A few days ago I was talking to my friend Robert about how much we enjoyed our first trip to Alaska this summer. He proceeded to tell me about this kayaker who inadvertently came dangerously close to becoming a cracker for this whale's kelp dip. It got me thinking about how most of the big stresses that overtake me in life get most of their intense energy from their inherent "surprise" factor. However, in spite of my adrenal surges, to everyone else involved the "whales" in my life are really not so surprising. Truthfully, it is quite miraculous that there is so much smooth water for most of my paddling day after day. Still, "kelp" happens and there are those times when we simply need to paddle faster.