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Oct 2012
10:41pm, 5 Oct 2012
478 posts
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Jubear
I know there are a few of us on here who do a bit of canoeing and kayaking. I'm doing lots as I still haven't got my run mileage back up after breaking an ankle a year ago. So I'm starting this thread to see if anyone wants to swap tips on capsize & recovery, stories about great paddles, or anything paddling related.
I suppose I should make the first offering. Been paddling for a year, and did my first capsize drill tonight with the local kayak club. Bugger me that was panic-city, and I swim with my face under and everything!
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Oct 2012
10:45pm, 5 Oct 2012
1,781 posts
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Bru-Bru
Yes, there are a few paddlers on here. I have been very lazy/too busy to paddle in the evenings lately, but was doing a couple of sessions a week on the river in K1/K2 than odd weekends touring or paddling on the Blackwater estuary until fairly recently. I find the two go together very well.
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Oct 2012
10:47pm, 5 Oct 2012
22,566 posts
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Nellers
I canoed for 15 years and never got to the point where capsizing was anything other than a stress.
Are they putting you in closed cockpit or open cockpit kayaks, jubear? It makes it so much easier and safer and less panic-inducing if you're in open-cockit boats. If you capsize you've generally falen out before you're upside down and you might just about keep your hair dry.
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Oct 2012
10:54pm, 5 Oct 2012
479 posts
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Jubear
Nellers - i think I'm already scrambling out of the boat as I start to roll! All I want is to know I can turn over on a river and find my way to the surface, which I can, in double-.quick time, no messing about counting to three...
D'you still paddle?
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Oct 2012
10:57pm, 5 Oct 2012
480 posts
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Jubear
Bru-Bru - camping touring?
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Oct 2012
11:02pm, 5 Oct 2012
22,567 posts
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Nellers
Not since the kids arrived, and my eldest is 15 now. I raced and loved it, then did some elbow damage in the '97 DW while my wife was carrying him and by the time the elbow was recovered enough to get back in a boat the screaming babe kind of took up more time than allowed it. I only miss it when I cross a bridge over a river on a summer day when the sun is shining. I don't miss the hours spent cold and wet and tired on the river through the winter logging the miles and having to break the ice off the spraydeck zip at the end of the session.
The trick is to relax enough that you don't try to scramble out of the boat until it's upside down. Relax. Let the boat settle, then forward roll out. Easy.
Except it's less easy upside down in a murky cold river when you weren't intending to be upside down.
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Oct 2012
11:03pm, 5 Oct 2012
1,783 posts
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Bru-Bru
Yes, sometimes, though more day trips, these days. I see you are down in the South West - any good rivers there? My brother has a place down in the South Hams and I always meant to go and see him with a canoe on top of the car, so I could do a bit of exploring in the creeks.
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Oct 2012
11:05pm, 5 Oct 2012
481 posts
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Jubear
DW? Respect.
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Oct 2012
11:08pm, 5 Oct 2012
22,569 posts
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Nellers
If you want to respect me for that, I did it 3 times and finished all of them. 88, 89 and 97. Only 89 was a non-stop though. The 88 was juniors and the 97 was singles.
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Oct 2012
11:10pm, 5 Oct 2012
482 posts
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Jubear
Bru-Bru, the Dart has a good mix of whitewater & flat estuary paddling next time you're in the south hams. Then there's the Exe, and a lot of pretty sea paddling along the Jurassic coast.
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Sailing - dinghies, yachts, inshore, coastal, ocean?! :-)
Nov 2024