How to maintain your kayak

Written by Jakob Jelling


Once you've foundrepparttar perfect kayak for you, and you're ready to go kayaking, there's one other thing that you need to learn about first. You need to know how to take care of your kayak, otherwise, you may find that your kayak doesn't last nearly as long as you would like it to. Considering how much kayaks tend to cost, this should definitely be a priority for you.

One thing that you should keep in mind regarding kayak maintenance is that like most things, a little bit of prevention can go a long way. As a result, you should make sure that you do a little bit of regular maintenance on your kayak. This way, you'll be able to keep your kayak nice, and you won't have to worry about doing a lot of maintenance all at once when something breaks.

First, you should always make sure that you wash your kayak regularly. This will help keep it clean, and will also make sure that you can see if there is anything onrepparttar 132890 kayak that could cause problems later. This is especially important if you are kayaking in salt water, sincerepparttar 132891 salt can corrode parts of your kayak. You should also make sure that you rinserepparttar 132892 inside of your kayak as well if any salt water got inside.

The Balance of Power in the Atlantic Division

Written by Ted Bauer


It’s funny how a term can so be honored in one place, yet so degraded in another --- withinrepparttar same sport.

In college basketball,repparttar 132889 word “Atlantic” conjures up images of ACC powerhouses such as Duke, Wake Forest, UNC, andrepparttar 132890 University of Maryland, all perennial Final Four and Top 25 powerhouses. The eastern seaboard along Interstate 95 has come to be associated with pure dominance.

The pros are a different story. Sincerepparttar 132891 NBA realignment two years ago,repparttar 132892 Atlantic has become a laughingstock, occasionally referred to as “The Wacklantic” or other invented names. There’s good reason ---repparttar 132893 current Atlantic Division leaders,repparttar 132894 Boston Celtics, are a very average 29-28, good for a .509 winning percentage. Amongrepparttar 132895 other five division leaders,repparttar 132896 lowest winning percentage is .648, presently held byrepparttar 132897 surging Pistons.

What’s worse is this --- whoever emerges asrepparttar 132898 Atlantic “champion” drawsrepparttar 132899 three seed inrepparttar 132900 East, yet might lose home court advantage torepparttar 132901 eventual six-seed (probablyrepparttar 132902 Bulls, Wizards, or Cavs). David Stern has gone on record as sayingrepparttar 132903 six-seed will be investigated for possibly going inrepparttar 132904 tank downrepparttar 132905 stretch to draw a more favorable first-round match-up.

The Atlantic is a poor complement to torrid play in other divisions this season, but there may be cause for hope. Atrepparttar 132906 trading deadline last Thursday, several division “powerhouses” beefed up their weak lineups, causing us to reconsiderrepparttar 132907 entire balance of power withinrepparttar 132908 Northeast. Hoops Avenue now presentsrepparttar 132909 new “power” rankings forrepparttar 132910 Atlantic Division:

1) Philadelphia 76ers: AI’s crew nabbed perennial All-Star, 20 and 10 man Chris Webber atrepparttar 132911 deadline, sending tremors throughoutrepparttar 132912 entire East. Webber does play on a bum knee, but Iverson has never had a sidekick of this magnitude before. Consider this: Iverson, who isrepparttar 132913 most prolific scorer inrepparttar 132914 league but regularly suffers from being banged up since he’srepparttar 132915 only true option in Philly much ofrepparttar 132916 time, reachedrepparttar 132917 Finals once --- in 2001, with Dikembe Mutombo as his running mate. Not to dismiss Deke, but Webber is an excellent four-man who can drain it fromrepparttar 132918 elbow or ram it inside. The Sixers did fall in Webber’s debut torepparttar 132919 Kings (ironic), butrepparttar 132920 team hadn’t had a chance to jell yet --- and when they do (Iverson is actually awaiting practice), watch out. Philly playsrepparttar 132921 majority of its remaining games at home, and C-Webb will get it on with inexperienced Mike Sweetney (Knicks) and overhyped Raef LaFrentz (Celtics) as division ball heats up. The Sixers should easily capturerepparttar 132922 Atlantic behindrepparttar 132923 AI/C-Webb dynamic alongside a blossoming Samuel Dalembert, and might even serve as a tough draw forrepparttar 132924 eventual sixth team inrepparttar 132925 East.

2) Boston Celtics: The Celtics have played good ball this year, and they just re-acquired a do-everything forward in “Employee Number Eighty-Eight,” Antoine Walker. If you’re confused about why Danny Ainge re-acquired ‘Toine after shipping him out two years ago, don’t worry --- so are we. We just figure he’s trying to winrepparttar 132926 Atlantic this year to bide himself some time and buildrepparttar 132927 Celtics towards prominence again. It’s not a bad plan --- Boston has a solid young crew, including Al Jefferson, Marcus Banks, Tony Allen, and Delonte West. The only problem is, Ainge lostrepparttar 132928 “big deal atrepparttar 132929 deadline” award to Philly. Webber means more than ‘Toine, and this young team isn’t prepared for a stretch-run battle inrepparttar 132930 Atlantic.

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