June 22, 2006

Learning

I stood leaning on the fence rail at Fountainhead yesterday as a boat was backed down to the water. The driver, a young guy full of vim drove the trailer off the side of the ramp, making a horrible scraping sound. I was instantly glad I had placed my kayak on the other side of the ramp.

After getting back up on the ramp he launched the boat off the trailer and his buddy climbed in to take control. As one parked his truck, the other started the motor. The motor leaped to life as the young captain realized the motor was in gear and the boat ran full speed up the concrete boat ramp. Quickly realizing his mistake the temporary captain threw the engine in reverse and I cringed listening to the prop grind its way back down the concrete ramp.

So this got me thinking. Do we learn best through trial and error? Do we need to do something wrong to learn how to do something right? I'm sure this would be a lesson not soon forgotten for the young captain as they finally motored away at a very slow speed.

Last Friday a young guy was landing at Mason Neck as I was pushing away from shore. You could tell he was tired, and he said so as he climbed out of his recreational kayak. I played around a bit as 'Mike' loaded his kayak on his car. I landed again and noticed Mike was taking his kayak back off his car.

After returning from parking his car Mike carried his kayak to the water and mentioned he wanted to try a 'self rescue'. We chatted for a few moments as I learned this new paddler already had flotation in the bow of his kayak and a paddle float. I was quite impressed that Mike was prepared to learn and I volunteered to go out in the water with him to walk him through a self rescue.

I did a quick demo of a self rescue, then Mike gave it a try. He flooded his kayak with water and learned his float bags would float free. We discussed ways to secure them and Mike practiced climbing back aboard. He learned how to flip over the kayak to dump most of the water - a task that worked well when the float bags stayed in place, but floundered when the bags worked free.

Mike did several wet exits with his skirt in place and practiced a reentry several more times. He was getting back in his kayak and I think he felt much more confident when he finished for the day.

I think I prefer Mike's way of learning...

Woody