so 1980′s
Published March 26, 2008 | 
Are you ready for a new sensation
A new sensation
Right now
Gonna take you on a new sensation
A new sensation
– INXS
I don’t know why it took me so long to happen across an interesting letter by John Dowd in the spring edition of Adventure Kayak. John was lamenting how the paddle press may be setting unrealistic goals for paddlers by making “rolling” a priority and tying it to a report that many people who take sea kayak instruction do not continue to paddle. Interesting discussion.
The first thing that came to my mind was this, “How many people who try any new sport stick with it?” Maybe the whole argument is based on a false premise. But for fun, let’s assume it really is an issue that too many people who take sea kayaking classes don’t paddle again. Ok, why? Is it because as John suggests that they just don’t like the idea of rolling or those strange whitewater skills that are crossing over? Well, maybe that was the case in the 80s but I don’t think that’s true today and here’s why; Recreational Kayaking.
Back in the day, if you wanted to get into kayaking on your local lake, you took “sea kayaking” classes. Chances are your instructor was an old sea dog type who took fundamentals and “rolling” as religion. If you were interested in dawdling around the local lake, it’s no real surprise you’d be scared off. You’d be hard pressed to find another option. The sport was still “sea-centric”. It’s just not that way any longer.
Recreational boats are in fact the final solution to the problems early promoters of the sport in America were trying to overcome. These days we have all the “wide cockpit, beamier boats” we could want. Recreational paddling is booming. Paddlers can (and do) run to the local sport store buy an inexpensive stable kayak and zoom out to the local lake. Rolling and advance skills never enter into it. Heck, we’re lucky if they take a class at all.
If we do get them to a class, shops are in a better position to point new paddlers to a class more fitting to their goals and it’s not surprising that recreational kayak classes are becoming very popular. Because we have the option these days, when a paddler takes an intro to “sea kayaking” class they have already made a decision to learn or at least try more advanced skills. They have set their mind to more challenging conditions when they arrive. Now you may scare them away from open water paddling, but there is no reason they would stop paddling all together. If they enjoy being on the water, they may just turn to rec boating. In a sense in could be argued that recreational kayaking has done a lot to return “sea” kayaking to its roots. Sea kayaking no longer needs to be all things to all people. Paddlers who want to poke around the local pond don’t need to buy a 17 footer, don’t need to wet exit and don’t need to learn to roll. Rec boats have solved those issues.
So let me come back to the idea that many people who take sea kayaking classes don’t continue paddling. (which is the assertion here). If a paddler does not continue to paddle after a class there are really 3 or 4 reasons. First, their experience in the class was poor. Blame the instructor, the weather or whatever. They don’t have access to equipment or funds to buy equipment, OR they just don’t like it all that much. Hard to tell. But regardless, they should not be scared away from paddling in general. Not if they are aware of the options.
Now we could get off on the next tirade about whether sea kayakers need to learn to roll, but we can save that for another day. . .
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2 Responses to so 1980′s
If we are not goin to talk about rolling, can’t we at least ask the question…..If a person is interested in sea kayaking why WOULDN’T they want to learn to roll? It could only enhance their experiance and along with their experiance, their self confidence and skill set for their “now” “Chosen ” pastime.
I guess I could sort of understand it if they are only interested in “see” kayaking
Best wishes
Roy
I think that is why the first few levels of BCU and ACA classes don’t get into rolling and instead focus on fun basic skills. Although rolling is a lot easier than most paddlers think, it does intimidate many beginners.
I have had some students that wanted to learn rolling right at the beginning and some learn to roll before they learn basic boat control skills. I’ve found that if you can do some one-on-one with these paddlers, they will usually roll and this ability really improves their comfort level and they will have a lot of fun doing it, but only if they want to learn to roll.
People who can roll, learn skills faster, but in many cases rolling shouldn’t be the goal, having fun is the most important and if rolling practice is not fun then it should be avoided at all cost, until they are ready.