Kayak Polo

[rylevine]

At the invitation of a friend from Salem, I tried kayak polo on Thursday night at Spy Pond in Arlington. The sport is described at the web site http://bostonkayakpolo.com/

The light kevlar/carbon boats are about 9 feet, square-ish, low to the water, and have bumpers on the ends. They are tippy, but much easier to roll than a sea kayak - as I found out multiple times during the scrimmages. The paddles have a wider face and are thicker - the latter probably for safety as they tend to get swung around quite a bit. The rules are similar to soccer. Most important is a 5 sec rule for passing off the ball or to begin "dribbling". Dribbling consists of placing the ball out of the immediate proximity of the player and then paddling up to control it - which I found immediately triggers a mad convergence of opponents into your space to steal. Each team consists of five paddlers. Scoring is by throwing the ball into a high net. Swatting the ball with the paddle is not allowed, although the paddle is necessary on defense for blocking the high shot from the kayak. Bumping, pushing, and purposeful tipping are part of the game which took some getting used to; coming from the genteel sport of sea kayaking where, except for rescues and rafting up, kayak-to-kayak contact is frowned upon. Ball passing and shooting was for me awkward because you are of course also handling the paddle, but I was beginning to get the hang of it towards the end of the evening. After three hours of play I was pretty well spent, but had a great time. Very welcoming group, similar in spirit to NSPN.

Bob

[spider]

Sounds like a lot of fun !

[spuglisi]

Sounds like a lot of fun !

It does sound like fun. Looks like they make it easy to give it a try too.

[Gcosloy]

I watched the video and it does look like a lot of fun. One concern would be the chance of getting slashed by a paddle in the face. Perhaps a face mask would be in order!

[Michael_Crouse]

Many years ago when we played during the winter (yes in a pool, we were never that hardcore) helmets with face masks were required. Also calling a foul if anyone touches the ball with a paddle is a must. The boat moves to the ball, not the ball to the boat. This helps to avoid someone reaching for the ball and a paddle hacking their hand.

note: the bad thing about playing in a pool is when three kayaks ram into someone, capsize him, and unintentionally pin him to the side of the pool so he can't roll. Ahhh the memories

[rylevine]

Many years ago when we played during the winter (yes in a pool, we were never that hardcore) helmets with face masks were required. Also calling a foul if anyone touches the ball with a paddle is a must. The boat moves to the ball, not the ball to the boat. This helps to avoid someone reaching for the ball and a paddle hacking their hand.

note: the bad thing about playing in a pool is when three kayaks ram into someone, capsize him, and unintentionally pin him to the side of the pool so he can't roll. Ahhh the memories

Mike,

That is an interesting rule concerning the paddle and the ball, and I'm unsure whether that was enforced. We did allow blocking shots with the paddle. All the helmets had substantial wire face masks. I'm pretty sure full face coverage is required. One of the times that I was knocked over, I looked up and saw the surface covered with kayak hulls. I just sort of forced the paddle up through a gap and ignored the clutter in doing the sweep roll. In the lake there was no pool wall to get pinned against. The game is a lot of fun; and (lucky for me) there is a low skill threshold for having a good time..... even if you are not scoring a lot of points for your team!

Bob

[jason]

Many years ago when we played during the winter (yes in a pool, we were never that hardcore) helmets with face masks were required. Also calling a foul if anyone touches the ball with a paddle is a must. The boat moves to the ball, not the ball to the boat. This helps to avoid someone reaching for the ball and a paddle hacking their hand.

note: the bad thing about playing in a pool is when three kayaks ram into someone, capsize him, and unintentionally pin him to the side of the pool so he can't roll. Ahhh the memories

Helmets with face masks are required (Keep in mind that the grid of the mask must be small enough to keep the paddle from still slicing your, my Polo helmet had to be ordered from the UK).

As for the ball you can diffidently go after it with your paddle as long as nobody is reaching for it. This is the quick start guide: http://www.bostonkayakpolo.com/docs/kayak_...quick_start.pdf .

Many more links are available at this page: http://www.bostonkayakpolo.com/resources.php

As for boats I have ordered an Ultracondor (In March) that may or may not fit me, if it doesn't you will see it in the Classifieds section (I hope it fits me as it's supposed to be the largest polo boat around).

I have been playing in my white water boat this year and it's much slower than a proper polo boat, it doesn't have the bumpers and I am not able to hand roll the white water boat.

If you watch the highlight films of places where it's a big time sport like New Zealand, you will see that that it's part of the strategy to sit your boat on the hull of the over turned boat to make it harder to roll up. If the player wet exits the boat that team plays a man down until they are fully off the "pitch".

-Jason

[Paul Sylvester]

Believe you were involved in our Goffstown polo games.....it was a tough workout. Lots of fun.

For my helmet I bought a metel hockey facemask and mounted it on my helmet. At an auto supply store get car door edge protectors for the edges of the paddles. Just enough to prevent a cut.

Still have the stuff.....

[Michael_Crouse]

Yes, it was the Goffstown games. I still have my stuff too, even the goals that I borrowed from Chris Thomas. I offered to return them years ago but he didnt seem to care. I'll have to contact him again.... although having a set of goals is handy just in case.

btw. I used a plastic WW paddle which has a bit less of a slash factor that a carbon blade.