Welcome to www.joeoblenis.com

    Seems like Spring may be arriving earlier than normal here along the shores of Lake Superior in northwestern Canada. Higher than normal temperatures and rapidly melting snow and ice has me thinking that the river across the street will be open within days! Checked it out yesterday and there is open water now, not a long section just yet but possibly enough for a little paddle later today anyways, just something to break things up from the indoor training I've been doing on the Speedstroke Kayak ergometer. Just need to decide which boat to paddle first. NDK Greenlander Pro (for sale)...Tahe Greenland, marathon C1 racing canoe? Decisions, decisions!

To further confuse things, within the next couple weeks I'll have my new Tahe Wind 585 and the Kayakpro Marlin and Namu arriving as well. Might need to build another boat rack soon!

    Training is going well for my Vancouver Island Expedition this summer. The goal is an 1100 or so kilometer circumnavigation in under 17 days. Click here for a piece just posted with Canoe & Kayak Magazine. 

    Plenty going on behind the scenes these days for the Superior Kayak & Canoe club as well. I've had a series of meetings with key paddlers in the area and we are working on a new schedule of events for local sea kayaking and canoeing, working on plans for a weekend of Greenland paddling and instruction with Helen Wilson coming in to town this summer. Also organizing a trial run for a new race here on the shores of Lake Superior, likely going to be about a 50-55 kilometer course this time around. It's going to be informal this year but I'm using it as a stepping stone towards a bigger and better event for 2011 and beyond. Word is spreading quickly though as just yesterday I had an inquiry about it from a top ultramaraton racer from California who just may fly in for the event! We are intentionally keeping the event small for this year as we feel things out so already we have turned down a couple of more "Recreational" paddlers as we focus more on the racers for this year. We will likely include a shorter event next year for the more recreational paddlers.

   For those of you overseas and looking for a new Greenland Paddle, my hand-built paddles are now available in Sweden as well as in the U.K. The first shipment arrived in Sweden yesterday and will be on display at the Tahe Marine booth at the Stockholm International Boat Show starting next week!

   I'll likely do another post this evening, particularly if I manage to get out on the river this afternoon. For now though, I have a pile of paddles in front of me waiting for a coat of oil and then have to head into the woodshop and start working away on the orders that are piling up. Today I need to finish one off and ship it out to a fellow in Nevada and then laminate 3 more for Helen Wilson down in California.

Cheers... Joe O'