I was reading an article in an Australian newspaper the other day that was quite similar to the ones we’ve been reading around here the last couple years.  They are finding themselves trying desperately to raise issues of safely in a fast growing kayak market.  It’s no surprise really that they are spending most of their time referring to weekend warriors in sit-on-tops and rec boats.   We are well aware of course that the problem is that these boats are usually purchased in stores that do little or nothing to address the safety of their customers.  Soon enough we end up reading about paddlers without pfds or rec boats in situations they should never be in.  Thing is, what do we do? 

Many paddlers are concerned about regulation.  They of course don’t want to spend more money or have the government telling them what to do.   Ok.  Well, if we are going to avoid that then it seems we only have one option.  We need to intervene in some way.  We can’t make box stores care and  most recreational paddlers are not going to pay $100 or more for a class.  They are certainly not going to drive 200 miles to a symposium either.  That’s just the way it is.  Many of these paddlers are just not all that interested.  They really only bought the boat for a cheap diversion.  They bought the cheap kayak, the cheap paddle, and sadly the cheap PFD.  They just are not going to make much effort to learn safety. 

It seems to me that in order to reach some of these folks we are going to have to give away lessons and make it attractive. Not only that, but we’re going to have to do it in a “Mary Poppins, Spoon full of Sugar” sort of way.  Meaning it has to be easy to attend, fun and free.   Let’s face it, most of those recreational paddlers are not going to take lessons, attend boat shows or other events.  They went to the box store in the first place. . .  Different shops and clubs have tried to different levels of success, but the truth is more needs to be done to attract these weekend paddlers and fishermen in. Maybe the answer is a national program involving the Coast Guard, State Departments of National Recourses, the ACA or BCU, and of course local shops, box stores and instructors.   What I’ve been imagining is an annual national paddle sports day.  Holding an event on the same day in multiple locations across the nation in association with everyone involved in the industry would be the best way to grab attention and get people to show up.  In addition of course the big boxes would have play too.  If nothing else by posting event info and including an invite with every boat sold.

The event would be a one day festival of sorts held at local lakes, and beaches all across the country.  Paddlers could bring their gear and attend short classes on the basics of safety and boat control.  Certainly you could allow vendors to play a part as well.  But the main goal is to create a fun family day that focused around recreational paddlers of all stripes.  The trick is to be sure that rec paddler’s feel the event is on their level and not about “hard core” kayaking.  I also can’t stress enough that it would have to be fun with plenty of activities both on and off the water. If it’s boring, you’ll lose them.  So it can’t just be a few coaches on a beach.  Imagine something closer to all those small town festivals that run each year. Someone has to serve the hot dogs! Thing is, if we could get them into a class for even if only an hour we would have an opportunity to not only open their minds to basic safety, but also show them other ways to enjoy the sport, and encourage them to grow within it. 

Everyone would benefit it seems.  It would be a good public relations move for everyone from the coast guard to the big box stores.  Shops and vendors of course have their chance to reach more paddlers that otherwise would never look their way.  But most importantly maybe a few less people each year would die because they just didn’t think about the risk they were taking.

"And I say to Sam now: ‘Sam-here’s the book.’
It’s so short and jumbled and jangled, Sam, because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre.
Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again.
Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds.
And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like ‘Poo-tee-weet?"
- Vonnegut to his editor when he turned in "slaughter house 5"

The picture above is one my daughter Rio took while in Japan a short time ago.  She tells me these duck/swan/goose boats are everywhere.  You just have to love Japan!   

Through the grapevine I hear my article is out in the new Ocean Paddler magazine.  I’ve not seen it yet, so I hope it turned out well. .  The trick of course with articles like that are the abilities to organize your thoughts (get your DUCKS in a row as it were!!), and compress time.  It was a tough project.  Writing for the blog is one thing of course.  Here I can muddle my English and persecute punctuation at will.   Normally when I write for public consumption I have to tie up friends and neighbors and force them to edit for me to create something printable.   (No wonder no one comes around much anymore!)

I wonder if I ever told you the story of my English paper?  It’s quick.  I had one teacher back in my freshman year of high school who for whatever reason was quite enamored of my fiction.   However, my spelling and punctuation were just as equally the bane of her existence.  When I turned in my theme for the year she was so moved that she posted it,  page by page in the glass case of the school’s hallowed auditorium.  There is was for all to see; Black text on white paper covered in an avant-guard red ink impression of a slaughterhouse wall.  Down the row of blood, page by page, splash by bloody splash,  at the bottom of the absolute final page, was a little note; “Derrick would have received an A if he’d only learn to spell and punctuate.”.

(didn’t help. . .)

I don’t sit and wait
I don’t give a damn
I don’t see the point at all
No footprints in the sand
I would give you all my love
Nothing else is free
Open up your heart to me
And I would be your slave
- bowie 

I slept a bit.  Maybe from 10pm to midnight or so.  That’s when I woke up and the wheels began to spin.  You know how that goes.  Those everything and nothing thoughts that keep calling for attention right as you are about to drift off.  Right then, when the world begins to fade they call you back to the conscious world.  It’s not like strange thoughts screaming for my attention are anything new of course, I’d just prefer they let me sleep sometimes.  Often they don’t.

Since I arrived back in Wisconsin from Puerto Rico some months back, I’ve slept in a bed all of 3 nights.  The rest of those months have been divided between a couch and floor.  I could of course say life is complicated, and it is, but in this case the real problem has been that I just can’t seem to sleep in a bed since I’ve been back.  I’ve also not taken to quiet at night very well.  So, most every night these days I’m laid out on the living room floor with some old BBC program running quietly in the background.  Subliminally I’ve probably memorized every line from Father Ted to the point I’m quoting Dugal in business meetings.  Sad, I know!  Thing is I know there has been this psychological cusp that I’ve been sitting on for some time.  It’s hard enough to sit on a fence, and even harder to sleep on one.  I certainly envy people who can see things with clear simplicity.  I’ve often said, that this is one of the things I do love so much about sea kayaking.  On the water your direction is clear.  You know what you need to do and you do it.  Waves and weather come at you each day and can create havoc, but at the same time you do not seek to understand their motives.  They just do what they do.  The sea has no hidden agenda, nor does it have justifications (good or bad) for its actions. The sea, is just the sea.

Last year when winter set in I wrote quite often of the malaise I’d been surfing through and over the following months I made many aggressive and sometimes ill advised right turns. Most of that I’m sure is driven by the fact that I keep thinking that you have to move.  That you can’t hope to be carried or wait for solutions to come to you.  You have to go out and find them.  Jump off a few cliffs.  Some would say of course that this sort of “leap before you look” mentality is not very smart, and they are correct.  On the other hand, it’s also very easy to let fear and complacency grab hold of you and in the end cause you to do nothing.  To avoid complacency I’m given to having my own little Gallipolis’ now and again.  I just jump out of the trenches and run into no man’s land and count myself lucky if I find myself still standing in the end.  Life is sometimes more a battle than an adventure.

I think that’s why you often find me on the defending side of those folks who take risks. I think what many people miss is that if those risk takers didn’t push ahead, they would be no good to anyone.  It’s not as simple for some to settle into a “normal” lifestyle.  I’d bet most of these crazy folks do try. Yet the sirens are always back there calling you out and no matter what you do, you can’t silence them.  They wake you in the middle of the night. Yeah, you could say it’s the voices in your head. . . or maybe just the inability to function in the normal world. I doubt there is any good way to explain that to some, but it there just the same. Thing is, those close to you know that.  On a level they want to help you quiet the voices, yet on another level they want to go with you.  It’s a paradox of sorts.  They know it’s nothing to do with such superficial things as “recognition”. (yeah, it can look that way to some, sometimes) Yet, more often than not it’s really about quieting the voices. The hope for those who support you is that when you reach that personal Nirvana, everyone shares in the reward. Even if that reward is nothing more than a calming of the mind. Of course it’s very possible that the sirens call you to an island that can never be reached.  Maybe it’s just some form of quiet madness.  Certainly could be.

It’s almost 5am. Is there a point to all this?  Not really. If you’ve read this far I’m sorry for not having a big pay off at the end.  I just couldn’t sleep and it seemed like writing some of those wandering thoughts down might help.

I know that when I say this,
I may be stepping on pins and needles;
But I don’t like all these people
slagging her for breaking up the Beatles.
(Don’t blame it on Yokey)
if I was John and you were Yoko,
I would gladly give up musical genius,
just to have you as my very own, personal Venus.
- bnr

Well, I’m going off topic today.  So you’ve been warned.   Here in the states this weekend it was all about football, football players and the women who love them. (or distract them).  Here in Wisconsin of course we are happy that our beloved Green bay Packers won their game and are moving on to the NFC championship.  We’re also giddy with the fact that our distant arch nemesis the Dallas Cowboys lost.  Not only does that mean that Green bay won’t have to face them again, but it also means that the playoff game will be played up here in the snow.  Fun!

I have to say that I think the battering Wisconsin native Tony Romo took over his girlfriend was a bit silly to say the least.  In fact they took to calling her “Yoko Romo” which is hilarious on a level, but also appropriately leads back to another time when “fans” made another woman the scapegoat for their heroes actions. Yoko did not break up the Beatles,  and the Cowboys did not lose because of Jessica Simpson.  It would be nice if things were that simple, but they seldom are. If anything it’s the resentment or judgment of those looking in that cause the bigger problems.

Certainly our personal life plays on everything we do.  Our jobs, marriages, relationship problems, finances, illnesses you name it play on our minds. But the truth of course is that everyone deals with them and makes their life work to the best of their ability.  Often though the bigger distraction is the judge and jury on the outside.  Why people seem to want to vilify women or vilify relationships in general is beyond me.  Logically it’s just way too simplistic.  According to that point of view, everyone with a new or bad relationship would fail at their tasks. Certainly that’s not the least bit accurate. In fact in our world I’d think drugs, violence and dog fighting are probobly much bigger distractions. Thing is, in the end Devils and Angels both win and fail.  Success and failure come from within each of us not without.  If I had to bet, I’d guess that proving everyone wrong was probably more of a distraction for Mr. R than anything else.  

Today Wisconsin Football fans are pretty happy that the Cowboys lost.  But they don’t have a pop princess to thank for it.

- photo  Taranaki Daily News photo

At 8:30 am a crowd of 5,000 people greeted James Castrission & Justin Jones as they staggered their way up the beach to the sounds of "Waltzing Matilda".  Their website crashed under the weight of heavy traffic, and the beer began to flow.  What an amazing feat!  Of course, I don’t think they did a victory roll.. . .

The next few days are going to be a lot of fun for the guys.  Photos, parties, interviews and the like will fill their next few days while they try to find their land legs, enjoy a long shower, and attempt to get a good nights sleep.  I doubt sleep will come easilly for awhile though.  The idrenilne will keep them running for a few days more.  Then when the world begins to quiet down they will have time to really consider what they have accomplished on a more personal level. Life in many ways will change for these guys and they will never be quite who they were before they started.  That’s when the next adventure starts.  Congratulations guys! 

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You see this cat Shaft is a bad mother-
(Shut your mouth)
But I’m talkin’ about Shaft
(Then we can dig it)
He’s a complicated man
but no one understands him but his woman
- isaac hayes

You know, I can still remember when short shafts was a “British thing”. . .

Ok now, be good!  There are all sorts of places these days on the web were you can learn all you ever wanted to know about paddle materials, shapes, etc.,  However one of the most fuzzy facts in choosing a paddle is what length is right for you.  I’m certainly no expert, but let me share a few thoughts on the concept.

What stared me off thinking about paddles again was a little conversation on one of our local message groups about paddles.  Silbs pointed out a nice little calculator on the Epic Kayaks website here.   When I went though and entered all my information it did do a fairly good job at giving me a correct paddle size.  Epic being known for their racing wings should know a bit about efficiency.   I’m just under 5’8” and result for me was a 214cm Length.  I use a 210cm. 

You see, it was not long ago when it seemed all you could find in a paddle shop were 230cm & 220cm paddles.  For most of us these lengths are closer to jousting poles than paddles.   To be fair these longer paddles are (hopefully)  intended for wider recreational type kayaks.   When most of us try to use one of these longer paddles with our thinner sea kayaks we find our arms going way up in the air, our boats swerving, and the paddle coming out of the water with a big splash.  If our paddle is too long, we tend to end up fighting the water more than sliding through it.  Shorter is almost always better.

Imagine yourself sitting in you kayak holding your paddle.  Reach forward and plant your paddle in the water.  (remember “stab” don’t “slap”) Sink your paddle in the water, don’t just use the tip! Take an imaginary stroke, remembering to keep the paddle in nearer the hull. (we don’t want to turn) Think about the process for  a moment.  What factors will help you determine the length of your paddle? 

Well one thing that should jump to mind is how high you sit in the water.  I don’t want to confuse this with your physical height which can be a bit misleading once you sit down.  How high you sit in the water is going to be determined by a few things.  The length of your torso, the height of the seat from the hull and of course the volume of the kayak itself. (If the boat is sunk to the combing you are much nearer the water and the shaft could be shorter, on the other hand as they say in JAWS, you’re gonna need a bigger boat! . .). 

Another factor is of course the design of your kayak.  Generally the wider the boat, the longer the paddle shaft.  Wider kayaks not only tend to flatten out the angle of your stroke, but just by virtue of their width will require more length to reach the water.

That leads me right into how you paddle.  Are you a high angle person?  You know the look; Your paddle shaft is mostly vertical through your stroke, you sit up straight, plant that paddle, twist your torso and bring the paddle back straight along the side of your boat.  Or, are you more the low angle relaxed person?  Keeping your paddle low or more horizontal will mean of course that it has to be longer to reach the water.  Just something else to keep in mind.

Another more subtle factor in how you paddle has to do with how you maneuver.  I never noticed this until I started working on more advanced moves.  In fact that’s what caused me to switch from a 215cm paddle to a 210.  I found I was having a hard time nailing hanging draws and making quick little draws on the move.  Shortening the shaft a bit more made it easier to get the paddle in the water cleanly and at the correct angles for these moves. How much difference did 5cm make?  Well,  I went from a shaky hanging draw to an instant fix simply by shortening the shaft. 

Ok, so now I’ve gone and muddled you up eh?  Yeah, there are lots of things that go into choosing the right paddle length.  Like most things in kayaking there are no quick or blanket answers.  Some things you’ll really never get a handle on until you’ve become more familiar with your boat and more assured in your techniques.  But generally keep in mind that shorter is better.  Talk to other paddlers, try out those little calculators and all the rest.  But the most important thing you can do to find the right paddle for you is to get on the water in YOUR boat and try them.  IF you don’t have a shop around, borrow paddles from friends.  Paddle with groups and clubs and swap paddles during group sessions. Pay attention to the lengths and types of paddles you are trying.  Oh, and don’t overlook trying traditional paddles as well.  See what works for you.  Once you think you have it figured out, don’t feel like you have to spend $400 on your first paddle. Keep in mind that with more time and experience you may want something else.

Length is just one factor in choosing a paddle of course.  In addition, you’ll want to look at weight, paddle shape, materials and a bunch other little fiddly bits. But we can chat about that on another day.