Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, I am going to suggest that you read an excellent blog post by Derrick Mayoleth, a fellow ACA instructor, who wrote a very comprehensive article on what to look for in a PFD and how to properly fit it.  Your life jacket is a very important piece of gear, as Derrrick says, and something that you should take adequate time in choosing.  Don’t go for cheap, go for fit, comfort, and features.  Expect to pay anywhere from $75 to $200 for a decent life jacket, but if you take care of it, it should last you many years.

Sherri

Sprayskirts are available for most kayaks including recreational kayaks.  However, they are really only a necessary safety item for whitewater and sea kayakers.  A sprayskirts is needed to keep waves from filling the cockpit of a kayak and making it unstable and unseaworthy.  It also keeps the water out of the kayak during a roll when the kayak is upside down.

Sprayskirts are generally made of nylon, neoprene, or a combination of the two.  Nylon skirts should be coated and seam-taped to make them waterproof.  Nylon is usually your least expensive option, but the fabric can be noisy when you are paddling which annoys some people.  Neoprene and combination nylon/neoprene skirts will be more expensive than basic nylon skirts, but they will generally last longer and are the only choice for the serious whitewater and sea kayakers.  The neoprene skirts tend to seal out water better than nylon skirts making them a better choice for paddlers who depend on a roll as self-rescue.  Nylon will not be any more comfortable or any cooler than a neoprene skirt since the coating on the nylon holds in heat.  There are nylon sprayskirts made of breathable fabric, but these are usually very expensive, and I don’t think it’s worth paying the extra money.  The tube of the sprayskirt is worn UNDER your life jacket, so even if the tube of  is made of breathable fabric, your life jacket is going to inhibit the transfer of heat and moisture away from your skin (please don’t say that you aren’t going to wear your life jacket).   For this same reason, I would also not pay extra for pockets on the tube of a sprayskirt.  Any pocket on the tube is going to be under your life jacket and will not be readily accessible in an emergency.  (I guess you could use it to store emergency gear that you would need if you lost your kayak and ended up having to survive on a deserted beach overnight.)  Pockets on the deck of the sprayskirt can be useful, just make sure that nothing on the skirt will interfere with your ability to remove the skirt and exit the kayak after a capsize.

Nylon skirt with suspenders and bungee cinch around chest

Nylon tube/neoprene deck combination skirt with velcro cinch at chest

Be aware that sprayskirts are NOT a “one-size-fits-all” item.  You will need to know the exact model of kayak that you need to get a sprayskirt for.  Most of the major manufacturers of sprayskirts have a fit guide that tells the size you will need, if you know your kayak make and model.  These sizes are not always uniform from manufacturer to manufacturer.  You kayak may take a medium skirt from one source, but a large from another vendor.  Always consult the fit guide from the company whose sprayskirt you are buying.  If you built your own kayak or have an otherwise rare or unique model of kayak, make sure you have the maximum length and width measurements of your cockpit (measured to the outside edge of the cockpit rim).  If your cockpit falls between sizes, choose the size that gives the tightest fit that you are still able to remove with one hand.  You don’t want to be underwater unable to release your sprayskirt from your cockpit.  For all neoprene skirts, especially those used in whitewater, there will be two sizes associated with your skirt.  You will have a “cockpit” size and a “tube” size.  The cockpit size is the measurement that I just explained above.  The “tube” size is specific to the person wearing the sprayskirt.  A skinny paddler and a heavyweight paddler paddling in the same model of kayak will both use the same “cockpit” size, but these two paddlers will have different “tube” sizes based on the circumference of their torsos.  If you want your boat to stay dry in rough water, you need to pick a tube size that will feel very tight without restricting your breathing or circulation.  Nylon skirts generally come with an adjustable tube that will fit a wide range of paddler sizes.  The top of the tube will have a bungee cord or a velcro closure that allows the wearer to cinch the tube down to body size of the paddler.  Tubes that cinch with a bungee cord often have suspenders to help keep the tube from falling down.  Sprayskirts that use a wide velcro band to cinch down the tube usually don’t have suspenders.  I prefer not to have suspenders on my own sprayskirt because they have a tendency to slide down your shoulders and can inhibit getting into your set-up position for rolling if not adjusted properly (personal experience).

One-size-fits-most tube with string cinch around chest

Closeup of velcro closure around the chest

Most sprayskirts use a bungee cord to attach the skirt to the rim of the kayak.  That bungee cord can be sewn to the edge of the deck fabric in which case the size of the bungee is not adjustable, or the bungee can be enclosed in a casing (usually only found on nylon skirts).  The sewn bungee will give you a more precise fit for your kayak, but the adjustable bungee cord in a casing may allow you to use the same skirt on boats with slightly different cockpit sizes.  I like to use the adjustable bungee style for some of my student sprayskirts since I can use them on several different kayaks.  For my personal sprayskirts, I prefer the sewn bungee.  Some whitewater skirts come with a rubber rand that stretches around the cockpit rim instead of a bungee.  These seal out water quite well and hold the sprayskirt in place in very rough water, but I find them too difficult for me to stretch onto the cockpit of my boat.  You will need to make that determination for yourself based on your arm strength.

Adjustable bungee in a casing on top skirt. Sewn bungee edge below.

Rubber rand along the deck of a sprayskirt.

Skirts for recreational kayaks are generally very difficult to put on because the cockpit opening that they must cover is so large.  Often, it requires two people to attach the skirt, or the skirt must be put on the cockpit first and then the paddler needs to try to get into the kayak through the opening of the sprayskirt.  Add to that the high cost of most recreational sprayskirts, and I think you will agree that the sprayskirt is more trouble than it’s worth for most recreational kayakers.  Putting a sprayskirt on a recreational kayak will not make it safe for use in whitewater or larger bodies of water since these large, nylon skirts are practically useless for keeping waves from filling your boat.  If a waves lands in your lap, the weight of the water will easily pop the sprayskirt and the water will end up in you cockpit.  If you want to keep water from dripping off your paddle and onto your lap, consider instead the partial sprayskirts that are known as “mini skirts” or “half skirts”.  A bungee cord goes around the cockpit opening, but the fabric of the skirt only spans the front portion of the cockpit to cover your legs.  No fabric encircles the body of the paddler.  These “mini skirts” are less expensive and are easier to use.

For entry-level or “fair-weather” sea kayakers, the nylon sprayskirts are less expensive than neoprene and will be adequate for the conditions these paddlers are likely to face.  For paddlers who are a little claustrophobic or just nervous about removing the sprayskirt when wet exiting, nylon skirts usually pop off the cockpit rim pretty easily.  This can be a good thing, and a not so good thing.  Because the nylon skirts come off easily, they are often harder to attach when getting into the kayak.  When you are ready to learn to roll, you will want to have a neoprene skirt.  As I said earlier, it will seal water out better, and the neoprene stretches as you move making it less likely that you will accidentally pull the sprayskirt off the cockpit rim while attempting a roll or brace.  For practicing rolls in a pool, an old nylon skirt will work fine.  You will just have to stop to empty water out of your kayak more frequently, but you won’t be worried about the chlorine damaging your good neoprene skirt.

Blue "recreational" skirt next to smaller red nylon "sea kayak" skirt

Black "unisex" all-neoprene whitewater skirt next to blue "women's skirt. Note the shorter tube.

So what do I use?  I have a Snap Dragon Designs Glacier Trek skirt for my sea kayak.  I like the neoprene deck because it sheds water better than nylon, but I like the adjustable nylon tube because I don’t have to own a winter and a summer sprayskirt to accommodate the different thickness of clothing that I wear in these different seasons.  For whitewater paddling, I have a Snap Dragon Designs Ocean Trek and an Immersion Research J-lo neoprene skirt.  I like both of them, but the J-lo fits me a little better since it is designed for a woman’s body.  For most situations, using a unisex sprayskirt will work just fine for women.  However, for paddlers going out in more challenging conditions, it may be worthwhile to find a women-specific design that is easier to put on and is more comfortable when wearing.  The tube is usually cut a little shorter for women and may be angled to better accommodate a woman’s wider hips.

Expect to pay anywhere from about$60 for a very basic nylon sprayskirt to $175 for a very fancy breathable nylon/neoprene combination skirt.  Most all-neoprene skirts will fall somewhere in the $100-150 range.  (Don’t be surprised to find skirts that exceed these ranges.)  If you are going to paddle whitewater or open water like the Great Lakes, this is an expense that you can’t afford to skip.  But if you make a wise choice with your purchase, your skirt can last you 10-15 years or more. (One of my neoprene skirts is 21 years old.)

On a related note, you may want to pick up a cockpit cover for your kayak when you are shopping for sprayskirts.  If you have a plastic kayak and you plan to use the cockpit cover for transporting the boat on your car, spend the extra money and get a neoprene cockpit cover.  The nylon cockpit covers will almost never stay on the rim of a plastic kayak when traveling at highway speeds.  Nylon cockpit covers will work fine on a fiberglass, Kevlar, or polycarbonate plastic kayak that has a sharper cockpit rim.  Rotmolded polyethylene plastic boats have a rounded cockpit rim that does not grab the nylon cover very tightly.  If you have a recreational kayak with a large cockpit, don’t bother trying to get a cockpit cover for transportation.  I don’t know of any manufacturers making their largest cockpit covers in neoprene, and nylon is guaranteed to fly off.  Cockpit covers for recreational kayaks are only useful for keeping water, bugs, and dirt out of your boat during storage at home.

Happy shopping!

Sherri

The first sign of spring has arrived on my doorstep.  The Canoecopia program brochure was delivered a little over a week ago.  Can paddling season be far behind?  As the snow begins to melt into the rivers and lakes, our thoughts naturally turn to all the pieces of kayaking gear that we want or need to purchase before this season.  In that vein, I will take a little time in my upcoming posts to talk about what to look for when purchasing certain items.  Today I’ll talk about tow belts, but feel free to ask for advice on the gear item of your choice if you’re doing some research before buying.

My North Water Quick Release Tow Belt with modifications

When unfolded, the large pouch makes it easy to restuff the rope.

In 20 years, I have not had to use my tow belt more than about a dozen times, but when I needed it, I REALLY needed it and I was very glad to have it.  Don’t wait until you find yourself in a  desperate situation wishing you had a tow belt.  Make the investment and get one now.  There are a lot of tow belts out there.  I get no kickbacks from any manufacturers, so I’m going to tell you which tow belt I use and why.  I own the North Water Quick Release Rescue Tow belt.   It has all the following features that I think are important, and I was able to easily modify it with those few features that I wanted but it didn’t come with originally.  An even better option is the newer North Water Sea Tec Tow Line which has many of the modifications that I made to my older Quick Release Rescue belt, and comes with a lot of reflective tape on it besides.

1. The number one feature of any tow belt is the quick release buckle on the belt.  In the event that you or the person being towed capsizes or some other problem arises, you need to be able to ditch the tow line quickly even with tension on the line.  Look for the quick release buckle.
2. Another important feature is a bungee integrated into the rope to take some of the shock off your back when you are towing in rough water.  Without it, you will get a strong yank on your back every time the boat you are towing slides backward down a wave or you accelerate forward down a wave.
3. Floating line (and line that does not absorb water) will reduce the drag you feel since the rope is going to sag into the water even when there is tension on the line.
4. For smaller bodies of water or the Great Lakes where we rarely see swells with long periods, 25-35 feet of line will be enough, but if you take your boat out on the ocean, make sure to get a towline that is 35-50 feet long.  If you use a shorter tow line on ocean swells, you could have the boat you are towing surfing down the same wave you are on possibly crashing into your kayak from behind.  I recommend getting the longer rope length and daisy chaining the rope to shorten it.  That way you’ll have the extra rope length if/when you need it.
5. A float of some kind is needed to keep the carabiner from sinking when it is disconnected from the boat you are towing.
6. After you have finished towing someone, you will need to think about what to do with that pile of spaghetti that your towline has turned into.  The proper way to restow your line after a tow is to stuff it carefully back into the bag so it does not tangle.  That can be hard or impossible when you are out on the water.  I like a tow belt with a large, wide-mouth pouch that I can easily throw the loose rope into, where it will be contained until I get back to shore and can restuff the bag properly.  My old tow belt had a small opening that took several minutes to restuff.  After disengaging from a tow, I usually threw the belt and all the loose rope into my cockpit until I could get back to shore.  Had I ever capsized, I could easily have gotten tangled in the mess of loose rope coils inside my cockpit.
7. The carabiner should be large enough that you can easily grab it and clip it onto another kayak with one hand, even when wearing gloves.  I like carbiners that have a separate eyelet for tying the tow line.  Unfortunately, most tow belts use climbing carabiners, so it is easy to lose the carabiner if the rope slips off when the gate is open.  Worse yet, some of the tow belts use carabiners that aren’t even rated for climbing strength.  Some of these carabiners are so cheap I would expect them to bend or break under pressure.  I spent about $35 to purchase a different carabiner to replace the one that came with my tow belt after paying around $100 for the original belt.  That said, I think it was well worth the money to have the best carbiner possible.
8. I also like to have the option of a short tow as part of the belt.  This can be accomplished by rigging your line so  that the length is adjustable (daisy chain), or you can have a separate short line.  I added something called a “cow tail” to my belt.  This also cost me another $40 or so to add this piece.
9. I want a D-ring on the belt itself that I can clip the carabiner on to.  That way I can grab the carabiner easily and attach it to another kayak when I need to start towing in rough seas or just need to get a tow started quickly (Two kayaks involved in a rescue being blown into an area of breaking waves or a shipping lane may need to be towed into a safer area immediately).

You can also consider using a deck-mounted towing system, but that usually requires your kayak to have some permanently mounted hardware on the kayak.  This takes the strain off the back of the person doing the towing.  The only problem with deck-mounted systems is that your kayak is now the only boat that can do the towing.  If you end up being the person who needs to be towed, you may be out of luck.  With a belt, you can always give the belt to another paddler if you get tired and need someone else to take over the towing, or if you need to be towed.  If you already have a tow belt, it may be time to give it a good inspection to make sure it is still safe to rely on it in an emergency.  If you notice fraying, cuts, or portions of the rope core poking out through the sheath (see photo below), it’s time to get a new rope.  (Also notice the small opening that the line is feeding out of.  The rope had to be stuffed back into that opening.)

I’ll see you at Canoecopia.  My husband and I will be the ones wearing the SherriKayaks t-shirts!

Sherri

Note the integrated bungee, float, carabiner with separate eyelet, and D-ring.

This tow rope needs to be replaced.

About a month ago I posted a blog about learning to roll at pool sessions during the winter. I had promised to put some video of hip snap practice on the website. It is actually on the photo gallery page, but I didn’t get around to blogging about it until today. Sorry. I’m much more punctual and responsible in real life than I am when it comes to writing my blogs. Well, better late than never, I guess.

Kayakers who are anxious to learn the skill of rolling tend to get to focused on the end product and it actually inhibits their ability to roll successfully. The first thing you need to understand is that none of the movements required to roll a kayak are hard to perform. The hard part is learning which movements are required and in what order, and then training your body to perform those movements in a choreographed sequence when you are upside down, underwater, with water shooting up your nose. Add to that the fact that those who are chronologically challenged (read over 40) are going to take a little longer to train their muscles than those who are younger. Despite all this, I don’t want you to despair. There is truly hope for anyone who wants to learn to roll. It may take some time, but there are some secrets to working your way to a successful roll.  The trick with learning to roll is you want to break the skill into small, easy incremental steps that build your confidence.  As you watch the video, please excuse the poor production quality and ignore the audio. It isn’t very good. Rather, read what I have written below and then watch the video several times before going to practice yourself.

The hip snap is the key component of any successful roll. Don’t be in a big hurry to do a full-blown roll with a paddle. Take the time to work through the following steps and be rigorous in your attention to detail as you practice. You will start by practicing a hip snap while holding onto the side of the pool deck. Then you can try doing the same thing while holding onto the bow of a friend’s kayak. From here you graduate to using a paddle float for support as you perform your hip snap. Once you can do the hip snap successfully with the paddle float alone, then you can start working on the roll with a paddle. Your next step will be to place the blade of your paddle on the bow of someone else’s kayak. After that, you can put a paddle float on your paddle blade and practice your hip snaps with the paddle held at a ninety degree angle. The last steps will be to learn the set up position and how to get from the set-up to the finish postion (this will vary depending on the type of roll that you are learning).  For now, I’m just going to cover the steps of practicing your hip snap without the paddle.

It is imperative that you insist on good technique in all of these steps. The most important aspect of this technique is that you do not “muscle” your way up with your arms. The roll happens under the sprayskirt using your knee, thigh, and hip. Unfortunately, “hip snap” is not a very good description of what you do. As you watch the video, notice that the kayak does not roll from rightside up to upside down and back in a jerky, “snappy” motion. It should be practiced in a very slow, controlled, and smooth motion. Practice this skill much slower than you are likely to do it in your final complete roll. The focus needs to be on getting as much flexibility out of your body as possible and teaching your body to use the correct muscles in the correct sequence. You can always speed it up later.

When you see me with my head on the pool gutter, I am laying to the left of my kayak. To bring the kayak upside down, I am lifting my right knee in the thigh brace to tip the boat on top of me. When I go to right the kayak, I need to relax the right knee (although it stays in the thigh brace) and instead lift up on my left knee and thigh to roll the kayak right side up. I am not “snapping my hips” side to side. The motion should be very smooth and requires very little strength or pressure on the hands and arms. Notice that I do not lift my head off my hands while I practice repeated smooth transitions rolling the kayak upside down and rightside up. Only when I am done practicing several “hip snaps” do I lift my head up. Keeping your head down during this whole exercise helps you to train your body to keep your head down while attempting to roll a kayak upright. When practicing your hip snaps, get in the habit of leaving your head down as much and as long as possible. Keeping your head resting on your hands the whole time takes away some of that tendency of trying to push yourself up.

When you switch to practicing on the bow of someone else’s kayak, that person needs to watch very carefully to make sure that you are not pushing down on the bow of the boat to lift yourself up. The more still and quiet the bow of your friend’s boat stays while you execute your hip snaps, the more likely it is that you are doing it correctly.  Practice your hip snaps just the same as you did while holding onto the pool deck.

You may be able to fool yourself or your partner into thinking that you are not muscling yourself up when you use the pool deck or the bow of your friend’s kayak, but be prepared to learn the truth when you use an inflated paddle float to perform your hip snaps. There is no cheating with the paddle float. If you are performing your hip snap technique correctly focusing on using your knee and thigh to lift the kayak, you will be successful. If you attempt to use your arms at all, the paddle float will go underwater and you will not come up. Have your friend standing by to give you a bow rescue just in case, or be ready to wet exit if necessary. It may take you awhile to truly discover what it means not to use your arms to muscle yourself up. When you successfully perform a hip snap using a paddle float for support, you will immediately understand how little effort it really takes to roll when you do it right. In fact, gradually letting air out of your paddle float as you practice could actually lead you to learning a hand roll!

Only after developing a solid “hip snap” should you be thinking about trying to learn how to use your paddle. You will be much less tempted to try pulling yourself up by pulling down on your paddle, a problem that plagues many people who are learning to roll and a technique flaw that can lead to shoulder dislocations in the future.  Another suggestion to keep from developing bad habits as you learn to roll, don’t practice for too long at any one time.  It is better to practice frequently for short periods of time (example: 3 times a week for 30 minutes each time rather than one 90 minute session.)  Even though rolling does not take a lot of strength, your leg and hip muscles will get fatigued as you practice and you will have a tendency to resort to poor technique as you compensate.  You don’t want to ingrain bad habits.  In between physical practice sessions, take time to visualize those smooth easy hip snaps.  Remember that you are trying to build your confidence by having success at each of these steps.

Feel free to shoot me any questions you may have, and good luck with your quest to cultivate a roll!

Sherri

Paddling Partner just out of the box

I feel like Navin Johnson (Steve Martin) in the movie, “The Jerk”.  “The new phone book’s here!  The new phone book’s here!”  In my case it isn’t a phone book, but rather a new kayaking gadget to play with.  I admit it.  I’m a kayaking gear head.

As many of you know, I sold kayaks for almost nine years and taught all the kayaking lessons for my former employer.  Several years back, I sold a kayak and gave a lesson to a man named Carl Vopal.  I occasionally saw him when he stopped into the store over the years, but otherwise I had kind of lost touch with him.  Fast forward to last year when I was watching one of my University of Sea Kayaking DVD’s.  There is a section on the DVD talking about a removable ballast system for sea kayaks called the “Paddling Parner”.  Feeling that I should try to keep up with all the latest advances in paddling equipment, I checked out the website.  I was surprised to see that the inventor of the product was named, Carl Vopal.  Seemed like a pretty strange coincidence, so I looked up the contact information.  The company was in Thiensville, Wisconsin.  At that point I figured it had to be the same Carl Vopal, so I sent him an e-mail.  Well, to make a long story short, I’ve had several opportunities to paddle with Carl over the last year, and he has become sort of a regular among my group of paddling friends.  It turns out that he had been struggling for years to find a kayak that was comfortable in regards to cockpit space.  When he finally found a kayak that was comfortable, the stability wasn’t very good because the boat was made to carry a paddler and lots of gear.  Since Carl wasn’t paddling the boat with enough weight in it, the kayak wasn’t sitting as low in the water as it should have been resulting in poor handling.  He invented the “Paddling Partner” system as a way to solve this problem and then decided to market the product for anyone needing a bit more stability or extra weight in their kayak.

I just got my own “Paddling Partner” in the mail a few days ago.  I’m going to install it in one of my instructional kayaks.  I have a Current Designs Sirocco that I use for the larger paddlers in my “Introduction to Sea Kayaking” class.  Unfortunately, the taller guys that need to use this kayak sometimes find it a bit unstable if they are new to sea kayaking.  I’m hoping that the ballast will improve the stability of the boat for these students.  I know of at least two other paddlers in the Milwaukee area who have been using Carl’s invention for awhile now and both are very pleased with the results.  While this may not be a product that everyone needs, I do think that it has the potential to help a lot of paddlers who may have issues with the stability of their kayaks.  If you are significantly lighter than the recommended weight range for your kayak, or you have a high center of gravity (tall people or those with a lot of mass in the chest and shoulders), a ballast system could help you gain confidence in the stability of your kayak.  Paddlers who have physical challenges that affect their ability to maintain the balance of their kayaks could also benefit from adding ballast.  Frankly, anyone who wishes that their kayak was just a little more stable might find that a small amount of ballast will do the trick.

While you could always just put a rock or a big water jug  in your kayak to help weight it down, these items can shift position when the kayak rolls in the waves potentially causing a capsize.  One of the really nice features of this system is that the container holding the ballast is pinned into place so that this won’t happen.  Yet, the container can also be easily removed so that you aren’t making your kayak heavier when you need to lift and carry it out of the water.  While I haven’t gotten around to installing my system yet, I like the fact that there are no permanent alterations to the kayak.  Nothing is glued or screwed into the boat.  Only tension and friction are required to hold the base mount in place.  Later this summer after I’ve had some students use this kayak, I’ll post an update on how it worked.

While I can’t take any credit for helping Carl come up with his idea, as his first instructor I am really proud of what he has accomplished.  Look for Carl’s booth at Canoecopia this year on March 12-14 in Madison.  Stop and say hi and tell him Sherri sent you!  Sea Kayaker magazine is supposed to be doing a review of the product for the April issue, so you can look for more information there, as well.  Oh, and if I have any other budding inventors out there among my past kayaking students, please let me know.

Here’s hoping you’re always on an even keel!

Sherri

I’ve been reading some kayak-related blogs recently, something I haven’t had a whole lot of time to do before now.  Some are pretty interesting, some just seem to be a clearing house for press releases, and a few are a little scary.  The internet can be a great tool for finding information, just keep in mind that anyone can post pretty much anything they want without having to provide any credentials or other substantiating data.  As a long-time paddler and instructor, I have enough experience and background information stored in my brain’s hard drive that I can usually identify BS when I see or hear it.  The danger is that beginning paddlers looking for answers to their many questions will not be able to readily spot the misinformation.  For that reason, I recommend that anyone, but most especially novice kayakers, view information from the internet with a healthy dose of skepticism.  Start your education by reading some of the many excellent books that are out there.  Publishing companies tend to have much more rigorous standards before agreeing to publish someone’s book than those needed to post something on the internet.  This is not an absolute guarantee that you won’t read something that is a typographical mistake, or information that is old and obsolete (or just flat out wrong).  But if you read the same information in three or four different sources, there is a much higher probability that it is good information.  If you are getting conflicting information from different sources, at least you have enough information to know that one of these sources is in error, or there is some kind of controversy brewing on that subject.  You’ll know you need to continue to research an answer by asking more experienced paddlers, certified instructors, or by reading more books.

DVD’s are also not a bad source of information as it takes some money and effort to create and market a video, which tends to weed out some of the more clueless jokers.  Keep in mind, though, that anyone can take a video camera and post to YouTube.  If I figured it out, then it doesn’t take much in the way of internet savvy.  That being the case, there are some really good instructional clips on YouTube along with some really poor ones.  Again “caveat emptor!”

When I got started paddling in 1988, it was kind of tough to find any formal kayak instruction, let alone good instruction.  Perhaps thankfully, the internet was not an option.  My first teachers were Derek Hutchinson, John Dowd, and Randel Washburne (those were about the only three authors that had books out on sea kayaking at the time), along with people like George Gronseth and the Broze brothers who wrote many articles for Sea Kayaker magazine back in the early years.  All that reading served me very well as became evident when I attended my first symposium in 1993 and discovered that I was, in fact, doing it the right way after being otherwise mostly self-taught.  Later on, when I got hooked up with paddling friends like John Browning and Gary Simon, I started taking lots of formal classes on my way to becoming an instructor.  But I still try to read every book I can get my hands on when it comes to canoeing and kayaking, and those books are the first place I look when I need an answer to a question that I can’t answer off the top of my head.

If you think that you are already educated enough as a kayaker, let me just say that over 22 years, I’ve seen a lot of things change in sea kayaking.  Believe it or not, sea kayaking was just entering its adolescence as a sport when I started.  Paddlers were still making a lot of their own equipment, and those of us who were buying our stuff bought it from the people who were making their own.  Paddle floats were a new idea and there was a lot of discussion about how useful they might or might not be.  If it’s been awhile since you took a class or read an instructional book, it might be a good time to consider brushing up your skills with some up-to-date knowledge.

Now that it’s winter, aren’t you in the mood to curl up with a good book?

Sherri

(Or maybe a good movie!)

Over the years, I’ve had a lot of female paddling students and customers ask about ways to find other women to paddle with.  This seemed to be an especially difficult problem for recreational kayakers since the recreational paddlers are less likely to be organized into clubs, and they just seem to lurk in the weeds on the internet bulletin boards rather than posting invitations to paddle.  For that reason, I’m going to try something new this year.  I’m offering 3 events held on three separate Wednesday evenings at three different venues in hopes of giving women a chance to meet up with other women who paddle.  We’ll start the evenings with a leisurely paddling trip giving participants plenty of opportunity to talk and get to know each other as we paddle.  Afterwards, there will be a social gathering at a local food and drink establishment.  The trip will begin at 5pm and last about 1.5 hours.  The social gathering is scheduled to end about 8pm, although I can’t stop new friends from fraternizing into the wee hours.  Just remember that you may have to get up for work the next morning.  My hope is that the women who attend these events will find other women with whom they can continue to paddle throughout the summer.  Perhaps they will even form informal clubs to mentor other new female paddlers.

If you have your own canoe or kayak, you can attend for just $5.  Come alone or invite your friends.  Advanced registration is requested so that I don’t waste my time showing up if no one is coming.  Registration is also for your benefit, since I can contact you if we need to cancel at the last minute due to weather, etc.  If you need to rent a boat, I have a limited number available that can be rented for the event for $20.  The dates are May 26 (Wind Lake), June 2 (Upper Nemahbin Lake), and June 23 (Lake Michigan).  The events held on Wind Lake and Upper Nemahbin Lake are open to any women regardless of their skills or type of paddle craft.  For safety, the trip on Lake Michigan on June 23rd will be limited to those women who have a 14′ or longer touring style kayak with front and rear bulkheads.  If you have any questions or want to register, please shoot me an e-mail or give me a call.

Canoeing and kayaking are such great activities and are enjoyed by so many women.  If you have been hesitant to get out on the water due to lack of paddling companions, please use these opportunities to forge new friendships with other women who share your passion for paddling!

It looks as if our January thaw is over and we’re headed back into the deep freeze.  Time to think about heading someplace warm for a week or two. There are almost an unlimited number of places that you could go if money is no object, but I have a suggestion for those of you who want to spend your vacation doing some paddling and need to keep the cost reasonable.  Try the Ft. Myers area of southwest Florida.  It will take a couple of days, but you have the option of driving instead of flying which may not save a ton on the transportation, but it will allow you to take your own boat and paddling equipment with you, saving on rental costs.  It also makes it easier to take camping equipment if you want to reduce the costs of lodging.  By the way, I am not being paid by the Ft. Myers tourist board or chamber of commerce, I just happened to visit the area twice in last year and had a great time paddling on both occasions!  Within a 2-hour drive of Ft. Myers you have a tremendous choice of rivers, protected and open ocean paddling.  The water is always warm (if you are comparing it to Lake Michigan) and you will get to sea all kinds of bird and sea life around you.  We paddled with dolphins on trips in January and September and saw more birds than I can count.  And the recent cold snap notwithstanding, the air temperatures are usually very nice, as well.

Myakka River in September at high water

Estero River before the deluge.

If you want to do a self-supported kayak camping trip, you can go a little farther south to the Everglades/10,000 Islands region.  However, it is entirely possible to do a day trip in this area while still staying in the Ft. Myers area.  On both trips last year, my husband and I chose to stay in a hotel in Ft. Myers and do day trips.  We flew down to Florida and rented our paddling equipment.  There are plenty of outfitters in the region.  Last January we paddled at Captiva Island, in the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island, and took a day-long guided trip through the mangroves near Everglades City.  In September, we paddled with alligators on the Myakka River, got drenched by rain in a canoe on the Estero River, and basked in the sunshine while sea kayaking the Matlacha Pass Aquatic Preserve at Little Pine Island.  I will admit that much of the rental gear left something to be desired which is why the thought of driving and taking my own boats and equipment is so appealing.  But if, like me, you would just be happy to have 3 warm days on the water regardless of the condition of the kayaks, this could be the place for you.  We did get nice boats at Captiva Island and the Everglades, but I would recommend taking as many of your own accessories as you can fit in your luggage, such as your own paddle, PFD, and paddle float.

As I sit here freezing in front of my computer looking through my vacation photos to choose some for this blog, it is taking all my willpower not to go down to the garage, load up the car, and point it south.  Here’s hoping you’ll be lucky enough to get away for awhile this winter!

Sherri

Dolphins approaching in Matlacha Pass Aquatic Refuge

Launching at low tide from Everglades City in January

Bird life at Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge

Beaches of Sanibel Island

I’ve had this dull, aggravating pain in my right upper arm all summer.  Even after the paddling season ended, it hasn’t gone away.  I was getting really concerned starting to imagine that I may have a bicep tear or some problem with my rotator cuff.  It wasn’t excruciating, so I didn’t want to waste the money to go see a doctor, but worried how it would affect my teaching and paddling.  I had no idea what I had done to cause the injury.  Had I torn or sprained something while lifting kayaks?

The eureka moment came last night as I was working on cataloging all the photo files on a 2-gb memory card.  My arm was getting more and more painful as I worked on moving the photos from my camera to my computer.  It finally dawned on me that this wasn’t a paddling injury at all, at least not directly.  I’m straining my arm by using my mouse!  The surface is too high and too far to the right for comfort.  I’ve been working on this stupid computer so much in the last year that I’ve injured my arm!  I’ve been kayaking for over 20 years and never had an injury caused by paddling, but I’ve had tendonitis in my elbow twice from cutting down buckthorn bushes and scraping caulk from around the windows at my house.  Now I can add a bicep injury caused by maintaining my kayaking website (I said it wasn’t directly caused by kayaking).

I’ve found a stool in the basement that is lower than the desk that I have the computer on and have moved it next to me in my office.  I’ll use my mouse on this lower surface.  I’m hoping my arm will start feeling better very soon.  I’ve long suspected that all my computers have been conspiring to drive me crazy.  Little did I know they were trying to kill me, or at least maim me.  Well knowledge is power.  They haven’t gotten the best of me yet.  : )

Insanely yours,

Sherri

This time of year, as a paddler, you have 3 options if you want to get in your boat on water.  You can take a vacation to somewhere warmer.  You can get a drysuit and look for open water around Wisconsin, or you can take your kayak to a pool session.  In my next few posts, I’m going to talk about these various paddling options.  If you have chosen the last option, it is likely that you are trying to practice an existing roll or want to learn how to roll before spring.  For those of you in the category of trying to learn how to roll, I have some suggestions on ways to make the best use of these winter months.

Get some good rolling DVD’s that you can watch and study before trying to learn.  My 3 personal favorites are Ben Lawry’s “Dr Ben’s New & Improved Rolling Elixir 2007″, Performance Videos “The Kayak Roll”, and Ken Whiting’s “Rolling a Kayak” (available in sea kayak and whitewater kayak versions).  I recommend watching the Ben Lawry DVD first and try to find some space in your house where you can try his dry-land rolling exercies.  Then, before getting into the pool, focus on the “hip snap” section of the Ken Whiting DVD.  You will need to spend a lot of time learning and perfecting that hip snap if you want to have a good roll.

Before going to the pool, make sure you have your equipment ready.  Check the outfitting in your kayak.  You can’t roll if you fall out of your kayak when it is upside down.  Make adjustments to the seat, thigh braces, and foot braces where possible and add padding where necessary (especially around the hips).  Get some nose plugs or a dive mask, and if you have a choice of paddles, you may find it easier to use a longer paddle with larger blades as this will offer a little extra support when you are first starting out.

At the pool, practice some wet exits to make sure you are completely comfortable.  Before exiting, hang out in the kayak for awhile and make sure that you can stay comfortably seated in the boat even when it is upside down.  Wear your PFD even when you are in the pool.  You might as well get used to what it feels like.  Once you are comfortable hanging out upside down in your boat, go to the side of the pool and work on those hip snaps.  Try to find a pool edge that is within a couple inches of the water.  Put your hands on the pool edge and rest your head on your hands.  Then start using those hula hips to capsize the kayak on top of you and to right it again.  Keep your head on your hands the whole time you are practicing this.  You might as well get used to keeping your head down.  Imagine you have an egg between your hands and the pool deck.  Would you crush the egg when you go to right your kayak?  You should strive to feel as little pressure on your hands as possible.  All the work should be done with your knees and hips.

Eventually, you want to try practicing this hip snap with your hands on the bow of another paddler’s kayak.  It works especially well if you can find someone with a low volume whitewater kayak since it will become very obvious if you are pushing down with your hands and arms instead of using your hips to right the kayak.  If you are trying to use your arms, you will push the bow of the kayak under the water.  As long as you have another paddler to work with you, this is also a good time to go ahead and learn how to perform a bow rescue.  That way you can have someone stand by to assist later when you go on to try hip snapping with a paddle float.  If you are unable to successfully right the kayak, the other paddler can come in to give you a bow rescue.  (Watch the Ken Whiting DVD, although he refers to a “bow rescue” as a “T rescue”.)

The final test of a really good hip snap will be to try it while holding a paddle float or a PFD that is floating on the water.  If you are using your hips and knees correctly, you will have no problem hip snapping up with this minimal support.  If you are still trying to push yourself up with your arms, you will only succeed in pushing the paddle float under the water (at which point you will need that bow rescue).  Once you get to the point where you can hip snap off a paddle float to right your kayak, you will very likely learn to roll in short order.  I have some video of my hand rolls on the “Photo Gallery” page of the website.  Since a kayak can be rolled without a paddle, you can see that pushing yourself up with your arms is not going to be the way to roll WITH a paddle either.

We’re celebrating my son’s birthday this Sunday, so I won’t be at the next pool session, but I will get some video taken of these hip snap exercises the week after that.  I’ll put the video up on the photo gallery page of my website hopefully on February 1st.  If you’re at the January 31st session, I can demonstrate it for you in person.  If there are other skills that you want to work on this winter and have questions, just shoot me an e-mail.  As long as we are stuck with this weather, we might as well make the best of it and find ways to make good use of the time.

Stay warm!

Sherri