Success At Last - Nathan Bond

Over my two years here at Keeners the one trick I have persistently worked towards is the blunt.  A blunt, if you are not familiar, is a hundred-eighty degree rotation around the bow of the boat initiated by edging on a bounce and quickly switching edges.  This trick has given me nightmares ever since I learned of its existence last year at Keeners.  I have been unable to fully achieve it and end up with the less impressive version of the blunt; a roundhouse.  Saturday, a group of fellow Keeners and I paddled down to Minibus for a laidback weekend session.  The lines were short and the rides were almost back-to-back, despite it being the middle of the day on the weekend, allowing lots of quality practice.  Then... it happened.

Needless to say I went pretty huge.  I have no idea what it was that immediately allowed me to get it but right after that blunt I got another left blunt on the same ride.  We went to lunch shortly after my great ride and more than half the group was eager to return to Keenerville.  Me and a few others were persistent and got just enough Keeners to stay with us.  After lunch it happened again.  This time though it was CLEAN, meaning no paddle blade touched the water.  Somehow, overnight, something must have clicked because all the sudden I can blunt and it feels good.  The moral of this story is to continue working towards your goals even if it may seem you'll never reach them because eventually you will just as I finally blunted after a year of failure.