It’s just been a crappy start to the summer so far. Nothing terrible has happened to me so far,

but the weather hasn’t exactly been…summer. If there had been a baseball season, I would have lost 1/3 of the games so far to rainouts or cloudy & cold knocking down crowds.

But one can only bitch & moan about air temperature for so long before you have to decide to do something about it. So, yesterday I finally decided to put the kayak in the water and go for a paddle.

Now, the ground rules for whenever I go out alone are pretty standard:

• Leave a note where I went,
• Actually go to where I said I would, and
• Call when I get home.

Mostly, WineWife doesn’t want to see me on the news being rescued like some fat man in sandals who decided to “Climb the Grind” without having exercised since the turn of the century. (FYI – if you ever do come to VanCity, do climb the Grouse Grind. It’s totally worth it.) The embarrassment would kill her before she got a chance to kill me.

So I followed the rules, and here’s what I saw:

For those of you unfamiliar, this is the Lion’s Gate Bridge, which separates Vancouver proper from the cities of North Vancouver & West Vancouver. It was cloudy & overcast, but a pretty decent 20 degrees Celsius so it wasn’t chilly. I also saw plenty of birds

and a couple of seals, but those assholes wouldn’t pose for me. Next, I paddled along Ambleside Beach,

past the Squamish Nation Welcome Totem,

and in amongst the 12 year-olds learning how to sail.

When I was later asked how bad the currents were, I told WineWife that if the rich folks were willing to let their offspring sail in them, then I could easily handle paddling those same waters.

It was a fun 90 minutes, and now I feel like I’ve actually done something ‘summery’.

Plus, I made ribs.

So, victory me!

Tonight’s … entertainment?:

• UFC Fight Night: Figueiredo vs. Benavidez 2: From Abu Dhabi
  • Prelims – 5:00PM | ESPN / TSN
  • Main card – ESPN+ / TSN
• MLB Baseball: Exhibition:
  • New York Yankees at New York Mets – 7:00PM | ESPN2 / TSN2
• MLS is Back Tournament:
  • Portland Timbers vs. Houston Dynamo – 8:00PM | ESPN / TSN4
  • Los Angeles FC vs. Los Angeles Galaxy – 10:30PM | ESPN / TSN4
• Left turns:
  • NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series:
    • Vankor 350 – 8:00PM | FS1
      • The Vankor 350 from Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
        • It sounds like it’s sponsored by a Russian supervillain.
  • IndyCar Racing:
    • Iowa IndyCar 250s Race 2 – 8:30PM | NBCSN / Sportsnet
      • Race 2 of the Iowa IndyCar 250s from Iowa Speedway in Newton.
• Southern hemisphere tackle sports:
  • Super Rugby Aotearoa:
    • Chiefs vs. Highlanders – 11:30 PM | ESPN2 / TSN2
      • From FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand.
  • Australian Football League:
    • Hawthorn vs. Melbourne – 1:30 AM | FS1 / TSN
    • Fremantle vs. West Coast – 4:30 AM | FS1

At this rate, we might just be back to all sports Saturdays. YIPPEE!