ironymaiden | cardboard to plastic

i have a giant novelty Shivan Dragon card on my desk at work.* it started a conversation that led to me doing an inventory of our Magic cards in order to build some decks and get back into playing more regularly. we have a lot of cards; enough that they inspired the purchase of our Alexandria Codex.** when i started to check to see if we had anything of value, C planted the idea of using them to buy a kayak.

the long-story-short is that with a bit of research and some legwork i turned 80 cards (an invisible loss from the collection) into kayak money. my goal was to be completely budget-neutral and only spend from the card proceeds. mischief managed.

a deck worth of Magic cards buys:

a used Oru Bay+***

float bags (no bulkheads in the Oru, this keeps the hull buoyant in a capsize)

spray skirt

safety kit (paddle float, bilge pump, really loud whistle)

a Werner Skagit paddle****

a 15L dry bag

i'll have all of it in my possession in time for the long weekend. very excited.

* which came from

the_monkey_king cleaning out his basement mumble-mumble years ago. i missed hanging out with him at a potluck today due to the craigslist thing mentioned below :/

** RIP GeekChic

***

philotera hooked me up with Sailor J, who was looking to trade it in for a model with a larger cockpit. for my lifestyle it has to be a packable boat due to lack of storage and lack of vehicle. i could get a regular kayak cheaper, but then i would make the cost up rapidly in paying for marina rack space, and that doesn't even take into account paying for a car to move it anywhere else.

**** today's drama involved the paddle. i was going to buy a Camano (a model up from the Skagit) and safety gear from a craigslist guy, but someone bought it out from under me. dude contacted me after i had already booked a zipcar to go to his house and it was too late to cancel. but i now i had this car to use for 90 minutes...so i took my money to the REI Labor Day sale and got the paddle that i could afford new instead. which is still very nice and made in Washington. the safety stuff and the dry bag were also on sale.