July 24, 2005

Olden Times

In the ancient times, when this urbanite first took up kayaking, morning seemed to jump to life as I loaded my wood stripper on my truck to drive to the launch. Those early days were marked by wrong turns as I made first visits to launch sites that would become well known to me in the succeeding years. Drivers pointed and stared at the stripper at stop lights, and the few kayaks I saw on the road were people I knew or would shortly meet.

In today's paddling world, the kayaks on my car are non-descript. Part of the many others on the road. I wake using my internal alarm, stop for breakfast and gas and arrive at the park one minute after opening. A lot of people say "Hey Woody!" at the launch and I'm embarrassed to admit I don't remember their names.

In the old days my progress was measured in bursts, with plenty of stagnant places where I thought I had peaked and could not progress any further. Today, that hasn't changed as I seem to stop learning anything new, then things seem to just 'click'.

Joan was an hour and a half behind me as I dropped my kayak on the shore. It must have been a sight for those on shore as I paddled off - my butt on the rear deck, my legs across the cockpit and feet resting on the front deck.

Three weekends ago I couldn't sit on the rear deck with my feet out to the side without capsizing. Two weekends ago I couldn't put my feet inside the kayak while sitting on the rear deck. This past Friday I couldn't put my feet on the front deck. On Saturday I couldn't put my feet on the deck and paddle forward. But today I took my first strokes. Alternating between sculling draw strokes and forward strokes there were times I made it look easy. A skill that seems impossible at first in this case is learned very quickly.

I wonder if I can eventually do a bow rudder while paddling my Explorer like a SOT?

But standing, that is a skill that still eludes me. I seem to have getting on my feet mastered, but as soon as I straighten up I go for a swim.

What I never expected in my quest to stand in my boat, was all the skills I would learn or sharpen along the way. My high and low brace auto-reflex have been strengthened. I've become somewhat accomplished in the cowboy reentry - a skill I had never acquired before. It's very difficult for me to capsize sitting on my rear deck now, with my feet out to the side. I'm starting to play with this in rougher water. I'm learning to scull with one arm and have found I can paddle my kayak pretty well laying on the rear deck with my head over the cockpit in a quick bolt to shore (or away from shore).

Along the way I've tossed in more practice with the butterfly roll. Once about 50% successful, it now seems fairly bomb proof except when I'm really tired. Other one handed paddle rolls to get me on my way toward a hand roll.

But the hand roll also eludes me. Like trying to stand I seem stagnated - unable to cross the bar I've set. And just 'doing' those tasks are not my end goal. Besides standing, I want to paddle under control. Besides hand rolling I want to make it look and feel effortless, not violent and jerky.

If I've learned one thing about skill development since the early days, it is that these obstacles will either one day suddenly be breeched, or continue on the list of things I can't do. But either way, it is the cool little things I learn along the way that make it fun.

The thing I remember most about a BCU safety class I took way back in the dark ages, was seeing Scott Fairty stick his paddle in the water on his right side and stir the water like a pot of soup. His kayak spun 180 degrees on command and I sat there and thought 'wow'. I tried and tried to master this over the years, but never could get it. On Sunday morning as I rolled the kayak up on edge and swished my paddle around on the right side to turn around I realized that somewhere between then and now I had mastered that technique. Wow. A barrier broken. A skill acquired.

So over the years the barriers continue to come down. When persistence doesn't work, sometimes just going on to something else is the best way to get there.

And when I get discouraged about my progress, I only need to remind myself that the 'olden times' is just six and a half years ago.

I may never learn to stand or roll my kayak with my bare hands, but what I learn along the way...THAT will be cool.

So if I could offer one piece of advice in trying to gain kayaking skills it would be this:

Wear sunscreen

;)

Woody