Time for reflection on water

If you spend much time on the water in a kayak or canoe, sooner or later you’re likely to be transfixed by reflections. Sitting so low in a kayak, reflections dominate your view of calm water from even quite close to where you sit. It’s easier to see beneath the surface by looking straight down but in the wider view, without polarized sunglasses, then reflections rule. All that lies beneath the silvered surface is rendered largely invisible.

Freeways cross over water Seattle

Trees and branches overhanging rivers and canals,  create scenes of pleasing symmetry. There is a similar visual tunnel effect between the two images below despite their very different locations, France and Missool, Raja Ampat.

Reflected plane trees, Kristin Nelson on Canal du Midi France

Arching nipa palms, Misool Indonesia

Some reflections appear more constructed than others. The bold reflected shapes beneath bridges with pillars arches and girders, quiver and gently distort as ripples move between the solid structures. I am left with the impression the solid structure exists beneath me, no matter what the actual depth is, or the real nature of the bottom. (for explanation of the green water color, see my Color of Water blog post)

Illusion of underwater dock construction, Seattle

Neither can I resist an opportunity to pause in the face of semicircular arches that are sucked into visual tubes by reflection. Do the curves really continue beneath the surface? Is this structure a tube, or is that just an illusion? The real bottom may be flat, and just beneath the surface, but it’s difficult to discard the impression that it follows the shape and depth of a tube.

Illusion of tubular tunnel, Kanu-Funsport Leipzig Germany

Reflected, concrete girders under a freeway that offer nesting shelter for pigeons and surfaces for clandestine graffiti scribblers create optical illusions of solid structures just beneath the placid surface, but as soon as the surface is disturbed the structures morph into dizzily shifting curlicue patterns.

Reflected Girders beneath freeway

Girders reflected in wavelets

Closer view of reflected girders in wavelets

The eye sees and the mind attempts to make order of the subtly shifting patterns. Only by taking a snapshot of the reflections does it become easier to see why the patterns are so challenging to follow. Even in a snapshot the crisscrossing wave patterns form such twisted reflections that seen out of context they illustrate a puzzling reality. Serving as Rorschach ink blots, the frozen shapes can conjure all manner of things, but rarely reveal the original object that was reflected. When the image is rapidly moving, what chance do you have of making sense of the shifting tree-ring patterns? 

wavelets create tree-ring style patterns

Ripples in motion

Stainless steel anchors, anchor pockets and scratch plates on ship hulls contrast the warping mirror of water, offering steadier mirrored surfaces. Just as from a flat-water surface an individual facet will reflect simply. However, multifaceted surfaces shatter reflections in a completely different way to water, creating collages of recognizable reflected bits of the surroundings.

Collage of reflections around anchor 

Water does something similar, but the effect is repeated many more times over by the procession of ripples each presenting its own set of constantly changing reflections from its uniquely morphing three-dimensional curves. Small undulations across an otherwise smooth surface cause shifting curvilinear shapes; shapes that are echoed in art including art from Papua.

Surreal abstract patterns of reflection in water

Although bridges and tunnels and docks offer some amazing reflections, there’s little more pleasing to me than cruising across flat water when the sky is blue with a few fluffy clouds. Looking ahead I have the sensation of flying high above the clouds, which shape-shift beside me as the wake from my bow warps the surface. Close beside my craft the reflected clouds seem to fade, and I can see through them into the water, perhaps seeing fingers of watermilfoil reaching up toward me, or fish darting away. And there on the surface itself, all around me suspended above the mirrored sky is another world of objects too light to sink, too heavy to fly. Here are insects that can walk on water. Here are floating plants, the leaves of waterlilies, feathers and twigs.

Cruising above the sky, Labrador (from the book On Polar Tides)

If you've enjoyed this blog post, find more of my creations on Nigel Foster YouTube channel, and on nigel foster vimeo. You can find my books on my store. I'm also available for presentations and special kayak instruction.

Reflection of canoeist, ceramicist  Kristin Nelson shattered by ripples 

The kayaks glimpsed in this post are by Nigel Foster (Point65 DoubleShot and Whisky 16 and Seaward  Kayaks Legend) 

Putting it Together after Outdoor Retailer summer 2014

Outdoor Retailer at Salt Lake City can be an intense experience. It'll leave you fried unless you practice a little moderation. There’s so much to see it’s difficult to come away with a clear picture of what’s new, what’s for you, or how many friends you've caught up with! Here is a palette of summer 2014's offerings for 2015.

Approaching Salt Lake

To my delight I ran into Karl Kohegan at Kokatat. He showed me Kokatat's new modular dry-suit, the Idol. It’s in two pieces, a top and bottom that simply zipper together. No bulky roll of fabric, and no struggle to climb inside. The challenge for such a system is sealing the meeting of the two ends of the zipper so they don’t leak.  

 

Karl Kohegan (left) shows me the Idol dry-suit

Kokatat solved this with an ingenious watertight locker box positioned at the end of the zipper. Clamped shut it seals the gap. 

Here is the locker box to seal the zipper ends

So, gone are the days when you torment yourself deciding whether to carry both drysuit and paddle jacket on expedition to allow for changing weather. Now you can take both in one.  With the top half of your drysuit functioning as a dry-cag, you can enjoy the freedom of bare legs whenever you wish. Simply zip on the legs to have a full dry-suit when you need.

 

Complementing that revolutionary modular system, Kokatat also designed a fully modular accessory and pocket system for their Poseidon PFD. Look out for the Idol and Poseidon from January 2015.

Working with Point65 take-apart plastic kayaks and SUPs... modules that clip together to form solo, tandem or longer kayaks, I know how easy it is to throw the sections of a kayak into the back of the car for transport. 

How to carry modular SUPs or take apart kayaks when your car is full?

But sometimes there is conflict for space when you need to carry camping gear too, or fill your car with passengers. Then a trailer is the most energy efficient thing to have so you don’t need to burn the extra gas to car-top your kayaks. Tom Dempsy, who I have known since he became one of the founders of LiquidLogic Kayaks, developed his own special brand of trailers, Sylvansport

In a trailer of course. Tom Dempsey with the GoEasy trailer

These extremely versatile trailers exploit Tom’s experience in the world of roto-molded kayaks as well as his considerable engineering and design talent. Watertight storage in roto-molded lockers are accessible via kayak-style hatches, and you can go for as basic or as deluxe a system as you wish. Tom's full-comfort Go trailer blossoms into a luxury tent with sleeping platforms in addition to loads of cargo space.

Together... Go Easy (left) and the Go trailer (right)

The smaller GoEasy trailer can be fitted with bars to carry up to four one-piece kayaks, or you can simply stack your modular Point65 kayaks in the trailer bed, and your kit in the watertight locker. This utility trailer metamorphoses with the modular addition of the Roost Explorer 2-person camping pod that adds as a top platform to the trailer, which hinges up as a tent like a wedge on top. 

The Go Easy trailer by SylvanSport

When not in use the trailer stands on end with tow-bar detached for compact storage. These trailers are stylish, well engineered, ready for action, and made entirely in USA. Very cool!

Returning to Point65 and a Swedish engineering perspective, the new item in their line is a spine-protecting back-pack… or to be precise, a whole range of them. Originally designed in Sweden as a way to protect your expensive lap-top in case of a spill when cycling, the packs were safety-tested in Germany to discover they perform to the highest rating of any purpose-built spine protector on the market! So they’re used for motorcycling, skiing, mountain biking, and skateboarding as well as just looking the coolest on the city street.

Point65 spine-protecting backpacks

Richard Ohman of Point65 could be seen at intervals throughout the Outdoor Retail Trade Show beating volunteers across the back with a baseball bat. The impact is spread so well you feel just a gentle push forward and you only feel about one-hundredth of the blow when wearing the backpack. Without the backpack? No volunteers.

The Point65 backpack protects your back and your laptop

These backpacks have been hiding well for maybe fifteen years, but now under Point 65 you will see them coming out and about from next spring, on the backs of photographers and sportspeople as well as protecting precious electronic devices on the road and in the office.

So… today's summary, a great new dry-suit innovation, a look at some special trailers, a new launch for a unique backpack from the company known for its and a sideways glance at take apart kayaks. A good show.