Karma

Karma. As ye sow so shall ye reap. What goes around comes around. Etc., etc., etc.

I wasn’t thinking this as I agreed to sell the “Mad Cow,” one of my favorite kayaks. I was just doing the good deed.

The kayak first popped up on my radar a couple years ago on a classified ad site. It was a Dagger Outburst, an old school boat. And, it was in a unique swirled black and white pattern that was way cool. I immediately called but it was already gone. Drat!

About six months later, it showed up again on the same site. This time, I was quick enough.

I enjoyed the boat’s old school design and handling for a change of pace experience. I have a stable of kayaks and paddle the crisp modern designs most of the time, but this was fun for a diversion. Kind of like taking out your old MG roadster on a hot, sunny day.

This summer, I became friends with a new paddler who was struggling with the kayak she had acquired without benefit of much knowledge. It was a playboat and suitable for an experienced paddler.

I offered her a choice of some of my boats to borrow until she could ramp up her skills and confidence. She selected the Mad Cow. Not a bad choice for a neophyte, considering its soft and forgiving edges.

She quickly advanced and gained a fairly solid roll. A few weeks ago, I began to wonder how she would react when she had to return the boat. We paddled together and she had added cow bells to the deck and horns to her helmet. Then, we were at a pool practice a few days ago and I noticed that she and the boat moved as one. This wasn’t going to be easy for one of us.

What it came down to was that the boat was an occasional date to me, but a spouse to her. I offered to sell it and she jumped on it.

Not an hour later, I’m working at the computer, mostly as displacement activity to avoid brooding about the loss. A message pops up on my email. It’s from the sales manager at the largest kayak seller in the country, from whom I’ve bought a few boats.

It’s the end of his season and he’s attaching a list of boats he’s got left over with some prices I won’t be able to resist. “LOL.” Okay, I’ll take a look.

On the second page, it jumps off the screen. I was looking for a particular playboat a couple years ago, but couldn’t find one at a good price. I settled for another one at the time. Here it was in the perfect color at a killer price. I called him right away.

Karma works.