Three To Five
Published April 27, 2010 | 
The shadows in the park were longer yesterday
and Lady Luck stood still, waiting for the kill.
- tull
ACA Proficiency requirements for L4 open water coastal kayaking instructors call for among other things, 3-5 foot seas, 3-4 foot surf, 15-20 knot winds, & 3-4 knots of current to be in force during at least part of the certification process. Luckily not all at once. I know that at the moment as I’m getting ready to update and going to be shooting for the L4 this time around. Funny bit is that I keep thinking about how these conditions compare from ocean to Great Lake. Wind is wind of course and current is current.. Waves on the other hand are different. 3-5 can be a sleepy relaxing ride in grandmas rocker or a butt whooping, panic inducing nightmare. When you think about it wave height in-of-itself means very little.
Chances are 3-5 means a bit of a rough ride in the Great Lakes. Certainly on Lake Michigan. Usually that’s still in the range of “exciting & fun” but I wouldn’t really want to do any long distances it it if I didn’t need to. A messy 3-5 on the Triangle off Tybee Island, Ga would be pretty similar.
Wind has always bothered me much more than wave heights. Funny thing about the wind is it’s not the shoving that bothers me. In fact you can learn to use the wind to your advantage. No, it’s the bloody howling in my ears that drives me wacko. I’ve learned that if I am not careful I can let that roar bring up my pulse level and I find myself getting all zipped up. Sooner or later I’ll always catch my grip tightening up and my shoulders getting stiff and sore and that reminds me to check in again. When you get stiff of course.. you go in. (The water I mean, you naughty person you!) I have to remind myself that I’m fine. In control. I have to do some quick mental yoga and remind myself that it’s just that silly howling again. I think it’s a bit of the old “caveman facing an eclipse” that get’s you in wind. It’s not that conditions have really changed all that much, it’s simply the primordial fear that something is about to happen and you’d better be ready.
Now the real trick here in the Great Lakes region to getting your L3-L4 certs is simply timing. Can you get to the water, with an Instructor Trainer, on the day when the necessary conditions appear? Well, if you live near the coast yes.. but with a 2 hour drive a head of you it can be a bit well.. complicated.
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4 Responses to Three To Five
3-5 can bring on the hurt.
That’s for sho!
and…when it’s 3 to 5…there is always a wopper comming, where they ganged:)
Nice post, now relax and breathe–in through your nose and out through your mouth. There, things will be fine.
So true, they really ought to specify height and period. I’ve been out in 4′ and 4 seconds and gotten my butt bounced to the limit of control, and then I’ve been out in 9′ at 12 seconds and it might has well have been flat.