spending time with my mermaid tail
Jun. 17th, 2018 08:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ironymaideni took a daylong kayak touring class yesterday. morning was skills evaluation and practice, afternoon was rescue skills. i was there for moar rescue time, since i am still trying to master self-rescue.
due to life stuff, this was my first time on the water in 2018. the good news is that i had no trouble launching or landing and all my strokes came back to me effortlessly. i could go pretty darn fast and was tracking well (going straight ahead in a line instead of snaking left and right). assisted rescue came back easily, and i swear that i'm more able to lift a swamped boat than i was in the fall (and this was a heavier boat).
self-rescue was better too, but still not good enough. now i can get my body onto the boat, then capsize again while attempting to get my legs into the cockpit. i am sad about this, but OTOH this is without any of the conditioning that i planned to do this year, after doing the first paddling i had done in over six months.* i need to practice. and it's pretty ridiculous for me to imagine that any physical skill would come to me without the hours of repetition that has been required for every other physical skill i've ever learned. in doing more research today on the subject, the most "serious" of the local outdoor schools won't even take you if you can't haul your body out of a swimming pool without a ladder--i'm not sure i could do that when i was a lithe tween who was swimming several hours a day--but that's what i need to work on. so that's the next thing - conditioning, swimming, finding out if NWOC might let me practice wet exit and self-rescue by their dock.
my pfd with aftermarket crotch straps was great. i also ran out the wetsuit in the afternoon. it was comfy in the water but sweaty for paddling so i'd say this one is definitely just for colder weather. getting it on and off requires quite a bit of strength and flexibility. (i can see myself adding a lighter Farmer Jane to my quiver in the future.) the nice thing about the full wetsuit was that it kept most of me out of the sun. unfortunately i forgot to renew the sunscreen on my hands after i pulled it on.
***
there was a point where one of the instructors was talking about moving the boat with your hips and referred to it as "your mermaid tail". that's very much how it feels when everything is adjusted correctly, that it's an extension of my body. yes please, more of that sensation of flying through the water.
*they intentionally have you paddle for several hours before you do the rescue practice, since it's pretty much going to happen when you're tired.
due to life stuff, this was my first time on the water in 2018. the good news is that i had no trouble launching or landing and all my strokes came back to me effortlessly. i could go pretty darn fast and was tracking well (going straight ahead in a line instead of snaking left and right). assisted rescue came back easily, and i swear that i'm more able to lift a swamped boat than i was in the fall (and this was a heavier boat).
self-rescue was better too, but still not good enough. now i can get my body onto the boat, then capsize again while attempting to get my legs into the cockpit. i am sad about this, but OTOH this is without any of the conditioning that i planned to do this year, after doing the first paddling i had done in over six months.* i need to practice. and it's pretty ridiculous for me to imagine that any physical skill would come to me without the hours of repetition that has been required for every other physical skill i've ever learned. in doing more research today on the subject, the most "serious" of the local outdoor schools won't even take you if you can't haul your body out of a swimming pool without a ladder--i'm not sure i could do that when i was a lithe tween who was swimming several hours a day--but that's what i need to work on. so that's the next thing - conditioning, swimming, finding out if NWOC might let me practice wet exit and self-rescue by their dock.
- kayak length does not equal legroom; cockpits are all about the same length, it's depth that lets you fit longer legs
- you left Port. (why is this the only time that the right side is the polysyllabic word?)
- the farthest button on the line is the one that flips the rudder position
- if you are going to be more than a few hundred yards from shore, your boat needs bulkheads
- boats without bulkheads need water displacement. if you use displacement bags they need to be secured, or they'll come rocketing out in a capsize.
- always drink some water from your water bottle and trap some air in your dry bags. you want all of your stuff to float if it escapes.
- water in boat reduces stability but being in a full boat is still better than being in the water
- loaded boats are heavy. load by the water right before you put in, not at car or camp.
- have a spare paddle. it can be a half or a canoe paddle or anything.
- 14.5' is the shortest length for touring. start out packing like you're backpacking, then add joy
- the weight of your boat (how hard it is to lift and maneuver out of the water) plays a role in how often you go out
- plastic is the most durable material for our environment (rock beaches) but fixing fiberglass isn't super-hard if you don't care how it looks
- Early May: paddling demo days on Lake Sammamish. time to try lots of boats and equipment
- search on "paddle demo days"
- all boats are more stable when they're moving. KEEP PADDLING
- life jackets degrade after 5-7 years. fading is a good sign that it's replacement time.
- do not do any kind of tow unless you can unhook. carabiners are not releasable, never carabiner two boats together.
- your pfd and your boat have to work together. sit in any potential boat while wearing your pfd.
my pfd with aftermarket crotch straps was great. i also ran out the wetsuit in the afternoon. it was comfy in the water but sweaty for paddling so i'd say this one is definitely just for colder weather. getting it on and off requires quite a bit of strength and flexibility. (i can see myself adding a lighter Farmer Jane to my quiver in the future.) the nice thing about the full wetsuit was that it kept most of me out of the sun. unfortunately i forgot to renew the sunscreen on my hands after i pulled it on.
***
there was a point where one of the instructors was talking about moving the boat with your hips and referred to it as "your mermaid tail". that's very much how it feels when everything is adjusted correctly, that it's an extension of my body. yes please, more of that sensation of flying through the water.
*they intentionally have you paddle for several hours before you do the rescue practice, since it's pretty much going to happen when you're tired.
