Archive for October, 2005
Looking Away
October 31st, 2005 | 
Author: 
Don’t let us get sick
Don’t let us get old
Don’t let us get stupid, all right?
Just make us be brave
And make us play nice
And let us be together tonight – zevonThe world is a serious place. An elderly woman was murdered by the hurricane victims she was trying to help. Six more young men were killed in Iraq. Children are staving in nations with names we recognize and in places we try to forget. A young girl had her head hacked off in Indonesia while on her way to school. Homelessness reaches into every corner of America. People all over the country are holding “feeds” to raise money for their loved ones cancer treatments. The brutality of selling “potluck” dinners to try save your father or mother is just too terrible to contemplate. I often feel that darkness soaking in from every wall. I’m one who often falters under the weight of it all. We have to be schizophrenic to survive. I found in the water a place to escape, if only for moments at a time. We’re lucky that we can enjoy what ultimately is a frivolous endeavor. A recent post about my certification warned, “don’t let it go to your head.”. Me? Somedays, I’m just wondering why I get out of bed.
- d
Glide
And we’re glad glad glad that you’ll arrive
And we’re glad glad glad glad glad glad glad
And we’re glad glad glad that you’re a glide – phish
Time for a technique post again. It’s been a bit since I’ve given you some actually useful information. Luckily after the recent symposium I have all sorts of information I can steal from really good kayakers. In many ways kayak instructors are just like poets. Poets as you know, are thieves.
So last spring when paddling with a friend I noticed she had this weird cantor when she paddled. Every couple strokes her paddle would rise up to the “catch” position, (meaning the paddle was just about to enter the water to take a stroke), and at that moment she would pause. Not too long mind you, but at least long enough for a good clear photo, and then the spear would enter the water and the stroke would continue to the other side and back and . . pause. . . It was like watching a DVD skip. So after flushing my eyes out with nasty green water a few times and checking the chemicals in my energy bars I went over to ask my dumb “beginner” question. “Why the hell do you paddle like that?!!” Well no, It was more “eyes to the ground” and I don’t think I used the word “hell” but you get the picture. The Answer. . “Do I?”, she said. Ok. Well that one was going to wait.
The first time I watched Brent Reitz’s DVD “The Forward Stroke”, I found that adding a bit of a pause right before you “speared” the water was a great way to be sure you got a good clean catch. But in a few minutes I’d be back to my old ways and forget about it again until I realized my catch was getting sloppy again. Then I’d go back to that little pause. My inner “Kayak Ninja” hates a noisy paddle! In fact I know a few “Brentites” that have that little pause on and off when they’re shooting for that clean catch or as he says, “Spearing the fish“.
I sort of forgot about the whole paddle-pausey-paddle thing over the summer until I was out in my 4 star training with Mark Schoon. (Mark by the way, has a really good shot at winning a national “Big Labowski” look-alike contest. Now don’t go telling him I said that! Not that I think he’d mind. After all, “The dude abides. . .” Anyway, I’m wandering off again. Back to the point!) At one point in the day he paddled up along side me but back enough that I couldn’t really see his stroke. Then he asked the other students if they noticed anything. (I hate being the chosen “bad example“, I really, really do. . ) Almost in unison the others called out “You’re paddling half as much as he is!”. Yeah, he certainly was. But he was not losing ground. In fact he may have been edging forward on me.
Ok you cross-country skiers out there, what’s going on? Yeah, it’s “glide”. You see, after you’re up to speed your boat is going to glide across the water a bit without losing much forward momentum. You don’t really need to be constantly paddling. In fact if you’re a really sloppy paddler, putting your paddle in the water too much is probably a bad thing. Let it glide. I’ve found my rhythm in 1 stoke on both sides, then about a 1 second pause before initiation that next stroke (more or less depending on conditions). I’ve seen others do 2 strokes on both sides and then pause. You sort of have to find your own rhythm. But the point is the pause is your rest time. The boat will glide forward on it’s own with very little change in momentum. Over time you’re saving yourself a ton of work. Who knows, you may find that the only reason you’re at the back of the pack is that you’re just working too hard.
Recovering Photons
Well, it’s Saturday and I think I’m starting to come back to life. I have a new photo gallery up now from the symposium. The layout is a little different so I could get the pictures a bit bigger. You can click that little “enlarge” tab on the window to fill the screen now. Neeto!
http://www.kayakwisconsin.net/kayaking-pictures.html
So, my favorite British phrase at the moment is “Nappy Cream”, which I’ve needed by the gallon to sooth the blistering rash I got from my hydro skins. By day two I was raw. Day 3 I had blisters. I didn’t mention that below, but during my Assessment my under arms were raw meat and it burned like hell to paddle. Thank God for adrenaline and fear. Even covering the raw skin did not help much. Now I have to pay for it. . more nappy cream please! Preferably Burt’s Bee’s Baby Bee!
I also wanted to mention that you can now pre-order THIS IS THE SEA 2. Probably a good idea to pre order if you want the video in your DVD player by Christmas.
http://www.cackletv.com/us-store.html
Off to Rutabaga in Madison to day for our end of season party. All the instructors get one last romp on Lake Monona. I’d better get my almost-drysuit out again. Sure wish I had my Dry, dry suit. been waiting quite some time for that replacement. . .
Thanks to everyone who has posted, emailed & “blogged” all sorts of nice things about my passing my assessment. I will have your checks in the mail soon. . . 
I thought I liked you guys, but now I know what liars you all are!!!!!!!!!!
-d
BCU Week – 2005 – Tybee Island, Georgia
Never let it fade away!
Catch a falling star an’ put it in your pocket,
Save it for a rainy day! – perry como
prologue
I’m still tired and spacy. Please forgive the typos. But here is my very long report. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Events & Symposia, Paddling | 
Tags: BCU, Cheri Perry, Georgia, Lamar Hudgens, Nigel Foster, Sea Kayak Georgia, Turner Wilson, Tybee Island | 
10 Comments »
Wilma & The White Horses
Taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you heaven
Will you ever win – fleetwood mac
We arrived back home at about 4 am this morning after about 20 hours on the road. Funny how you’re doing everything you can to NOT fall asleep when your driving but as soon as you get home you’re wide awake. So we sat in our living room feeling like strangers in someone else’s house and watched an episode of “Keeping Up Appearances” until the caffeine and exhaustion jitters faded and allowed us to sleep.
I almost didn’t write anything today. Looking back over the last week or so at BCU Week in Tybee Island, Georgia there are still too many details to filter through and my mind is much too muddled to make sense of things. At least in a way I can share properly. But keep with me here in the next few days and I will tell you what I can about the event and share with you many, many photographs of all the students and some of the great instructors.
The quick notes are that I did have a . . “Clean Pass” as I was told, on my 4 star assessment. Mary learned to balance brace and was stung by a Jelly Fish for her effort. I got to opportunities to paddle the infamous “Triangle”. Which was very strange having only seen the area in Justine’s video before this. The picture above (click it to enlarge the image) shows the general condition of the triangle while Wilma raced by far out to sea. I do however have to thank her for providing the 4 star + conditions we needed to get a proper going over.
More to follow. . (when I wake up)
This is The Sea – Preview
Well, I’m packed up and ready to head to Georgia, but before I go I have to share something fun. This evening we posted the new preview of Justine Curgenven’s This Is The Sea 2 which will be going on sale in the next month. See, it does pay off occasionally to check this darn blog! Of course I’m bias, but what I’ve seen looks pretty exciting. The new preview is at http://www.cackletv.com/this-is-the-sea2.html. There is also a higher resolution QuickTime video on the multi-media page. The new preview included a nice bit of Michigan traditional Kayaker Doug VanDoren. So Keith W, you’ll have to point Doug over to it as well. (thanks) I was privileged to spend some time with Doug this summer and have a lot of respect for him. A great guy. Oh, and I hear he’s a good paddler as well. Ha!So that’s about it. Thanks everyone for the emails today. It’s been really nice to hear from you. See you again in a couple weeks.
Cheers!
*Photograph of Justine was recently taken by Alun near their home in Wales.
Holiday
Said you took a big trip
They said you moved away
Happened oh, so quietly
They say
Shoulda took a picture
Something I could keep
Buy a little frame
Something cheap
For you
Everyone says hi – bowie
The final day opens with cloud and rain. I crawled out of bed and made the long death row walk to the kitchen to start the coffee. Normally coffee is a good thing to me. The last of my addictions. However since we ran out last night, we had to use the Folgers that’s been sitting under the cupboard for the better part of a decade. Yes, I use coffee as a drug, and it’s never a good thing to change suppliers. You never know what you’re going to get. Youch, and this first sip only supports that concussion!
By now most of the packing is done. Gear is bagged and bundled and piled on the floor. Mary’s task will be to see if she can make it all fit in the back of the Jeep. Mine will be to sit right here and complete last minute tasks for 150 businesses who always seem to come up with “one last thing” before I go anywhere. It’s good to feel needed, but the stress is sometimes appalling.
Yesterday we got out in the kayaks again for a bit of last minute practice. Why is it we always have to practice before we go somewhere to learn?
Redundancy is the smoke of paranoia.
Mary is thinking, “I do NOT want to blow a roll in front of Cheri Perry.” and I’m thinking, “damn I know their going to nail me for my hanging draw”.
Paranoia is often misdiagnosed neurosis.
And it’s not like your going to gain anything with a last couple hour session on the lake. Mary knows she can roll and frankly may never need “prove it”. I’m certainly not going perfect a technique in a couple hours. (Only Alex Pak can do that.) But there is something about the human brain that wants one last go or at the very least, a little re-assurance that it understands the problems.
Understanding, always gives you a fighting chance.
So, you may ask, why aren’t I worried about the 4 star skills ?? Well, to be honest I’m actually confident there. It’s funny, the BCU 3* skills are all about flat water strokes. I went through most of that battle with the ACA. Stokes always leave room for improvement and assessors can always find flaws in your technique. Then some assessors like it different ways than others.
Demonstrating stokes is sort of a strip tease. Half of your success depends on the mood of the audience. (or desperation)
BCU 4* star skills are more about kayak safety and boat handling in light conditions which is actually more like real life. Over the last year, I’ve had plenty of opportunity to paddle in wind and waves. I’m not too bothered by conditions. Well, at least the conditions you need to pass the 4*. And many of the skills I need to have for this assessment I’ve been lucky enough to learn from some really great kayakers. In the end my Woody Allan eyes see me doing well and then asked as an afterthought to demo some strokes and get laughed right off the coast!
“Some drink deeply from the river of knowledge. Others only gargle.” – Woody Allen
I have the best intentions to try to leave a note here over the next couple weeks but I wonder that I actually will. Once you slip into Kayaker mode who wants to type? Come to think of it, who wants to shower?
In the mean time I’d suggest taking extra time to read Keith Wikel’s new blog. Of course you may never return here. . .
d
*I took the above photo at Vilas Zoo in Madison.
