, meeting with dealers along the way. I spent almost every hour in the car on the phone (email, calls, whatsapp, internet) and managed to flatten my battery every day. I didn't see much scenery despite the perfect weather. We got to paddle briefly and hangout a little in Cape Town.

Me paddling in a super-fun novelty event at Paddlesports Retailer in the USA.

An early morning demo session. Here I am paddling with Celliers on Zandvlei. What a magnificent morning! Photo by my friend Ray Chaplin.

Three days later we flew to Germany for another paddle sport tradeshow there - PaddleExpo.

Getting to tradeshows means a lot of logistics, especially where you have to ship kayaks over. Your heart lodges in your throat as you wait for them to arrive safely on the other side.

Returning home meant a lot of juggling here as we entered our main summer season and needed to build relationships with people we met at the shows ahead of their seasons in 2019.

So most days were really about getting as much done as possible. From building our new brand through social media to fulfilling orders, dealing with transport logistics (not anyone can transport 4.5m kayaks!), interacting with dealers, responding to customers on Facebook, email, whatsapp, Messenger... If the platform exists, people use it. And as a company, we have to respond - fast.

We've been trading since August and the two single-seater sit-on-top models that we think will do the best are only going to come out this month. These will complete our recreational sit-on-top range.

There is no doubt that Celliers' designs are the best in the world and our kayaks outrank other brands in performance, stability, features, quality, strength and design. No debate here. Any new company has a lot of work to do.

Our Vagabond year ended with a three-day trip on theOrange River. My personal kayak is the Marimba, the longest, narrowest (but still very stable) and fastest in our range. I knew it would be good but it was even better!

Back home on the 23rd, I had a few days with chunks of work and then took off the whole week of 1 Jan. I really needed it. I didn't turn on my computer, I didn't check email on my phone and I mostly ignored everything.

We had beautiful rains that week and magnificently cool, overcast weather - perfect for a bit of Netflix indulgence.

With the rains and water release from Barrage, came higher water levels in our Vaal River.

2018 was marked with very low water levels in the river for pretty much the whole year - starting from January. We tripped occasionally but it was rocky. After 1 Jan, we got water! Instead of the usual 15 to 25 cumec we'd been having, the river went up to a beautiful 70 to 80 cumec and even higher (up to 130 cumec) for a bit. We did two trips with our Marimbas before getting back to work.

// end of part 1

Three days on the Orange River

It feels like an age since I had a real break; and nothing beats three days on the Orange River. Almost better than the cool water of the river, the stunning scenery and excitement of rapids, was that I has no mobile reception. This meant no email, no sms, no whatsapp, no Messenger, no calls. Bliss!

Three days on the Orange River have been superb. Goliath herons and fish eagles flying above, kudu and springbok on the river banks, and two nights spent under a nearly full moon that painted the landscape in shades of silver.

The paddling exceeded expectations with good flow, interesting sections and some rapids to spice things up.

I have paddled this section once before; in October four years ago not long after I started seeing Celliers (a test for our fledgling relationship). It was my first time getting to know his children and also my first time paddling a whitewater sit-on-top kayak. My Vagabond Marimba is a far better kayak for this trip.

Our Vagabond kayaks came into their own, carrying us and all of our gear for this trip. I had the fortune of paddling our newest kayak, the Marimba. This is the longest, narrowest and fastest of our kayaks and I've been eagerly waiting for it. I recently sold my Epic v7, which I really loved. The only downside was that the v7 didn't have any space for Rusty! This green Marimba is my personal kayak and will be making its way to my rack at our Likkewaan Canoe Club. I just need to put a foam mat in the rear tankwell for Rusty and then it will be ready for us to go paddling.

The group for our trip included me, Celliers and his children. We also had our two Vagabond Kayaks business partners and their families along (including some siblings and their families). All in all about 15 adults and 10 children (from 4 to 14). Here are some photos from our trip.

Packing my green Marimba. I like to separate my clothing, gear and daily snack bags into smaller (5l) drybags. I find that it makes it easier to keep track of things and is also easier to pack. This is what had to go into my Marimba (plus a few communal items like a small gas cylinder, water bottles and the like). I could have packed double and still had space to spare.

The packing space inside the two main hatches really is remarkable.

The Marimba has a bucket-like Day Hatch in front of the seat for easy-access items. My camera went into the front pocket of my PFD. In the hatch, I put shades, glasses, lipbalm and binoculars.

The Marimba has three hatches; two that go into the hull and one day hatch in front of the seat. Of course, hatches can leak, which is why everything should be in drybags. I was super impressed with the hatches on the Marimba. Three days of opening and closing and NOT ONE DROP OF WATER inside. I did always make sure to tighten the hatch covers properly. Celliers had the same; not one drop either. I need to use a vacuum cleaner to suck up the fine sand from the bottom of drybags and sandals that got into the hull during packing. The sand is bone dry.

At the Hopetown bridge - waiting for the drivers to get back after dropping the cars at the take-out. Sights like this make all the mega hours of the past 18 months, from beginning to create Vagabond Kayaks to launching this company and our first phenomenal designs five months ago.

The very first bubblies after we put in under the Hopetown bridge. The novices were a bit nervy but going through this was smooth. By day 3 they were charging through waves to get the most out of them.

Me and my marvelous Marimba.

The rocks of the Orange River are spectacular. The shapes and patterns of these black rocks change as you go along. Thunder Alley, which we went through on Day 2, is striking.

We had two rafts along with us for the families with small children.

Day 1 lunch stop.

This was a really nice rapid. Sounded worse than it was. Turned out to be lovely wave trains.

The oldest in our group is 55 and the youngest is 4. Ruben (in the foreground) and Kyla paddled Tarkas. Bigger than the children's Kwando, the Tarka is manageable for bigger children and it has the packing space for overnight trips like this. They took all of their own clothing, tent (split between them), daily snackpacks, sleeping bags and mattresses... Totally independent. Just perfect.

Hubbly Bubbly rapid has a hole in the middle and a good line on far river left - if you can catch it. With the water at a good level, we were able to paddle and bump most of the kayaks down a tiny channel near the right bank (not in the picture). Of course, a couple of our team did run it, making it look really easy.

Hell's Gate rapid, the entrance to Thunder Alley. Water at a good level but not for novices and children. Experienced paddlers took turns paddling all of the kayaks down.

We walked the kayaks through on the far river right and got in at the eddy just visible above the left shoulder of the guy. Then a bunch of us paddled all the kayaks downstream to the bigger eddy where everyone could then get on to their boats again. I paddled two Tarkas down. I had a clean run with the first but swam with the second when I got tipped by a big, sneaky boil. I managed to swim the kayak into the eddy. For the rafts, this was child's play.

Picnic spot on Day 2. There is no shade for a long time once you're through and out of Thunder Alley.

We started Day 3 by walking a bit upstream from our overnight camp for a leisurely float down the river.

Floating in the cool water of the Orange River is divine. From early morning it cooks. Outside, temperatures were upper 30s, even up to 40 C!

Last day on the river. 

We did about 20km on Day one and unintentionally did around 25km on Day 2. We'd planned on 15km for Day 2 but had to do more to find overnight stop with shade. Our last day was very short - only a few kilometres - but very pleasant nonetheless. Back in Hopetown we enjoyed a swim in the pool G&Ts and I has a leisurely afternoon in my hammock - reading and napping.

Kayaks like ours make a trip like this a breeze. Without the rafts we could have moved a lot faster and next time we'll do a no-raft trip, going all the way to Douglas (an extra 30-odd kilometres).

Can't wait!

Off to the Orange River

It has been over a month since my last post - a clear indication of how my year has been.

This year has beaten me black-and-blue but I'm still breathing and there has been progress but it has been tough. I've done little but work-work-work and fortunately I have had my Rusty dog to get me out and to keep me sane.

Swimming in the quarry with Rusty. 

I'm off for a few days to the Orange River for a three day trip. This is a much needed escape - sans internet, emails and phone reception. I am very excited about paddling our newest kayak, the Marimba. This. Is going to be my personal kayak for paddling for fitness and fun with Rusty. It was moulded on Monday.

The green one is mine. 

My gear is all pre-packed in drybags and I look forward to packing it into my kayak tomorrow morning.

I've got my camera so I'll take photos. I plan to paddle, rest and sleep a lot (I have a substantial deficit to recover from).

I look forward to share my adventure with you next week. Until then...