"standing in the cockpit is easy"
Published June 20, 2006 | 
I think i can, I think i canI think i have a plan
And i can do most anything
If i only think i can
- william may and warren foster
Last year I had the privilege of taking a class with Nigel Foster and spent the good part of an afternoon trying to stand up in my cockpit. It just never happened. Oh well, I thought. Nigel’s a thin tough guy of course he can just pull himself up there. But what talent, eh? Then this guy comes along. . (aka, Mr. Smarty Pants in the image above) and he says, “standing in the cockpit is easy”. What!??. Of course this was a prelude to trying to stand on the back deck during some coach training. Here’s Derrick taking a big dive!! “What am I doing trying this when I can’t even stand IN the cockpit??”, I wondered. Now I really felt low. .
Of course you can imagine the fun during a demo at the recent ISS symposium, when right as Doug Van Doren stood up, that guy (aka, Mr. Smarty Pants in the image above), decided to mention that standing in the cockpit is easy. The next obvious scene is two guys standing on their back decks getting blown to Canada by sudden high winds.
It’s too bad too, because I was really thinking I needed to go up to Grand Marais just to see Nigel and get a little more work on that whole standing thing. But now that I know it’s just me, ( because after all, as Mr. Smarty Pants in the image above said, “standing in the cockpit is easy”). what’s the point? Sorry Nigel!!. 
So my first day back home for a week and as evening approches I’m off to the lake and trying to stand on the back deck. (Suffering some major and minor bruising along the way). I still can’t do it. No matter how many times I try to stand on that deck my balance begins to go and I’m head first in the lake. “It’s just impossible is’nt it!?? Why do I do this to myself!? “, I thought. Then as the sun was slipping behind the trees and after slipping off the deck for the 303rd time, totally defeated, tired & sore, I thought I’d just try standing IN the cockpit. Know what?
Standing in the cockpit is easy. 
)
To take a lesson from the little engine that could
Just think you can
Just think you can . . .
Related Posts:
9 Responses to "standing in the cockpit is easy"
Someone is always raising the bar!
Yeah I finally can stand in my super tippy Silhouette although I’m not sure about the back deck. My balance is slowly but surely improving. I think I have picking up skateboarding and snowboarding to thank for that!
Cool,
I was able to do it in Mary’s Greenlander as well. That’s just a bit more work than the Explorer but once you get the spot it’s cake.
Fun piece. Technically, you were not cocky but, rather, cock pity or (to use old alnglo usage) cocky pity
Dick
Now you have me curious about some of those balance things that the last time I tried I failed miserably at. Nemahbin is in the near future!
Posting posting posting, keep them blogs posting, kaaayaker!
You folks are pretty brave. I tried standing once or twice, when I fell, one leg went in the cockpit, the other over the side, and the way the coaming hit me I about turned myself into a eunuch. To top that off, I came close to braining myself on the side of the pool. After I crawled out of the pool and laid moaning on the concrete for a while, I conceded that standing up is not for me.
But you’re right. The standing up part was easy, the falling is the hard part!
–Thomas
Derrick didn’t mention that Leon doesn’t just fall off the back deck, he does a back flip into the water. It helps to aim off to the side, so you don’t hit your head on the stern.
and Shawna just levitates. . .;)
“slipping off the deck for the 303rd time” – I like that reference to the slippery polish stuff. I haven’t tried to stand up yet. Just sitting on the back deck is a real trick for me, and doesn’t usually last long either.