Canoe Club, Pt. II

A lot has happened recently. Yesterday, for example, I ran over my neighbor's fence. Backed into it. And knocked it down. So now there is no more fence. Even though it was made of cinder blocks it went down so easily! This story is awful enough, but when I left a note I addressed it to John instead of Bobby. Funny, I always thought his name was John. He doesn't look like a Bobby at all!

Then today I had my second Lanikai Canoe Club practice. I absolutely love it! I'm in love with:

-my paddle (it's made by a local guy from different woods & has a red sticker on it)
-the other girls, all in their green and white Lanikai gear
-the beautiful beach with the clear blue water where we train
-the Hawaiian chants we sing; they only have two notes, both of which I can hit
-the canoe culture
-the sunset over the Pacific at end of practice

The coach even thought I was doing really well! Until, that is, I called her attention to the fact I was not doing really well by drenching her back with so much water it looked as if I had deliberately poured a bucket of water over her head.

She laughed it off but then, just to prove my incompetence, while we were pushing off from the beach later in practice I neglected to board the canoe. During Monday's practice everyone sat down too early and we were all stuck on the beach. To prove I was a team player I decided to push longer and sit down later, but I missed the opportunity to hop on at all. I suddenly found myself doggie-paddling, wearing a fleece that absorbed about ten pounds of water. I so desperately struggled to pull myself back into the canoe a teammate began tugging on my right armpit and I somehow managed to flop my way onto the boat like a large fish. Splayed over my paddle with my butt in the air, legs still danging over the side, I tried to turn myself over but my recently sunscreen-lotioned legs were so wet and slippery I ended up slipping into the bottom of the boat (try to imagine the absolute least graceful way to accomplish this already graceless maneuver) with my chin on the seat where my butt should have been so that I was in the perfect location to appreciate the entire team witnessing my farce.

I learned some important lessons this week:

It's better to enter the canoe too early than not at all.
And upset fences make upset neighbors.

More pearls of wisdom to come.