How to make your own nose plugs

Our Fall whitewater kayak class at the West Cook YMCA has begun. Thirteen students in an amply chlorinated pool means one of two things: suggest they buy nose plugs, or make them.

President John F. Kennedy admires a new set of nose plugs, drying on a homemade rack between dips.

Today we invested in $8 worth of wire and $13 worth of Plasti Dip--enough material to make hundreds of nose plugs--and began clipping, bending and dipping.

Clipping...

bending... 

...and dipping.

Soon these nose plugs will adorn the faces of our students, allowing them to learn to paddle, brace and roll without getting a chlorinated nasal irrigation.

Wire cut, bent, and waiting to be dipped.

After a second and third dip, the nose plus will dry and be ready to use.