Photo 1: End toggle attached with metal fairlead

End toggles are those lowly and often overlooked features of your kayak that you use to lift and carry your kayak with the help of another person.  They go by many names: end toggles, carry toggles, carry handles, grab handles, end loops, and probably more that I’m currently forgetting.  They come in a variety of styles, some of which are almost useless or at least not as robust as they really should be given the important functions that they serve.  So why am I devoting a series of articles to such a seemingly insignificant part of a kayak?  Because they aren’t insignificant, and these are parts of your deck rigging that deserve some special attention.  In my next few blog posts, I’m going to talk about why you need good end toggles, what features constitute a good end toggle as well as not-so-good end toggles, and give you “how-to” instructions for fixing or replacing your end toggles.

Besides the most obvious use of lifting and carrying your kayak, end toggles also have important functions in rescue, recovery, and towing situations. When acting as the rescuer in an assisted rescue, it is likely that the first part of the capsized kayak you will grab in order to begin the process of emptying and righting the boat will be the end toggle.  You want that toggle to be easy to grab, even with gloved hands, and strong enough not to break when you are wrangling a heavy kayak full of water.  When you need to swim your kayak in through the surf, you want an end toggle that will be easy to hold, even while your kayak is being rolled in the waves, and that won’t threaten to amputate any of your fingers or wrench your arm out of its socket.  If you are towing a kayak that lacks deck lines, that kayak must have an end toggle that can take the stress of towing in rough seas without breaking.  If your whitewater kayak gets pinned on a rock out in the middle of the river, you need handles that will withstand the force applied when you rig your Z-drag to unpin it.  And certainly, you need end toggles that are positioned for a comfortable tandem carry and won’t break as you are moving your loaded kayak.

Photo 2: Weak and unreliable way of attaching end toggles

Photo 3: Much better way to attach toggles in a plastic kayak

Since all these functions for your end toggles require strength, every kayaker needs to take a close look at how the end toggles are attached to their kayak.  For those with plastic recreational or sea kayaks, you’ll want to check if the toggles are attached with some sort of plastic or metal fitting screwed into the deck of your boat (Photo 1), or if the rope on the toggle is just threaded through holes drilled in the top of the deck (Photo 2).  If the rope is just threaded through the deck and there is less than 2″ of plastic between the two holes, I would start thinking of better ways that you can attach your end toggles to your kayak.  It is not unusual for toggles that are attached in this manner to rip out through the deck leaving you with a big gaping hole in the top of your kayak.  You should not be using toggles like this to attach bow and stern tie-down ropes when you are car-topping your kayak.  You should never use end toggles to hang a plastic kayak for any length of time because it will cause the hull to deform, but if your end toggles are just threaded through the deck, you are also at risk for having the toggle rope rip out of the deck which is a distinct possibility looking at the kayak in Photo 2.  In Photo 3, you can see that there are several inches of plastic separating the holes from the ends of the kayak and the rope is threaded all the way through from the one side of the kayak to the other making it much less likely that the rope could pull through the plastic kayak.

If your toggles are attached to a separate metal or plastic fitting, how securely is that piece attached to the kayak?  Do you need to add some backing like a large diameter washer making it less likely that the screw and nut can pull out through the deck?  You may need to stick your head inside the hatch openings of your kayak on a sunny day to see this.  You may or may not be able to reach the fittings to make changes even if they are warranted.  However, it is best to know whether the existing attachments can be trusted, or whether you should be looking for alternative ways to lift, carry, rescue, or tow your kayak.

Photo 4: Finger inside loop of rope on end toggle

Photo 5: Finger caught in twisted rope

When holding an end toggle while swimming in surf or performing rescues, you ideally want your toggles to be close to the ends of your kayak, and the rope should be long enough so that the boat will not bash your fingers if it gets rolled by a wave.  The toggle in Photo 1 is positioned too far from the bow of the kayak for holding the boat in the surf.  I would consider replacing the ropes in Photos 1 and 8 with longer ropes.  You also should not allow your fingers to be placed inside the loop of rope when holding the toggle as is shown in Photo 4.  If the kayak rolls, the rope will twist around your finger (Photo 5) and could cause you to seriously injure or lose your finger.  To prevent this from happening, you could wrap the rope with tape so that there isn’t enough room for your finger to slip between (Photo 6).  I have also seen kayakers who have threaded a single rope from the the kayak to the toggle rather than making a complete loop (Photo 7).  I personally don’t care for this option since it causes the boat to dangle unevenly from the toggle when carrying and I suspect that it may be more prone to failure if the knots aren’t tied carefully.

Photo 6: Wrap tape around the rope to prevent finger entrapment

Photo 7: Using a single rope instead of a loop to prevent finger entrapment

Are there any sharp edges on the kayak or deck fittings that may be causing the rope on your end toggles to fray?  This is often a problem with fiberglass boats in which the toggle rope is threaded through a hole that is drilled through the ends of the kayak.  Both of the ropes shown in the photos below will need to be replaced.  When replacing the rope on the kayak in Photo 9, you would want to try to smooth the area around the hole openings to try to prevent the damage from recurring as quickly.  The rope on the handle in Photo 8 is too short and should be replaced with a longer piece of rope.

Photo 8: Rope fraying where it is threaded into the toggle

Photo 9: Rope fraying where it is threaded through hole in fiberglass

On whitewater kayaks, the handles are used for slightly different purposes, but the need for strength still remains paramount.  The handles on most whitewater kayaks today are made of metal and are bolted through the deck (Photo 10).  They need to be incredibly strong so that they don’t break as they provide crucial attachment points for rescuing kayaks that are pinned in a rapid.  However, in whitewater paddling, you want to avoid having things on your kayak that could get snagged on rocks or branches in the river.  As a result, most handles today are mounted nearly flush with the deck of the kayak with a recess molded into the kayak deck just below the handle.  The older handle style pictured in Photo 11 poses more of a potential snagging hazard.  It is more difficult to hold onto either of these handles while swimming through a rapid, but whitewater paddlers are less inclined to hang onto their kayaks in the event of a swim.  They or their paddling companions should hopefully be able to retrieve the kayak downstream, if necessary.

Photo 10: Recessed handle found on most current whitewater kayaks

Photo 11: Raised handle poses a snagging hazard

So hopefully you have gained a little respect for the lowly end toggles on your kayak, and have a little better idea of what constitutes a good solid toggle, and which toggles may need some improvement.  In Part II of this series, I’ll show you how to replace some end toggles and handles that have become worn out and broken or just need an upgrade.

Sherri

Last August I purchased a P&H Capella 163 from Rutabaga in Madison during their end of season sale.  I got a really good deal on the boat.  I loved the color, and I was excited to have a more maneuverable boat to use for teaching.  Unfortunately, as I reported in a previous blog (”The Honeymoon is Over”- Sept 15, 2011), I soon discovered that I had a very leaky rim on my day hatch.

Initially, I was not exactly overwhelmed with the response I got from P&H when I informed them of the problem, but they made arrangements with Rutabaga to make the repair that they felt would solve the problem.  Frankly, I felt like they thought I was overstating the problem.  I ended up taking my boat back to Rutabaga twice to have them reseal the rim with 3M 5200 Adhesive/Sealant.  After two attempts, the rim was still leaking like a sieve.

To be clear, I in no way want to disparage the treatment I received from the staff and management at Rutabaga.  They made every effort to help me with this problem and they attempted to repair my boat according to the instructions they were given from P&H.  However, I was never really all that thrilled with the manner in which P&H was going about the repair.  Given the amount of water that was getting into my boat, I was pretty sure that simply trying to seal the inside of the rim was not going to work.  I was also concerned that water would get in between the rim and kayak from the outside and would expand during the freezing temperatures that occur in winter potentially causing further leaks.  I was expecting that a new rim would likely have to be installed, but I was told that the structural adhesive used to install the rim during the manufacturing process is so strong that the rim can’t be removed without damaging the fiberglass deck of the kayak.  In other words, it can’t really be truly repaired to a “good as new” condition.

After the two failed attempts to repair the rim, P&H finally decided to bring the kayak back to their facility in North Carolina to do a factory repair.  They picked up the boat from Rutabaga in late February when they were making a delivery and said they would bring it back when they came up for Canoecopia in March.

A few days before Canoecopia, I received an e-mail and a phone call from Brian Day at P&H with some good news and some bad news.  It turns out that when they got my boat back to the factory and started yanking on the rim, they discovered that the adhesive had let go on about half the rim which is why it was leaking so badly.  They didn’t know why the adhesive had failed.  The good news was that they had managed to clean out the old adhesive and reseal the rim so that it no longer leaked.  The bad news was that they had damaged my boat in the process.  My understanding is that they used some sort of heat gun in the process of curing the adhesive and it bubbled the gelcoat on the back deck.  A clamp they were using to hold the rim in place also left some sort of dent.  It was hard to see the deformity in the photo they sent me.  However, the other good news was that they were offering to give me a new kayak as a warranty replacement for my original defective (and now deformed) boat.

So at Canoecopia, I got to pick up my brand new orange Capella 163 with yellow trim.  After some rolling attempts and a pummeling in the surf of Alabama, I am happy to report that all three hatches stayed dry.

Sherri

I can’t emphasize enough the extreme danger of paddling in cold water without wearing the proper clothing for immersion in that water.  COLD WATER KILLS!!!!

Right now we are experiencing an unusually warm spell in mid March here in southeast Wisconsin.  The air temperature today is in the 70’s.  However, the water temperatures are still in the 30’s.  Believe it or not, hypothermia is not what is going to kill you.  It will be something called “cold shock”. When you fall into water that is less than 70 degrees Fahrenheit, your body will undergo some physical responses that you have very little control over.

The first reaction you will experience is a gasp reflex.  Most of us have experienced this when we get into a swimming pool that is less than 80 degrees.  Luckily, we don’t usually have our heads underwater as we slowly wade into the ever deeper water and gradually immerse more of our bodies.  However, when you capsize suddenly into a cold lake from your kayak, your head usually goes underwater and there is a good chance that you will have that gasp reflex while your head is underwater.  This is the reason that many cold water drowning victims never resurface after that first plunge into the cold water.  They drown almost immediately with a lung-full of water.

Another immediate reaction of the body to cold water is that the heart slows down.  This may not kill you, unless you have an underlying (perhaps undiagnosed) heart condition.  Sadly, we have recently heard of several young athletes in our area who have died suddenly and unexpectedly with heart problems.  Do not assume that just because you are young and seemingly healthy that this reflex does not pose a risk for you.  If you are middle age or older, I think we all know that we are at some risk for heart problems without dumping ourselves into cold water.

If you survive the first problems with the gasp reflex and slowed heart rate, the next thing you will experience is hyperventilation.  Since you cannot really control your rate of breathing during hyperventilation, you may well swallow water as you breath in at the wrong moment instead of holding your breath when a wave is about to hit you in the face.  This swallowing and breathing water into the lungs causes gasping, sputtering, and a panicked feeling that results in inefficient swimming leading to more gasping, sputtering, and panic.  Even supposedly strong swimmers may slip below the surface very quickly when this happens if they are not wearing a life jacket.

The hyperventilation will last about a minute or so before the swimmer is able to get control of his/her breathing.  At this point, you probably have 10 minutes in which to attempt to rescue yourself before your body shunts blood away from your extremities (hands and feet) and sends it to the core organs (heart, lungs, and brain) in an attempt to protect the very vital functions these organs perform in keeping you alive.  The problem is that you need your hands and feet to help keep you alive when you are trying to rescue yourself from the water.  You need to have good self rescue skills so that you can complete your rescue in under 10 minutes before your hands and fingers especially quit working.

Hypothermia, which is often mentioned as a cause of death in these early season drowning cases, actually does not kill you or even render you unconscious for at least 45 minutes to an hour in even the coldest water.  If a paddler is wearing a life jacket to keep them from slipping below the surface, they have a much better chance of being fished out of the water if there are people nearby that can help.  Unfortunately, if they are not wearing clothing that is appropriate to protect them from immersion in icy water (drysuit or wetsuit), they may not still be alive even when they are fished from the water due to the immediate effects of cold shock.

I really wish I did not have to keep repeating this message over and over each year, and I certainly wish I did not have to read about young men and women dying while out kayaking and canoeing in March and April.  Do yourself and your family a favor.  Don’t paddle in water that you would not be comfortable swimming in.  With my drysuit on and the correct number of layers of clothing underneath, I can comfortably swim in 32-degree water.  With shorts and a t-shirt, you won’t find me in water that is less than 70 degrees.

Enough said?

Sherri

* The information above comes mainly from the research of Dr. Gordon Giesbrecht and can be found on the website, www.coldwaterbootcamp.com.  I strongly urge you to visit this website if you have not done so already.

I recently purchased the DVD, Sea Kayak Rescues by Leon Somme and Shawna Franklin.  Somme and Franklin, owners of Body, Boat, Blade, are both excellent kayakers and instructors and I expected a DVD on rescues from them to be a great addition to my video library.  Unfortunately, I was sadly disappointed when I watched the disc.

The whole DVD is only about 30 minutes long.  I can’t imagine how any instructor could only come up with a mere 30 minutes of material on a topic as important to sea kayaking as rescues.  I paid $29.95 for the video. At about $1 per minute, this DVD is a complete waste of money.  The production quality of the video is very good, but I kept waiting for the meat of the instruction to start.  It never did.  Somme and Franklin demonstrated several rescues in calm, moving, and rough water conditions, but there was no real explanation of what the rescuer was doing or not doing.  As an instructor, I could figure it out, but I think most of what was going on would be a mystery to a less experienced kayaker looking to improve his/her knowledge and skills by watching a DVD before heading out to practice.  Somme and Franklin may have been working from the premise that “less is more”, but in this case I would say that less is just less.

I respect Somme/Franklin’s philosophy that there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all rescue technique and that kayakers need to be flexible in their approach since each rescue will have its own unique requirements depending on the environment.  However,  in order to be flexible, you need to know (and have practiced) a lot of different techniques that you can draw on when faced with a real rescue situation.  A capsize in cold water and waves is no time to start brainstorming ideas on how to effect a quick, safe, and efficient rescue.  Less experienced sea kayakers, especially, need to be taught a few good basic rescue methods that they can then begin to experiment with during practice to find alternative techniques that may work better in specific situations.  This DVD never takes the time to address what the important points of a good basic rescue would be leaving the novice to try to sort that out for him/herself.  In other words, what constitutes a “safe” or “efficient” rescue?  A paddler with limited experience may not perceive all the possible risks involved  to the rescuer or the rescuee and so may unknowingly choose a technique that is inherently unsafe to one or all of the participants.

I’m hopeful that this DVD will turn out to be like the Forward Stroke DVD that was put out by Greg Barton and Oscar Chalupsky several years back.  The original Forward Stroke DVD was very poor despite being produced by such skilled paddlers.  Thankfully, Barton and Chalupsky apparently realized how poorly their first DVD was done and they went back and produced a second edition which continues to be one of the best forward stroke DVD’s on the market.  I certainly hope that Leon Somme and Shawna Franklin will take the video that they have shot so far and work on adding more substance to it.

I would like to see clear and detailed explanations of what is taking place in each rescue along with a discussion of the elements that MUST be in every rescue and those elements that can be altered to fit the specific rescue situation and environment.  There should be more discussion about what elements in each rescue pose potential risks to the paddlers involved and how those risks are being mitigated in the demonstrations shown.  I’d like to hear what the thought process was in each rescue regarding why they chose to do what they did, why they chose to not do certain things, and some possible alternatives that could have been tried if the rescue hadn’t worked as planned.  Some slow motion and stop motion segments of video along with judicious use of circles, arrow, and bullet points to highlight key parts of each rescue would be very helpful.  In teaching, it is considered good practice to demonstrate a skill, then break it down with explanations of the “parts” of the skill, and finish by showing the whole skill again with reinforcing key points.  This DVD has some good opening demonstrations of the skills, it needs to add the explanation of the “parts” and the reinforcing wrap-up for each rescue.

The “extras”  sections on edging, low brace turns, and stern draw/pry are much better than the main portion on rescues, but are much too short to make the DVD worth the price not to mention that you can view these video segments for free on the internet.

As it stands now, if you are looking for a DVD to learn solo and assisted rescue techniques and have $30 to spend, Gordon Brown’s new DVD on rescues is a much better option with over 2 hours of video, although some of it is about a kayak trip to the island of St. Kilda and not all of it involves coaching.  For only $10 more, you could get the University of Sea Kayaking Capsize Recoveries & Rescue Procedures Vol. 1 & 2 which would be my recommendation.  This DVD set includes 4 hours of in-depth instruction on solo and assisted recoveries including less common situations like having to rescue a capsized tandem kayak.

As far as Sea Kayak Rescues by Somme and Franklin, I would wait and hope that there will be a much better second edition coming out in the future.

Sherri

Old School Books

As I was doing a bit of tidying up in my office, I came across a stack of books that in paddle sports would be considered “ancient history”.  They are my collection of instructional paddling books published before 1980.  I have them listed below.

My “Old School” Collection of Paddle Sport Books

• The All-Purpose Guide to Paddling: Canoe-Raft-Kayak edited by Dean Norman (1976)
• A.M.C. White Water Handbook for Canoe and Kayak by John T. Urban (1970)
• Canoeing – The American National Red Cross (1977)
• Fundamentals of Kayaking by Robert Jay Evans (published by the Ledyard Canoe Club of Dartmouth, 10th edition – year unknown)
• Whitewater Canoeing by William O. Sandreuter (1976)
• White-Water Sport: Running Rapids in Kayak and Canoe by Peter Dwight Whitney (1960)
• Wildwater – The Sierra Club Guide to Kayaking and Whitewater Boating by Lito Tejada-Flores (1978)

These are books that I have picked up at various used book stores.  I’m not sure exactly what originally prompted my to buy these old tomes, but I have come to appreciate them for several reasons.  First, I like to know more about the history of the sport that has come to be such a big part of my life.  It’s interesting to see pictures of  the old boats, paddles, life jackets, and other assorted mostly home-made gear that people paddled with years ago, and it’s kind of quaint to read the old nomenclature used decades ago.

Second, George Santayana wrote back in the early years of the twentieth century, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it“.  While I doubt he was thinking of paddle sports when he said it, the sentiment holds true here as well as in other aspects of life.  Canoeing and kayaking techniques and equipment have evolved over the years into what we know and use today.  It is not unusual to hear paddlers discuss the merits and/or shortcomings of any number of skills and pieces of equipment.  Occasionally, I overhear someone suggesting a skill or technique that they think is a new idea when in reality it has been tried or even used extensively in the past.  There was most likely a reason why that skill fell into disuse, but if no one remembers why, it’s a good bet that we as paddlers will have to learn through our own experiences all over again why no one does it that way anymore.

Finally, I appreciate all the hard work that has gone into creating and developing what we know as canoeing and kayaking today and I’d like to know who is responsible. I’d like to try to give due credit to the people who deserve it.   Wouldn’t we all like to get credit for the work we’ve done and the real “discoveries” we’ve made?  We’d all like to be lauded for our accomplishments while we’re alive and remembered after we’re gone.  When Eric Soares died last week, I realized how many local sea kayakers didn’t even know about the contributions this person had made to their sport.  I suspect the same would be true for Don Starkell who also died recently, Verlen Krueger, Bill Mason, John Heath, and myriad others in the various disciplines of paddle sports.  (By the way, these are the relatively famous guys).

Maybe we could all make it a goal for the rest of this winter to get to know a little more about those other paddlers in the past who have made things a little easier for us as we, in turn, give back to paddle sports by helping to mentor the next generation of canoeists and kayakers.

Sherri

(If you need some help finding books on the history of canoeing and kayaking, you can peruse the lists on the “Recommended Reading” page of this website.

I was stunned last evening to see a message that extreme sea kayaker, Eric Soares passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Wednesday, February 1, 2012,.  He was only 58 years old.

For those of you who may be relatively new to paddle sports or are not familiar with sea kayaking in particular, Eric Soares was a co-founder and commander of the Tsunami Rangers, an elite group of kayakers based near San Fancisco who pioneered equipment and techniques for paddling in challenging conditions like sea caves, rock gardens, and large waves.  Along with Michael Powers, he authored the book, “Extreme Sea Kayaking” and more recently wrote an autobiography of sorts, “Confessions of a Wave Warrior” along with many magazine articles and letters to the editor.  In 2003, Soares nearly died from an aortic dissection and underwent several surgeries to save his life.  While he was eventually able to return to an active life, in the end it appears that he died of complications related to this underlying heart problem.

While some would argue that Soares and the Tsunami Rangers are a bunch of crazy risk takers, most of us in the sea kayaking community know better.  For as long as I have been paddling (which goes back over 20 years), Eric Soares was a staunch advocate of personal responsibility and safety who strongly encouraged kayakers to dress for the water temperatures in full wetsuits, develop their skills and practice regularly, use safe equipment appropriate to the environment, and to paddle in groups with other skilled kayakers.  The Tsunami Rangers were some of the first sea kayakers I ever saw regularly wearing helmets to paddle.

Certainly most of us will not be flying out to California to attend any memorials, but I would encourage all sea kayakers to take the time to read Eric’s two books.  While the two are very different, they are both worthwhile reads.  In taking the time to remember Eric Soares, It is fitting that at the end of the chapter entitled, “Take Heart!” in “Confessions of a Wave Warrior”, he leaves us with this lesson learned, “Don’t take your life for granted.  Go for it, now!”

Bon voyage, Eric.

Sherri

I just finished watching the second volume of the University of Sea Kayaking (USK) DVD set, “Greenland Rolling with Maligiaq & Dubside”.  It covers 21 of the 35 rolls/skills included in the 2011 Greenlandic National Kayaking Championships.  Most of what I had to say in reviewing the first volume of this 2-DVD set would also apply for this second disc.  The format and presentation of the instruction is basically the same in both DVD’s.  The section on “Getting Ready to Roll” is actually a complete repeat of that same section also found in the first DVD.  It has been included in this second DVD for the benefit of viewers who may not have seen the first DVD before watching the second volume.

As always, I appreciate the excellent camera work and the inclusion of several different camera angles for viewing each skill.  Dubside does a very nice job of pointing out subtle aspects of each technique and often gives suggestions on ways to make it easier to learn some of these rolls with appropriate credit being given to the instructors from whom he first learned these ideas.

My general impression is that this second DVD is more for the serious Greenland rolling aficionado.  The rolls and maneuvers included in this second volume are generally more difficult than most of the rolls included in the first DVD, and some have little or no practical value.  Dubside admits at one point that some of these rolls have been included in the Greenland competition just to make it tougher for the competitors and create a way to separate the best and strongest rollers from the rest of the competition.

The bonus sections on “Learning to Roll” and “Euro Paddle Transition” are well done and useful to the paddler who is just learning to roll but would likely not be necessary for the level of kayaker who would be attempting to learn the rolls included in this DVD.

If you are a serious traditional Greenland-style paddler and/or you love to roll just for the sake of rolling and are looking to add some new skills to your repertoire, then this is going to be a must have DVD set for you.  If you are just interested in using Greenland technique as a stepping stone to learn your first roll, then I would suggest that you buy the “Part 1″ DVD and pass on the “Part 2″.

Sherri

Often, there is the perception that open pool sessions are really only for the more skilled kayaker who wants to practice rolling over the winter, or perhaps wants to learn how to roll. While pool sessions are very useful for those two goals, beginning paddlers should also take advantage of pool practice over the winter.  There is much that can be learned and practiced over the long winter months that will make you a better kayaker come spring.

Here is my list of suggested sea kayaking skills that can be worked on in a pool, even when space may be a little tight:

Wet Exit: If you aren’t comfortable tipping over, releasing your sprayskirt, and getting out of your kayak, by all means you should be in the pool doing as many wet exits as you can until exiting a boat after a capsize becomes completely second nature and boring.

Improve Your Balance: Play with your boat and do a bunch of crazy stunts to get more comfortable with the balance and stability of your kayak.

• Instead of getting into the cockpit of your kayak, sit on the back deck right behind the cockpit with your legs straddling the kayak out to each side hanging down in the water.  Try paddling your kayak while sitting up on the back deck.  If this is a little too challenging at first, put a paddle float on both blades of your paddle so you can stop yourself from capsizing until you get a better feel for balancing.
• Try getting your feet and legs out of the cockpit while your kayak is floating in the pool.  Dangle your legs out to the side of your boat and then try to turn yourself around in a 360-degree circle keeping your butt in the seat the whole time.  At different times during this exercise, you will have to balance your boat with both feet hanging over the side on the left side of your kayak, and then again on the right side of the kayak.  You’ll have to balance while lifting your legs up and over the front deck and up and over the back deck.
• Try doing a 360-degree circle like the one above, but do it while seated on the back deck of your kayak.
• Try climbing out as far as you can toward the bow and stern of your kayak while it is floating.
• You can begin to work on a balance brace by doing a back float in the water with your feet resting on the seat of your kayak inside the cockpit.  Gradually start trying to inch more of your legs and finally your butt into the cockpit of the kayak.  The cockpit will end up flooding, but your boat won’t sink if you have watertight bulkheads.  The flooded cockpit will lower the boat in the water slightly and make it easier to start getting the feel of the balance brace that Greenland-style kayakers often do.  To bolster your confidence at first, you can use that same paddle with the floats on both blades as some additional flotation, although wearing your life jacket should provide more than enough flotation to do an easy back float.
• Practice your bracing skills or just your ability to balance by putting a swimmer on your back deck (or your front deck) which will make your kayak much more unstable.

Fine Tune Your Boat Control: Edging a kayak is an important skill for paddling in waves, making your long sea kayak more maneuverable, and counteracting a boat’s tendency to weathercock.  If you haven’t learned how to edge your kayak, or you want to build up the muscles to be able to hold a deeper edge for a longer period of time, there’s no better place than your local pool.  You can practice edging right next to the pool deck.  Try not to touch the pool deck while you hold your edge, but it’s comforting to know that you can put your hand down and stop yourself from capsizing if you begin to lose your balance.

Stationary Pivot Turns (or Pinwheel Turns): When you have developed the confidence to edge your kayak without needing the pool deck nearby, move out into the middle of the pool and practice turning your kayak a full 360-degrees using a combination of alternating forward and reverse sweep strokes.  You can begin by keeping your kayak level as you do these strokes, but for maximum turning efficiency, you will want to edge your kayak toward the same side as your working paddle blade.  In other words, if you are doing a forward sweep on your right side, your boat should be edged toward the right.  When you switch to the left side to perform your reverse sweep, you will also change your edge from the right side to the left side.

Can You Draw? A very useful skill for all paddlers is the basic draw stroke – with either an in-water or out-of-water recovery.  If you are very new to paddling, you should definitely take the time to learn how to do a draw stroke.

Learn to Scull: If you already know how to do a basic draw stroke to move your kayak sideways, try learning the sculling draw stroke.  This sculling stroke can gradually lead into a sculling high brace.  Using the back face of your paddle blade, you can also do a sculling low brace.  Sculling is really all about learning to take control of the blade angle on your paddle.

Practice A Hip Snap: This skill is critical for doing effective braces like the slapping and sweeping high and low braces.  It is also a lead-in skill for the bow rescue and certain rolls like the C-to-C Roll.  You can start by doing hip snaps as you hold onto the pool gutter.  Move on to holding the bow of a friend’s kayak, and eventually work on hip snapping with just a paddle float or life jacket in your hand.

Learn to Brace: Even in a restricted space (which is often the case when you have sea kayaks in a pool), you can practice the slapping low and high braces, sweeping low and high braces, and sculling low and high braces.

Experiment With Your Paddle Float Recoveries: While it is not advisable to paddle alone and assisted rescues/re-entries are preferred over solo rescues, you never know when you might find yourself responsible for getting back into your own kayak without the assistance of your fellow paddlers.  At those moments, your paddle float will become indispensable assuming you know how to use it.  While all rescues should eventually be practiced in the conditions in which you paddle, a pool is a great place to work through the mechanics of how to do a basic paddle float re-entry.  If you can’t do it in a pool, you’ll never be able to do it in wind, waves, and cold water.  A pool is also a great place to experiment with all the different ways that you can use a paddle float to re-enter your kayak.  Not all of these are going to be super practical methods, but the more ways you find that you can use your paddle float, the more options you may have when the “you-know-what” hits the fan.

• Standard paddle float re-entry climbing up with your stomach on the back deck behind the cockpit while holding the paddle against the coaming with your hands.
• Standard paddle float re-entry climbing up with your stomach on the back deck behind the cockpit with the paddle secured under decklines/bungees.
• Standard paddle float re-entry using a stirrup/sling deployed on the paddle shaft.
• Heel Hook paddle float re-entry with the paddle secured under decklines/bungees aft of the cockpit.
• Heel Hook paddle float re-entry while holding the paddle against the coaming with your hands.
• Heel Hook paddle float re-entry using a stirrup/sling deployed on the paddle shaft.
• Do a re-entry and roll with the paddle float on the working end of your paddle.
• Do a re-entry and roll using just a paddle float in your hands (if you lost your paddle).
• Doing a cowboy scramble rescue with a paddle float on your paddle for a little extra “just-in-case” stability as you move up your back deck.

Assisted Rescues: Assuming you have some friends at the pool session, or make some new ones, you can always practice some assisted rescues.  Make sure you practice being the swimmer in the water as well as the rescuer.  You learn a lot from being in both roles.

Preparation for Learning to Roll: For those beginners who do aspire to learn how to roll, I strongly suggest you get copies of two DVD’s – Ben Lawry “Dr. Ben’s New and Improved Rolling Elixir” and “Simplifying the Roll With Helen Wilson”.  You can also look over my older archived blog posts.  I have several posts that deal with getting started with learning how to roll.

In addition to the skills that you can practice, taking your kayak into the pool can be a good way to test out the watertightness of the bulkheads and hatch covers.  After playing around with your kayak, doing wet exits and rescues, and flooding the cockpit, check the inside of your hatches.  If you are seeing a lot of water in those hatches, you need to think about what would happen if you used your kayak (in its current condition) out in the real world of wind, waves, and cold water.  This should be your wake-up call that you need to think about how you can improve the flotation of your present kayak or get you thinking seriously about upgrading into a better kayak.  I’ll have more about this subject in a future blog.

As you can see, there are plenty of skills besides rolling that can be practiced in a pool.  Take the time to find the pool sessions in your area, and if you can’t find any, perhaps you can organize something for your local paddlers.  It can be a really fun social event right along with the skill-building.  Have fun and get wet this winter!

Sherri

I just finished building some racks to hold kayaks in my new garage.  This is a simple project that requires very little in the way of tools, minimal carpentry skills, and about $30-$35 worth of materials.   I was able to complete the project on a Saturday morning – less time than it took me to write this blog.  You need to have access to the studs in the wall of your garage as you can see in the photos.  I built my racks to hold 3 kayaks with room for one on the floor below the bottom arms, but you can customize your own racks to hold more or fewer kayaks.

Materials Needed: Two 4″x4″ boards.  The length of the boards will depend on the number of kayaks you want to store and the height of the side wall of your garage.  I used 10-foot long 4″x4″ lumber.  You will also need 1″ inside diameter steel conduit pipes (from the electrical department).  At my local home center, the conduit comes in 10′ lengths.  You can cut four 30″ pieces from a 10-foot length of conduit which is enough to hold two kayaks.  I bought two 10′ sections of conduit.  To attach the racks to the studs in your garage, you need 6″  long  3/8″ diameter hex bolts, with 2 washers and a nut for each.  (The bolts need to be long enough that they can go through a 4×4 and a 2×4 with enough threading sticking out to hold a washer and nut.)  I used 3 bolts for each rack for a total of 6 bolts, 6 nuts, and 12 washers (the materials photo only shows 4 bolts).  To pad the arms on the completed racks, use 1″ pipe insulation foam (plumbing department).

Tools: a drill with a 1-1/8″ and a 3/8″ bits  (these bits need to be long enough to go completely through the 4×4 posts), saw (power or hand), hacksaw, tape measure, sledge hammer and regular hammer, wrench to tighten nuts and bolts, one or two large clamps, scissors or razor blade to cut foam, pencil, and permanent marker.

1. Measure and mark the length of your 4×4’s using a tape measure and pencil.  Both need to be the same length.    I cut mine 104.5″ long.  This was longer than I needed them to be, but it gives me the option of adding an additional set of arms in the future to hold another kayak.
2. Cut the boards with a power or hand saw.
3. Lay the two boards side by side and determine where you want the arms to be positioned.  I have made three sets of these racks and have positioned the arms at slightly different  heights on all three.  I recommend leaving about 24″ between the arms.  If you have plastic sea kayaks, this will allow you to easily roll the boat up on its side on the arms which is a better way to store the kayak to prevent deformation of the hull.  I have a large tandem sea kayak that I am storing on the floor below the first set of arms on my rack, so I positioned the first set of arms about 18″ up from the bottom end of each 4″x4″.
4. Mark the location of the other two sets of arms leaving 22-24″ between sets.  You will want the arms centered from each side of the board, so measure in 1.75″ in from each side of the 4×4 and mark the center of the line.
5. Once you have determined the location of each set of arms and have marked them on the 4×4’s, then you are ready to begin drilling.  Put the 1-1/8″ bit in your drill and place your 4×4’s on sawhorses or propped up on a couple of boards as you will be drilling all the way through the 4×4’s.  I prefer to have the arms on the finished rack angled upward slightly to prevent the kayaks from sliding off, so I angle the drill slightly towards what will be the top end of the rack while drilling the holes.  If you don’t use a drill much, you may want to practice drilling some holes through scrap wood to make sure you can hold the drill steady at the angle you want.  (You can use a drill press, but most people don’t have one in their home workshop.)  When you are feeling confident, drill all the holes in the 4×4 posts.
6. Measure and mark  off 30″ lengths on the conduit using a permanent marker.  This will leave you with 26″ arms on your rack after the conduit has been pounded into the 4×4’s.  Cut the conduit with a hacksaw.
7. Once you have the metal arms cut, pound them into the holes on the 4×4’s using a sledge hammer or maul.  If you don’t have one, a regular hammer can be used, but it will take longer and require more arm strength.  Pound the conduit arms all the way through the 4×4.  To protect your concrete floors, put another board or piece of scrap lumber under the 4×4 while you are pounding.  I didn’t do this and I have a few dents in my new concrete garage floor.  You can use a file to smooth any metal burrs off the ends of the arms that will be sticking out into your garage although the foam padding should cover the ends.
8. Once the arms have been pounded into the 4×4’s, drill 3 bolt holes through each 4×4 using a 3/8″ auger bit.  The bolt holes will be drilled through the 4×4 going from side to side (perpendicular to the direction that you drilled the holes for the arms).  These are the holes that will be used to bolt the racks to the studs in your garage.  Put a hole about 6″ in from the top and bottom of each 4×4 and one somewhere near the center.  Do not put any of the bolt holes within 6″ of the arms. Note: It is important that you drill these holes as perpendicular as possible to the length of the 4×4 as you will need to match up the angle of this hole with the hole that you will be drilling through the stud wall in step #11.  If these two holes do not line up straight, you will not be able to get the bolt to go through both holes.
9. After drilling the bolt holes, clamp the racks to the studs on the garage wall.  The bottom end of each 4×4 should be resting on the sill plate of the garage wall.  That way most of the weight of the kayaks and racks will be carried by the building’s foundation.  For storing 16-18′ sea kayaks, I positioned my racks about 64″ apart (assuming your studs are located 16″ on center).
10. Take a pencil and push it into each of the bolt holes to mark the location on the studs.  Rotate the pencil and push firmly to make sure that you leave a good mark on the stud.
11. Take down the racks and find the pencil marks on the stud.  Then drill through the stud at each pencil mark with the 3/8″ drill bit.  I needed to use a shorter 3/8″ bit for drilling through the studs as my drill would not fit between the wall studs with the longer 3/8″ auger bit.
12. Put one washer on each bolt and push the bolts through the holes in the 4×4 and position the rack next to the stud.    You may need to use a hammer to finish pounding the bolt all the way through the corresponding hole in the stud.  Once the bolts are all the way through the studs, you can place another washer on the end of each bolt and tighten down the nuts with a wrench.  (Use a clamp to hold the racks in place until you get all the bolts pushed through.)
13. Place a length of pipe insulation over each arm on the rack.  Use a razor blade or scissors to trim off the excess foam from the end of each arm.  Cut the foam about a half inch longer than the metal arms so that you don’t scratch your boat or body against the end of the conduit.  I usually put a couple wraps of duct tape near each end of the foam to keep it from splitting open since pipe insulation is pre-scored along its length to make it easier to install around the pipes in your home.

I have included some photos of the different stages in the construction of the racks in case my written explanations aren’t clear.

Holding drill at a slight angle

Center the hole from each side of the board

Saw the conduit after measuring and marking it.

Position conduit on the hole before pounding it in.

Clamp racks to studs.

Mark position of bolt holes on the stud.

Pencil mark on the stud where bolt hole will be drilled.

Tap bolt and washer through hole in the 4x4 and stud.

Place washer and nut on each bolt where it protrudes from the stud.

Place foam insulation over the bars and cut to length.

Fiberglass kayaks can be laid flat with the hull directly on the arms of these racks with no deformation.  For plastic kayaks, you may want to position the kayak on its side to prevent indentations from developing on the hull.  To keep a kayak from tipping over, you can put lag screws into the studs and use 1″ webbing to make slings to hold it on its side.

Lag screw and webbing sling holding kayak on its side.

Homemade boat rack using 4x4 post and conduit pipe

I have been using racks like this for well over 15 years with no problems.  I have a 90 lb plastic sea kayak on one of the racks (I use the webbing sling to keep it positioned on its side) and a 70 lb fiberglass boat.  The arms have remained solid and strong.  The foam covering the arms acts like a roller which also makes it a little easier for me to put boats on the racks by myself.  The ends of each arm make convenient hooks for hanging my damp sprayskirt and life jacket to dry out between trips.  This rack can be easily customized to fit your particular storage needs.  The arms can be positioned high enough to allow you to store a lawn mower under your kayaks, or you can maximize the space for your boats and store up to five kayaks and canoes on one wall of your garage.  If you need to temporarily lengthen the arms on the rack for loading a kayak or to store a wider boat, you can easily insert a wood dowel or length of conduit with a diameter smaller than 1″.   These will easily slide down inside the arms of the rack.  Using bolts to install the racks allows them to be easily removed, moved, and reattached.

Extend the length of the arms by inserting smaller diameter conduit or dowels into the arms.

So for all of you paddlers whose spouses are concerned about the amount of space your boats are taking up in the garage, I hope this rack can help keep you from having to sell one of your kayaks.    : )

Sherri

For anyone interested in traditional Greenland-style kayaking, especially the rolling and bracing skills, University of Sea Kayaking (USK) has come out with a new DVD featuring two of the best Greenland rollers on the planet, Maligiaq Padilla and Dubside.

I watched the first a 2-part series of DVD’s on Greenland kayaking technique, “Greenland Rolling With Maligiaq & Dubside – Part 1″.  This first DVD covers the basics of Greenland rolling along with safety issues and then goes into demonstrations and explanations of 14 of the 35 rolls that are currently required to be performed in the the Greenlandic National Championships.  Part 2 covers the remaining 21 competition rolls in a separate DVD which I will review in the future.

As is the case with all USK DVD’s, there is a helpful printed outline included so that you can easily find a section that you may wish to watch instead of having to scan through the whole video to find the information you need.  Demonstrations of the rolls are performed by several different paddlers, although the bulk of the demonstrations appear to be done by Maligiaq.  Most of the narration and instructional portions of the video are handled by Dubside who has a clear and pleasant speaking voice and nice pace in the presentation making the audio easy on the ear.

While the bulk of the skills are performed in traditional skin-on-frame kayaks with Greenland paddles, there are discussions of how these skills can be performed in the more commonl hard-shell sea kayaks and Euroblade paddles that most of us typically use.

While I have always been quite impressed with the instructional videos put out by USK, my one complaint has been that the narration and verbal instruction is usually non-stop.  The information being given is always very useful and informative so I don’t want to miss any of it, but I found it difficult to watch the skill demonstration and focus on what was being said at the same time.  I longed for a pause by the speaker so I could just ‘watch’ the demonstrations and digest the information.  I was thrilled to see that Wayne Horodowich has rectified this one deficiency in his most recent video.  Each roll is shown several times, usually from four different camera angles, with no speaking or narration going on in the background.  Key points are reinforced with on-screen captions after the demonstrations have been performed.

The DVD covers sculling and the balance brace first as a precursor to the layback rolls as is also the case in Helen Wilson’s video on Greenland rolling which I have previously reviewed on this blog.  After covering several of the more basic layback rolls, Dubside shares a progression for learning the forward ending rolls.  I am anxious to try this progression as I have always struggled with the forward ending rolls.  The DVD recommends moving on to the forward ending rolls soon after learning a layback roll so that the layback position does not become too strongly ingrained making it more difficult to learn the forward ending position.  I suspect that this is my problem as I had been doing layback rolls for over 10 years before trying the forward rolls.

For those of us who are familiar with Dubside having seen his demonstrations in person or watched his previous rolling video, he is a strong advocate for using the traditional Greenlandic names for each of the rolls.  A nice touch in this DVD for those interested in following suit, the traditional Greenlandic name of each roll is shown on-screen along with the English name.  The traditional name is pronounced, followed by the English name, and then the traditional name is repeated once more.  The traditional names are also written down in the outline that is included with the DVD.  Personally, I still found it hard to imitate the pronunciation of the traditional names as the words are long and the sounds are rather subtle.  I would suggest including a phonetic spelling in the outline along with the traditional written names of each roll for those who really want to learn to pronounce them correctly.

Although I don’t use a Greenland paddle for paddling, I do enjoy using one for rolling.  As an instructor I have frequently recommended that students learn to roll with a Greenland paddle first and then transition to a Euroblade paddle afterward.  This is often a more successful method for older paddlers who may lack the flexibility and abdominal strength needed to perform the C-to-C roll commonly taught in many rolling classes.

If like me you have family members asking you to provide a “wish list” for Christmas, I would highly recommend this DVD as being a worthwhile addition to your video library.  For those of you hoping to learn how to roll in the coming year, watching this new USK DVD along with “Simplifying the Roll With Helen Wilson” would be a good way to get started.  While I always recommend personal instruction from a qualified instructor as the best way to learn how to roll, visualization is a helpful tool in learning any physical skill.  Watching these videos will help an aspiring roller to visualize the movements that they want to perform.

Merry Christmas!

Sherri