February 1, 2003

The Pool

fter the trip leaders meeting in which I agreed to do things but have no idea what the dates were (be sure to read the March newsletter for the HUGE amount of activities planned for this season), Katie, Joan and I headed over to Joan's house to kill a little time and have some pizza. We arrived at the pool about 4:00pm, and Katie immediately jumped in a purple whitewater boat. I didn't want to get in the pool, but I knew she would be disappointed if I didn't.

After changing into shorts I hopped into the pool and helped Katie with her roll. I watched her practice twice with a paddlefloat, then we tossed that away and I watched her do a pawlatta. I couldn't tell if she was pushing off the bottom. It was close.

We worked on her blade angle for a while. Getting her to tuck her outside hand against her chest to get the angle right, had a lot of positive results. I've found that if you use an unfeathered paddle, grip the end of the blade, tuck your elbow into your side and place your thumb against your chest, you have nearly the perfect angle for your blade to climb during your sweep. I need to remember to find a similar method for feathered paddles.

Then we worked on a C-to-C roll and she had pretty good success with that. What surprised me was when we started practicing the high brace and she nailed those on both sides. Now, the WW boat is a piece of cake to roll and brace with in the pool, and I know she couldn't do that in a real-world situation, but she's getting there.

Near the end I tried Joan's boat. What a mistake that was. I could not get *locked in* - the foam thigh braces were slippery and my knees kept sliding off. But that wasn't the mistake I was making - The mistake I made was getting in any boat at all. I wanted my kayak. I wanted my drysuit to hurry back from Japan. I wanted to go paddle.

It's been 4 months since I've paddled. Probably the longest stretch since I started paddling. Over the last year I learned to be comfortable in my Sirocco. It no longer mattered if I was on edge or upside down. Tonight reminded me of that feeling and I'm ready to go paddle.

It was so great seeing my long time paddling pals at the meeting and the pool. It was nice meeting new folks as well. This is comradery I've missed, and craved for the last year.

Thanks to all those who agreed to lead trips this year, and a special thanks to Brian Blankinship for getting the club back to where it belongs - on the water.

Woody