It’s the kingdom of the spiders
It’s the empire of the ants
You need a permit to walk around downtown
You need a license to dance – zevonEvery once in awhile I just have to B*#~h! Just can’t help it. So here we go. . .

1. I broke my boat. (again) Ok so I knew I would have to do something about the seat in my NDK explorer at some point. You may see in a previous post that it was starting to come loose on one side. I had already re-glassed it once as it is. Well, Sunday while I was hanging upside-down in mid-roll, the “good” side broke free! Youch! Not that it stopped the roll, but I probably came up with a bit of a wobble. Even though I am of the opinion that keeping the factory seat is the best way to go, I am going to have to put a foam seat in mine. I just don’t trust that re-hanging the seat will work. Thankfully JB had a foam seat and went the extra mile to get it mailed right out to me. Not that he needed to rush, but I’m sure happy he did. I’m also glad CM sent me pictures of his backrest project. They will give me a good outline. Thanks Chris! (hey, I’d link you here but I don’t think you have a place to link yet??)

2. I was just reading an article a few days back. In the midst of a fairly good commentary I read phrase “Shannon Carroll’s less credible, yet more exposed world record claim ” YIKES! lighten up, dude! What an oddly demeaning thing to say. If you don’t know, in 1998 Shannon Carroll took her kayak over the Sahalie Falls in Oregon for a record 78ft. decent at the time. This record later to be broken by Tao Berman. I was just sort of surprised by the comment, especially given where I read it. Maybe I shouldn’t be.

3. So I spent part of my weekend working with another friend on his ACA goals and so there we were working on all the fiddly little stuff that the ACA is (according to the last update) trying to get rid of. You know, there are very important things a kayaker needs to know about boat control. Then there are things that that old-school instructors put on you that go way over the “safe & effective” guideline. It’s a “Forest for the trees” type of thing. Here’s a good example. When I went through my ICE which is the ACA instructor certification we all learned how to demonstrate the low brace using that fun “monkey” position. This is where you get your elbows way up over the paddle and smack down on the water to brace. That always seemed odd to me. My arms never find themselves in that position. I can see times when you may want or need that extra leverage as a sea kayaker, but in most cases your low brace will come directly from the arm position you are in when you need to brace. To my relief this same point was made by Fiona Whitehead at a symposium last year. If you sit upright you can still put strong downward pressure on the blade without doing the “monkey”. As an instructor I will go over safe and effective ways to low brace but will not require students to get their elbows up by their ears.

Want more? Which way do you edge your boat during a draw? I was always taught to “moon the way you want to go”. It’s pretty awkward to lean away from the draw, but that’s what we were taught. Just recently I heard a guy arguing (yes, emotionally committed to his opinion type arguing) that you can’t lean INTO your draw or you will put water up on the boat and create extra drag. Such is the rational. BUT THEN, another coach told me that they are now teaching that you should lean INTO the draw and that the drag is not enough to matter. Heck I think, just get there! It IS important that you edge the boat. Why? Well, you get more of the boat out of the water when you put it on edge. That is a very noticeable change in drag on the kayak as it slides sideways. However, which way you lean is sort of fiddly. Is your way safe and effective? Fine.

There will always be some guy out there who wants to tell you why everything has to be done to an exact millimeter. I swear they have superiority issues and probably use a ruler to measure the distance between milk cartons in their refrigerator as well. One thing I’ve learned over time is that the better and more experienced a sea kayaker is, the less they seem caught up in the menusha of the “little things”. They often say “this is what works for me” and can offer several alternatives as well. Life and experience seem to have ways of sorting the wheat from the chafe as the saying goes.

Another important factor is what YOU are doing. What conditions are you paddling in now, and what do you plan to be in sometime in the future? What are your goals? This also can effect how persnickety some things need to be. Here is a good example. Chris Duff while circumnavigating Ireland would sometimes use a tether attaching himself to the rear of his boat. Given that he was paddling solo in sometimes harsh open water conditions it seem like a pretty good precaution to take. However does that mean all kayakers should be tying themselves to a boat? Or converslywise because we shouldn’t be doing it, does that make him wrong? Well, I’m not going to be the one to say that.

Now to be fair, there are correct and in-correct ways to do things. As an example if you get your arms out too far from your torso during a high brace you risk shoulder injury. So sometimes there are “rules” and good reasons for them. So use your best judgment, apply the the “safe & effective” standard, and have a good time. That’s what kayaking is all about!

So let’s end this post with a bit of cheer! Harry, Barry, & Phil who inspired my puffin post completed their journey around Great Britain in 80 days in what I am told is the fastest time so far. Afterward like any decent kayaker, they all met down at the pub to celebrate. So. . do you shower first or just drag your tired and smelly self straight from the beach to the bar?

Congratulations Guys!!

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