A few things have made this summer bearable for me.
High on the list was my air conditioner and the few times when cool southeast winds allowed me to open my windows and enjoy fresh, rather than refrigerated, air.
I also celebrated the return of the North Shore Music Theatre with season tickets and so far, my neighbor Irene and I have been delighted with "Gypsy" and "Joseph" and look forward to "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and "Chorus Line."
But the real highlight of the season involved learning to use the lightweight skin-on-frame canoe I built at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum in a class taught by the director of the Berkshire Boatbuilding School, Hilary Russell, in July 2009.
Thanks to my friend Barbara, my canoe, Tippy, was launched for the first time on the Annisquam River on Friday, July 21 — almost a year after it was built. Barbara helped me because it's more like an open kayak where you sit on the bottom rather than a regular canoe seat, and getting in and out is a balancing act done while the canoe is floating, not grounded.
I "soloed" a week later on the Essex River.
It wasn't easy to get into the canoe without help, but eventually I paddled out on the river. The tide was coming in, the wind was strong and since there were several powerboats on the river, I turned around and went under the bridge, paddling around the marsh all by myself.
My canoe weighs only 20 pounds, and practically flies across the water with the help of a long kayak paddle. It's also opaque, and I can see my bow waves through the bottom.
Getting the canoe on and off my car is sometimes comical. Twenty pounds spread over 101/2 feet is awkward to handle, and once, when I lifted it over my head and tried to slide it onto my ski and canoe rack from the rear, I heard someone ask "do you need help?"
I didn't have enough energy to respond — just kept pushing the canoe forward, listening to the voice repeat "do you need help?"
I finally got the canoe where I wanted and my head out from under it, and thanked the woman who had stopped her car to help what, to her, must have looked like a canoe with legs. (I've since learned it's better to lift it onto the rack from the side of my car. Like everything else in life, I learn best through trial and error — a lot of trials and many errors.)
I enjoyed about an hour of solo paddling Thursday, Aug. 12, and went a bit farther on the Essex River than the previous time.
Wind picked up but wasn't bad and the few powerboats coming in, one with a huge fish that a man said he was "rushing to the market," slowed down as they passed me.
I got in and out without too much trouble, but as I was getting ready to leave, a young man offered to put the canoe on top of the car for me. I was tired and had blisters on my thumbs and was glad that I didn't have to do it myself.
And just last week, I found that Chebacco Lake was the ideal place for me and my canoe. Unaffected by tides or heavy boat traffic, I had a great time in cool gusty winds and was able to climb in and out of the canoe by holding onto the cement wall on the boat ramp and sitting on the bottom of the canoe before putting my legs in.
Although I sailed my West Wight Potter sloop, Pumpkin, alone on Sandy Bay for 16 years, I frequently benefited from the help of harbormasters, fishermen and friends. Pumpkin is now sailing with my cousins on Cayuga Lake in upstate New York, but the sense that "it takes a village" whenever I'm in a boat continues.
I'm pleased that I can paddle my canoe alone, but grateful for the help and, or the company of others: Barbara, who joined me on Tippy's maiden voyage; Carol, who keeps the canoe in her garage in the summer; strangers I meet on land and water; and Hilary Russell, whose classes are listed at www.berkshireboatbuildingschool.org.
I also appreciate the YMCA's capable staff who provide me with interesting and enjoyable classes to keep me healthy — in Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning water aerobics classes in Ipswich and Tuesday and Thursday morning stretch classes in Gloucester.
Eileen Ford is a Rockport resident and a regular Times columnist.
