We received this letter from stand up paddler, Bill Leland, who seems to be having an adventure living in the Phillipines. Thanks for the letter, Bill. We hope all went smooth digging the well and building the fence. Send us some stand up paddle pics from the paradise on your side of the lake and definitely some shots of that new paddle!

The natives use a strange looking watercraft called a banca.  It seems to be a thin hul with dual outriggers for stability. These lads make their own paddles. I currently have one of the local paddle makers working for me hand digging my water well. I will askhim to carve out a paddle for me and email pictures to you. These lads use a knife called a bolo; [with] various shaped blades, [they're] very skilled with this knife. I had a 40' coconut palm in the way of a fence we are building. I presented a fresh bow saw. The native looked at it for a minute, returned to me, walked over to errant coconut tree and began in earnest chopping it down. In approximately 2 minutes I was running for my safety when this 40'er  came falling down. He then cuts the trunk up into 3 pieces for an A-frame over the well pit to chain block larger rocks out of the pit. We are talking about a 12" diameter trunk. I was impresses. Living over here is really like being Robinson Crusoe. Resourceful is the word of the day. Necessity is truly the mother of invention. I still have my original 10'0" Bing here and use it on occassion. Great mag REALLY!

-Bill Leland