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"Believe me, my young friend. There is nothing, absolutely nothing,
half so worth doing as simply messing around in boats." 

The Wind in the Willows

The 200th Post! Goals for 2018 + a nerdy graph

3/4/2018

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How do you like my cheesy meme?
​I'm having a mini celebration right now, because this marks the 200th Naked Kayaker post! I know it's not much for 8 years in the blogging world, but considering how much time and effort go into most of these posts (planning the paddle, paddling, making maps, photo editing, writing the story, researching the destination, editing), I think it's something to be proud of. I've started and stopped my fair share of hobbies/projects in this life, but if all else fails, The Naked Kayaker will go on!

In my 100th post, I reflected on some goals I'd made in the past, and defined some new ones for the future. Looking back, Alice and I did not meet our first goal of paddling together 8 more times (I think we went 3 more times?). But I definitely met the next three goals of paddling 100 miles before a set date, exploring ten new places (easy!), and getting involved in sea kayaking in the Netherlands. 

That's fun - let's do it again! While we were in New Zealand, I made a list of New Year's resolutions. I just checked and somehow, out of 19 resolutions, only one of them is kayaking-related! How did that happen? Let's fix that asap. Below are 7 new kayaking-related goals for 2018, some more ambitious than others... 

1. Blog a lot!

​My first resolution is to write an average of 2 posts per month, or 24 posts in 2018. Each post usually requires 1+ Saturday or Sunday for the paddle and another for the write-up. That means 2 full weekends per month!  

I'm going to be a bit meta for a moment and blog about blogging. I recently made this cool plot showing the timeline of posts on this site. I love graphs, and there aren't many opportunities to make them when you're a kayak blogger... There are some clear trends, which I've noted. Steeper lines indicate periods of more frequent blogging. 
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2. Paddle a lot!

​It also indirectly includes a goal of going on 24 paddling trips. I'd like to add to this by requiring 10 new destinations. Now that I have my own sea kayak, she needs to get some experience, and there are plenty of new opportunities available in the Netherlands. We also have some more exotic trips in the pipeline, like Greece in May! Should I set a mileage goal? Sure, why not? How about we add a(n easy) distance goal as well: 350 km/200 miles. That's a nice step up from one of my first paddling goals (to paddle 100 miles in the summer of 2010).

3. Do a couple open coast paddles!

​I still have not managed to paddle on the North Sea! One achievable goal would be to do two coastal paddles this summer. Some ideas include paddling along the North or South Holland open coast, on the Westerschelde river, and on the Wadden Sea. My only hesitation is that I need to find the right people to do this with (see goal #5, below). 

​4. Refresh my Greenland paddling & rolling skills

​I brought my Greenland paddles with me after my recent trip to the US. <that was an adventure!> I'd like to get back into the groove of Greenland paddling and rolling, and maybe learn a couple new rolls this summer. Update: It looks like I won't be bringing my Greenland paddles back to Europe (at least for now) - it's too pricey, and I should just make my own paddle! New goal?

5. Find my paddling community

My main goal for 2018 is to find my place in the paddling community in Rotterdam. I plan to stay here for a while, and I know I need a fun paddling community to be happy.  I've been feeling a bit discouraged by some recent events at the club, and though I've been a member for a year now, I still feel like a bit of an outsider. I know these things can take time, so I'm going to stubbornly stick with it! I'm planning to attend plenty of the larger club trips to meet people who are interested in big water kayaking + skills but with a similar paddling philosophy to mine. I'm hoping to find some more folks who don't assume that because I'm new (and young? and female? and foreign?), I am not experienced. Who are happy to offer their paddling advice, but only when requested. Who I can trust in rough conditions, but who also enjoy stopping to smell the flowers, eat the berries, and snap photos along the way. 

I'm cooking up some ideas for trips I could organize to get to know more club members: new member paddle? young member paddle? There are plenty of both, but I somehow don't encounter them very often at the club. Finally, I want to attend more club meetings, to get more involved in the planning/decision making. 

6. ​Write a few more Water Nerd posts.

This will hopefully come naturally in the process of exploring new destinations. There's still so much nerding to do when it comes to coastal management, natural areas, and water infrastructure in the Netherlands! 

​​7. Here's a fun one: Name my new boat! 

I recieved many suggestions when I introduced her on Facebook in November, and now it's a matter of finding the one that suits her best. Maybe I should also make a cool nakedkayaker.com decal for her :) - anyone want to draft me a logo?

That's all for now. There may be some other surprises/developments in the works for 2018, but that's  on the down-low for now. I'll revisit at the end of 2018 to see how many of these goals I was able to meet. It feels quite ambitious! 
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    Welcome!

    This is a blog about exploring the outdoors (mostly by kayak), traveling, trip planning, and coastal engineering. It currently focuses on kayaking in the Netherlands and Belgium, but previous posts cover Upstate New York, California, and much more. See the Complete List of Blog Posts for a history of the site. Looking for something specific? Search the site here.

    In addition to the blog, check out the Water Nerd section, where I write about coastal engineering and hydrology. 

    ​Happy Paddling!
    ​Nena

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