Today we have a guest post by friend and fellow Never Dry member, Nathalie! She writes about a beginner day trip on the Rotte River that I (Nena) organized for new members of the club. Edited and commented by Nena, with comment in brackets [].

Today I went on my first official kayak tour with Never Dry!! Destination: Café Oud Verlaat along the Rotte River. [Nathalie and I were joined by Marieke, Francisco, Berend, Kim, Anais, Anton, and Iede, a very energetic, happy, and enthusiastic group!]

The day began with a lot of rain and even some thunder, which made me unsure of whether we would make it to our destination (easily). I rode my bike to the club, arriving damp but excited to paddle and ready to prepare for the trip.

Last May, Anais and Anton invited us to join them an a couple Canadian friends on a canoeing day trip and BBQ in the Biesbosch. Fully aware of the culinary abilities of A&A, we enthusiastically said Yes! 

This weekend was abnormally warm for October. Actually, record-breakingly warm. A few of us decided to spend it on the water! Tom, Berend, and I spent Sunday exploring a new (to me) part of Haringvliet, a former estuary-turned-lake just south of Rotterdam. 

Sometimes I like to set goals, and occasionally check in to see how things are going. It's always satisfying when you realize you've made progress towards a goal, without consciously thinking about it for a while. Back in March I was having a bit of a kayaking existential crisis, which inspired me to put together a set of goals for 2018 to get myself back on track. Let's see how it's been going!

The goal was to write an average of two posts per month. It's early October now, so I should have 2*9+1 = ~19 posts. As of this post, I'm at 24! So I've already met my goal for the year, and expect to exceed it by at least a few posts. 

Verdict: Complete!

Obviously meeting Goal #1 requires, to a certain extent, Goal #2. However, let's look at the data. I wanted to paddle in 10 new locations, and a total of 350 km. Here are the new locations:
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1. Bay of Islands, New Zealand (15 km)
2. Kenepuru Sound, New Zealand (40 km)
3. Fiordland National Park, New Zealand (21 km)
4. Rotterdam Centrum, Netherlands (10 km)
5. Stellendam, North Sea, Netherlands (20 km)
6. Ijssel River, Netherlands (45 km)
7. Ionian Islands, Greece (58 km)
8. Linschoten, Netherlands (18 km)
9. Ameland, Wadden Sea, Netherlands (22 km) including a new lake in Friesland - does that count for 2?
10. Lake Geneva, Switzerland (5 km)

Additional distance covered in non-new locations:  20+ ~8 km + 10 km + 4*8? = ~70 km

Total distance so far: ~324 km (probably a bit more). I think I will manage to paddle in ~2 additional new locations this year, and the distance goal should not be an issue given trips that are already on the calendar!

Verdict: On track! / basically complete

I wanted to paddle in two different locations on the open coast in the Netherlands. Success! Went for some fun trips on the North Sea (again in a few weeks) and on the Wadden Sea. 

Verdict: Complete!

At the time of the goals blog post (which I wrote in the US), I had presumptively written that I'd brought my Greenland paddles with me to the Netherlands. However, that did not actually happen, so this goal quickly hit a wall. I've been thinking about giving up on bringing my paddles over from the US (big hassle), and instead making my own here. That's something I've always wanted to do, and I have a few friends who I can rely on for email-based paddle-making advice (Ben & Mike!). Let's see how that evolves over the rest of the year... I really miss Greenland paddling and rolling, and I would get back a big part of my kayaking identity by bringing it back into my practice. 

Verdict: No progress, but hopeful

This was my main goal for the year, and I'm proud to say that it's the one I've made the most progress on. It's certainly nowhere near "complete," but some concrete steps have been taking!
Some specific updates:

• I joined many group trips this summer, including a couple overnight trips. It was a blast! In my experience, this is the best way to get to know fellow club members well.
• I volunteered to be the new secretary of the club. There was a vacancy, and I saw a chance to use some of my skills/hobbies (writing/organizing) at the same time as chiseling a spot for myself in the club. This has immediately led to me getting to know many other members. Somehow, once you get an official label like "secretary," people spontaneously strike up conversations with you at the club, and don't inadvertently treat you as a newbie.  As an introvert, that's been a really nice development!
• I taught an introduction to kayaking course, getting to know 3 new members quite well.
• Getting know know members of RCC, the club next door. 
• Partly because of my new role as secretary, I've been diligent about attending pretty much all club meetings (brainstorms), where I've learned a lot more about the inner workings of the club.

Verdict: Going well, can always improve!

​Hmmmm how do you define a "few"? I would say 3. SO far this year, I've written one new Water Nerd post, describing sandbar migration near Stellendam, the first place I paddled on the North Sea. I'm not really hopeful that I'll write two more posts this year, as the motivation isn't there, and I'd prefer to direct my energy towards #4 and #5... When I first made the Water Nerd section of the website, I was really excited about my work as a coastal engineer and its intersection with kayaking. Now that the content of my work has changed a bit, I"m a bit less inspired/excited to write about it or research things I encounter during my paddles. It's sad, but I hope that, as is so often the case with my non-kayaking hobbies, this is a temporary phase that will pass, bringing a new phase of inspiration!

Verdict: Not on track, but that's alright?

While this may sound like the easiest of the goals above, I'm finding it quite difficult. I got so many good suggestions, but a good name just needs to stick. My terrible memory isn't helping, either. There have been a few occasions when a name is mentioned during a paddle, and I say "yes, that's the one!" and promptly forget it... After requesting help in naming my new kayak, the suggestions rolled in - thanks everyone! Many of them play to the name of my first kayak, Big Purple.  Maybe it's fun to share the full list with you - feel free to vote in the comments! 

Complete (and growing) list of potential names (my favorite names in bold):

• Bigger Purple
• Purple Humongous 
• Purple Hugo
• Lila Pause (after a purple candy bar made by Milka, and Lila means Lilac in Dutch)
• Purp 2.0
• Polly
• Various flower names: Daisy, Iris, Lilac
• Freya
• Lucy (thanks EP)
• Mystic Merlin
• Cheshire Cat
• UK-inspired names: Norbert, Barnaby, Felix, Hamish, Seamus, Rupert, Clyde
• Groot Paars (equivalent of Big Purple in Dutch)
• Deep Purple (after the English rock band)
• Purplicious (after a children's book)
• Purple Pioneer (I like this, though there's a kayaking brand called Pioneer that makes ugly kayaks...)
• New Purple (Thanks Jeff!)

Verdict: Not on track

When we recieved an invitation to Tanya and Ken's wedding in Switzerland, I jumped at the opportunity to go on another kayaking and hut trip in the Alps! My first kayaking trip in Switzerland, on Lake Brienz, was (and still is) one of my most beautiful paddling experiences, and I hoped to recreate it on another Swiss lake. We planned to attend the wedding on Saturday, do a hut trip on Sunday/Monday, and go kayaking on Tuesday before flying out Tuesday evening - busy to say the least! Before building it up too much, I'll warn you that the paddling experience was a bit disappointing, but the wedding and hut trip were wonderful!