billvoss

I trust this corresponds with the Saturday, June 30th, 2012 trip listed in the calendar. I'm very interested, but I am also signed up to attend Friday's Moving Water Workshop. So I may be too sore and tired to paddle that far Saturday. I hope to see you at the put-in on Saturday, but don't wait for me if I don't show up. I'll be deciding based on how I feel Saturday morning.

I packed my sea kayak last night. If work cooperates, I'll be there tonight.

I definitely enjoyed the trip. Just the right exercise level for me. Enough paddling to be sore afterwards, but not sore enough to reach for the pain killers! One minor correction to Doug's report. I don't think my kayak draws 12". The bottom of my kayak scraped mostly muck and occasionally rocks numerous times during the return trip. So make that less than 12" of water in some areas! I definitely just barely made it back through the "creek" section. Fortunately, no harm done.

Since the Boston Harbor trip has been cancelled, I plan to join you at Pavillion Beach for a 10am launch.

Nice to have the View Latest options working again in Firefox! It looks like the URL links in previously posted messages have been converted from links like this to non-links like [url="https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&t=m&vpsrc=6&ll=42.377537,-70.97301&spn=0.013854,0.022209&z=16"]Google maps intersection 145 and Shirley St.[/url]-Bill

Doug, if you expect to paddle 23+ miles, I believe you are proposing an L-4 trip. NSPN paddle levels indicates a distance of 20+ miles for an L-4 trip. Enjoy your trip. It sounds fun, but 23+ miles is too far for me this early in the season. I'll stick with Al's L-3 trip this Saturday.

Hi Al, I emailed you contact information. I propose trying to arrive at the parking area around 9:15am for a projected launch between 9:45am and 10:00am, then adjusting trip length as needed to get you home on time. What time do you need to be landing back at the put-in to preserve domestic tranquility? By the way, I assume we will stop on some island to eat lunch?

I'm interested. I'm not quite certain where you intend to launch. I was not able to reconcile the NSPN put-ins directions for Winthrop with Google maps intersection 145 and Shirley St. I'm driving from NH, and not known as a morning person. So I would strongly prefer the latest launch that works for you. I should be able to handle BIB at 10am.

Definitely. I certainly had a swell time in the swells. I would also like to again thank all the volunteers who made it possible. -Bill

I don't know who is running the clinic, but according to their website, AMC Boston is holding a Kayak Rolling Clinic Tuesday, July 17 & Thursday, July 19, evenings Fees: $45 for AMC members ($55 non-AMC members). For kayak rental, add $15 to fee. They say "This clinic is for whitewater kayakers only." However, lots of NSPN paddlers enjoy both WW and Sea kayaking. If you are willing to learn in a White Water Kayak, they would even rent you one of their kayaks.

The above is the only part I disagree with. Though just like picking one roll on one side, picking one hand in one position would probably make learning easier at first. Exactly.

The first thing I do is take my boat off the roof. It either goes directly into the basement, or if dirty or salty on blocks for rinsing. Then I get the garden hose. It has an on/off/adjustable nozzle, but is definitely not a high-pressure hose. I rinse down the whole car, and the boat if I have not already taken the boat inside. In my car, most of my wet gear is either in my two big combination float/dry-bags, or in my Cressi Gorilla Duffel Bag. I extend my car's Thule Outrigger, and hang my big dry-bags from it. The outside of those bags get rinsed if dirty or salty. The Gorilla bag goes on the driveway, and the hose starts filling it. While that is happening I carry in the dry gear, and items headed for the washing machine. Then I carry in those big dry bags which have now dripped fairly dry. They get hung in the boiler room, which thanks to a power-vent on the boiler is always the warmest and driest room in the house. The drysuit gets hung over the Outrigger and rinsed with the hose. The other items get dunked in the Gorilla bag, hung to dry on the the car or Outrigger, then transferred to a wooden drying rack or other hooks in the boiler room. The boots and neoprene gloves go on a power boot drier originally purchased to dry ski boots. It the boat did not come in first, it comes in last after draining as much as possible. Usually, the gear is still on the drying racks when I start packing for my next paddle.

It took me months to feel comfortable switching feather angles.

I've heard the same thing about rolling. All my early instructors wanted me to pick a side, pick a roll, and stick with it. I insisted on practicing both sides at my first lesson, and have gone the Greenland path of learning multiple different rolls. I will cheerfully admit that I would have more quickly achieved a reliable roll if I had followed the one side, one roll advice. However, last Saturday in shallow water with breaking surf, I needed a forward finishing off-side roll to avoid a wet exit. The water was too shallow to change sides or to use my original sweep roll. I was very happy to have a variety of rolls on both sides that day! Even if all I'm using is my Greenland paddle and a forward stroke, my stroke changes around. I can vary the cant angle, and even the cant direction. I can cant the paddle to slice out like a wing, or cant the paddle the other way and slice in. I can use a high angle, or a low angle. I can switch "control" hands. If I'm dealing with windcocking, I can shift my grip towards one end of the paddle, giving me a bit of a sweep stroke on one side, with a high angle stroke on the other. If I want more speed, I can use a narrower grip and a fast turn over. A nice wide grip with a slow cadence will let me rest. I can lean forward and add more crunch and torso rotation like a racer, or lean back like a beginner in a recreational boat. Most of those changes move around the load on my body, and/or adjust how much bracing versus propulsion my forward stroke is providing. Some of those changes I make consciously, but many are now automatic. I can assure you, my forward stroke is definitely not a constant. If my Greenland paddle gets boring, if I brought it, I can switch to my Euro blade and also adjust my paddle's feather and length, in addition to all the adjustments described above except paddle cant angle.

While I can feather my light-carbon-fiber-Euro blade to handle steady wind from a relatively constant bearing, my heavier GP stick practically ignores those unexpected gusts which sometimes catch my Euro. The different paddle weights may contribute to that effect, but the different shapes seem to make a significant difference. Someday, I need to make myself a GP storm paddle. That seems to be the ultimate choice for fast-shifting-confused winds.

Paddling angle definitely depends on the boat's size relative to the paddle's length. Give me a short paddle relative to the boat, and I will mostly paddle at a high angle. Give me a long paddle relative to the boat, and I will mostly paddle at a lower angle. My euro paddle has 10cm of length adjustment, and that is enough to significantly influence my paddling angle. Regarding feather angle, I'm the only person I know who does this. However, when I'm using my euro paddle, I try to paddle about half of the trip with a "right" feather, and about half of the trip with a "left" feather. I also mix up the feather angle. I usually use around 30 degrees in calm conditions, closer to 45 degrees in windier conditions, and will go to 60 or even 90 degrees in very windy conditions. Though for the past year I have preferred to use my Greenland paddle in windy conditions. It took a few months, but now my subconscious pretty much automatically adjusts to any feather angle within a few strokes. I like keeping the flexibility, and I like spreading the load around different muscles and joints. -Bill

Hi Leon, I edited your quote to improve its accuracy for brevity. At the moment, I don't even know how I execute the forward stroke. I'll have to pay attention the next time I go paddling. By the way, nice link. Improving my forward stroke is definitely one of my goals, and Brent Reitz's page definitely has some ideas for me to compare against what I actually do. It seems both you pushing it down fast and Brent spearing the salmon agree that fully inserting the paddle into the water quickly is important. I suspect that I have tended to be lazy there. I think we all agree that the paddler should not exert effort to make the partially inserted blade act as a brake. Avoiding a braking action seems to require some arm motion. What arm motion is where I think you and Brent's article may differ. You say I pull the paddle back with my arms while my read of Brent's article, and the picture on his page, suggests to me something more like spearing the paddle in at an angle which I think must be followed by pivoting the paddle with the bottom hand relatively motionless, and the top hand moving towards the bow until the paddle is both closer to vertical and the blade is fully submerged. The best way to ensure the blade gets in the water as far forward as possible is to reallocate the energy from the lower hand to the top hand. If your top hand is sliding the blade in beside your toes, as if thrusting the blade in a spearing motion, the lower hand will not hurry the catch. Intuitively, one wants to start the blade in with the lower hand, which is something to overcome. Changing your attention to the top hand will also help you relax you lower hand, arm and shoulder, which can actually help extend your reach by a few more inches. So in Brent's terminology, I think unwinding the torso and pulling with the bottom hand should both begin simultaneously after the paddle is fully submerged. However, I think he does move the top hand earlier during his spearing motion.

That sounds a lot like what I was trying to say. You just wait for the blade to fully engage the water, not trying to resist or brake, not trying to pull or accelerate, just letting the blade flow with and into the water with very little effort on your part. This waiting is the "Torso-Pause" phase described in the quote. Then once the blade is fully engaged, you unwind applying both your body's stored elastic energy and your muscle power. I don't recall where I saw it. However, I recall reading that in competitive rowing shells, the best rowers apply more of their power to the very beginning of their stroke than average rowers do. I suspect the same applies to kayaking. For maximum race efficiency you "Torso-Pause" just until the blade is fully engaged, then give it all you have as quickly as possible.

Perhaps it is just terminology. Just because you "don't start the pull" until the blade is fully submerged does not mean you have to "actively brake" while submerging the blade. Just dropping the blade into the water should cause negligible drag if you do not resist the water as it moves the blade.

I could see converting something like the Put-ins/Directions page to a Wiki format, to make it easier for more members to expand/update. However, the board should remain our primary web presence. Besides, I like animated emoticons!

Appalachian Mountain Club http://activities.outdoors.org/ Offers trips and some instruction at a variety of skill levels.You can participate in most AMC activities at any chapter without joining the AMC or paying any fee.Some chapters can also arrange rental boats.

I don't know if it would work, but did you try having her lean across your bow while you pushed, instead of your stern while you pulled? In my limited experience practicing contact tows, I found a lot of abdominal strength was required when I was in the girl's position near the stern, but far less strength was required if I laid across the towing paddler's bow. Her boat might still have ended up at an angle to your boat, but I suspect closer to 45 degrees than 90 degrees, which might have been good enough.

I appreciated the company. I sometimes get lonely when I'm the only person who practices their roll on a trip. The rescue was nothing. Don't worry, you'll be rolling in cold water in no time. It was a very nice trip, and I was very happy to have so many NSPN paddlers attend. Thanks to everyone who attended. -Bill

You are very welcome Barry. Congratulations again on your first roll. It was a great pool session. Thanks Doug for arranging it, and special thanks to Dan for helping me improve my storm roll.

Thanks for initiating the trip Les. The company and conditions were great, and I had a great time.