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mattdrayer

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Posts posted by mattdrayer

    blackburn

    in General Message Board

    Posted

    Aw, shucks, guys, thanks! *blush* :) Wow, what a great race -- I think I could have done pretty well in the beautiful Merganser, but Tucker offered up his Surge and man, I'm sure glad he did! What a great boat! I couldn't believe the splits I was getting from Folly Cove to Straitsmouth -- six or seven in a row were less than 9:30/mile -- the Surge literally said "hey, if you don't mind, I'd like to ride these little swells coming along here, oh and how about that boat wake, oh yeah, and let's surf that chop, and..." -- the boat just seemed to take advantage of every little bit of energy coming our way.

    Congrats Lisa and Leon for your races as well -- Leon, I can't even imagine what paddling with a broken leg must have been like -- you are hardcore!!!

    The HPK guys are working me pretty hard to jump onto a ski -- I have to admit I'm a bit torn -- they look like so much fun! Maybe I'll give one a shot at the Nahant Bay Race on August 18th (http://www.surfskiracing.com/nahant-bay-race) -- the race is open to all paddlers, so please consider it -- I think the course last year was around 9 miles long and I was one of two or three SK'ers.

    That said my heart is still with my kayak, so you can bet I'll be hanging around and going on trips with you all for a long time :)

    How far apart should your hands be on the paddle?

    in General Message Board

    Posted

    Agreed -- and leg placement was something that Ben got into as well -- same as what you describe -- knees in center, feet on bulkhead, or foam/wood/bar/plate, but not splayed-out which is what we all do because of said footpegs. I actually ordered a footplate kit from Pat at ONNO for this reason -- hopefully it will be arriving soon. If not I'll have to rig something for next Saturday.

    Love the cheek-lift concept -- I'll have to try that during tomorrow morning's training session.

    Cheers,

    Matt

    How far apart should your hands be on the paddle?

    in General Message Board

    Posted

    The paddle can't come back unless one hand pulls it and the other hand pushes it. The hands are connected to the arms, etc.

    See, that's the thing -- once the blade is planted in the water close to your feet, you set your lower arm in sort of a row form and literally sweep the blade along the side of the boat to your knee/hip by twisting. The only muscle work coming from your arm and shoulder muscles is in setting up the catch and ensuring the blade stays as vertical as possible in the water during your torso twist/rotation -- ie, you're not actively pulling the blade back with your arm muscles. Your top hand primarily guides the top blade of the paddle across the kayak, at eye/face-level -- ideally the top hand doesn't drop down as it crosses, it maintains a constant horizontal plane. So, in that regard, you're not pushing the top blade forward by using your arms and chest.

    With all due respect to Ben, I do think you get significant power from your arms and shoulders too. If not, I wonder why all of those Olympic kayakers have such muscular arms and shoulders? Are those big arms just excess weight?

    I'm not saying that there's zero arm/shoulder muscle use at all -- it's just minimized in Ben's particular approach in favor of larger core muscle use (plus leg muscles, which I didn't mention). Back in April I was talking to one of the surf ski guys at the Narrow River Race who competed in sprint kayaks when he was younger -- he mentioned that athletes used to be to develop a large upper body including arms and shoulders in order to "power through" the motion, but that the trend now is moving toward still-strong but much leaner muscular body mechanics due to the shift in focus to the "twisting core". That was my first introduction to the concept.

    Absolutely one can paddle using primarily arms and shoulders and generate great speed, but it won't last over much of a distance -- the muscles are too small, have limited stores of energy to consume, and can't convert available fuel to new energy fast enough to keep up the pace.

    How far apart should your hands be on the paddle?

    in General Message Board

    Posted

    I attended Ben's forward stroke clinic at CRCK-Newton on 6/28 -- hand width measurement/setting is indeed 1 cubit + 1 palm width. We taped out the paddle shafts accordingly and removed our "uncool" drip rings, too :). He was very specific about body mechanics -- the motion is primarily twisting and rotating lateral/oblique work, with very little shoulder/arm work ("pulling"), and no chest/pecs ("pushing"). The goal is to keep the paddle oriented vertically in the water from catch to exit. Pushing and pulling cause the paddle to angle, power is diverted up/down, and the boat yaws or pitches in response. The catch is close to the feet, exit begins at the knee and ends at the hip.

    If you have a chance to take a class with Ben I highly recommend it -- I've been really trying to stick to his methodology and have noticed a considerable improvement in my time trials over the past week.

    2012-06-22 Swampscott/Nahant to Hull (and back)

    in Trip Reports

    Posted

    I couldn't believe how glassy the water looked when I put in at Swampscott Pier around 7:45am this morning. I got into a nice rhythm as I cut across Nahant Bay to the end of Nahant, with some of my mile splits coming in close to 10:00/mile. Cruising.

    Nearing the point, I could feel a bit of anxiety about the upcoming crossing to Graves Light. But, when I got there and took a look I realized that I could see clear to the lighthouse, there wasn't a stitch of wind, swell, or chop, and boat traffic was minimal -- it couldn't have been more perfect. So I went for it -- picked up the Red 2 buoy just off of Nahant and then beelined to Graves Light. Making the light, I turned toward Outer Brewster, which was well within view. Passed Outer Brewster. Shag Rocks, then cut across the channels to the Green 3 buoy off of Hull. Although there weren't many boats coming out of the city on a Friday morning, I was happy to be past the channels all the same. Paddled the length of Nantasket Beach to my destination (the Beachfire Restaurant) where I met up with my coworkers just before 11am for our annual company summer outing.

    Spent a couple hours resting up, drinking/refilling water, charging my phone/GPS (yep, I brought the travel charger), and then packed up for the return trip. Left the beach around 1:15pm and headed straight for Boston Light, then straight through the middle of the Brewsters and clear across to Nahant. Picked up Red 2, came around the point, and then picked up speed for the final 3 mile push back to Swampscott Pier, landing on the beach at precisely 3:59pm (my coworkers had bet me that I wouldn't make it back by 4:00 )

    All in all, an absolutely fantastic day -- under such ideal conditions, one might have paddled all the way to Provincetown...hmm...

    Matt :)

    201206622 Swampscott To Hull

    201206622 Hull To Swampscott

    Nahant to Hull Crossing, 6/22

    in Past Trips

    Posted

    Weather forecast is currently looking fantastic, so at this time the excursion is still on -- conditions are predicted to be so good, actually, that the return crossing is a strong possibility as well (vs. the aforementioned ride home)..

    Nahant to Hull Crossing, 6/22

    in Past Trips

    Posted

    I'm not a huge fan of announcing daring events publicly before they actually happen, but oh well, here goes:

    I'm *considering* making a crossing from Nahant to Hull on Friday, 6/22 and would love for an adventurous soul or two (or eight!) to join me.

    Current itinerary is a put-in at 8am at Swampscott Pier, heading straight across the bay to the end of Nahant, then off to Graves Light, pick up Outer Brewster, on to the tip of Hull and then down Nantasket Beach to the destination. Distance one-way is approximately 15 miles and the pace will be on the quick side (4.5-5.0mph, ~3h30m). I'm not sure at this time about making a return crossing -- it will depend on how the weather unfolds on Friday -- at this time my wife is planning to rendezvous with me @ the beach for a ride back to Marblehead.

    I've been keeping an eye on the wind/weather all week -- it's not looking like a 100% ideal day (how lucky would that be!), but conditions appear to be trending positively at this time.

    http://www.windfinder.com/forecast/marblehead_preston_beach:(better readings for Nahant Bay than Swampscott Pier, imho)

    http://www.windfinder.com/forecast/east_of_boston_buoy

    http://www.windfinder.com/forecast/hull

    I'm not concerned about the distance or pace, but this trip would be my first time paddling through the Graves and Brewster Islands areas. I have done several sailing races in the Outer Harbor, so I'm familiar with the landmarks, but the perspective is obviously a bit different from a sailboat.

    If you're interested let me know. I'm also open to people telling me this trip is totally crazy and that I shouldn't do it because of ships, sharks, the Kraken, etc. Would be quite an adventure, though :)

    Matt

    Rocks and surf in Nahant 6-16

    in Past Trips

    Posted

    Was out in Nahant Bay both mornings this weekend -- fantastic swell rolling into Long Beach especially today -- according to MSW it should continue through tomorrow. I'll be hitting the water again tomorrow around 5:15am -- likely will skirt the coast out to the end of Nahant and then depending on the wind/chop will either beeline back to the pier (~7mi) or cut across the bay and follow the coast back on the other side (8.5mi). I also might shortcut things and go straight to Nahant and back from the pier (6.2mi/10k). Feel free to join!

    Matt

    Paddling Records

    in General Message Board

    Posted

    I do agree it is nice to have some sense of the history of a sport and that requires some written record of what was done by whom and how, but I do not equate that with a list of "records".

    I agree -- until someone looks at a particular accomplishment and says "I can improve on that" it's not really a "record", so to speak. Bringing back the comparison to the mountaineering world, a lot of the achievements aren't necessarily about being first or fastest, but more about completing a set of defined accomplishment(s), which can be done by anyone with enough skill, experience, and gumption (and also typically, money). For example, there are the aforementioned NH48, the Colorado 14ers, the 14 8000m peaks, the Seven Summits, and the lists go on and on.

    Might be fun to start up some lists for sea kayaking circumnavigations and crossings and see where it goes :)

    Paddling Records

    in General Message Board

    Posted

    Freya Hoffmeister and others have done much longer trips.

    Absolutely, that's my point -- who maintains Freya's record, and who validates/updates the record when it's broken? Seems like just a general community consensus sort of thing. Someone reports to the press or a website, etc. that they're going after a record, they beat the record and tell the press, maybe have a book published, maybe put it on Wikipedia, and then it's "official".

    In mountaineering, for example, there are all sorts of records being set and broken -- lots related to accomplishments in the Himalayans, first ascents, etc. Some of these are maintained in a specific register by Elizabeth Hawley, and even those who climb all 48 4000ft+ peaks in New Hampshire are recorded by the Appalachian Mountain Club, with a specific subset of those for winter ascents. If you say you summit Everest, for example, you can be assured that you'll have a meeting with Ms. Hawley the day you get back to Kathmandu and she'll grill you about the details.

    I'm not trying to be nitpicky, I was just looking around to see if anyone was keeping track of achievements in the sea kayaking world -- and even what has been achieved thus far -- and found the resources somewhat lacking.

    Matt

    Paddling Records

    in General Message Board

    Posted

    Does anyone know which organization that keeps track of "official" paddling records? ICF, USA Canoe/Kayak, Guinness, NECKRA, NSPN :), etc. I did see on the Guinness website that they have some records for accomplishments like fastest crossing of the English Channel. I'm wondering who would keep track of a record like, say, the first/fastest circumnavigations of the Isles of Shoals -- probably not Guinness material, but would be fun to see all the same.

    Matt

    6/3/12 CAM

    in Trip Reports

    Posted

    Agreed -- it was a great outing -- I really enjoyed meeting everyone and thought the trip was run extremely well -- thanks very much to all of you for coordinating and participating! Looking forward to seeing some familiar faces (and new ones!) in Marblehead on the 23rd :)

    Matt

    Print your own waterproof maps

    in General Message Board

    Posted

    Absolutely brilliant:

    http://www.instructables.com/id/Print-Waterproof-Plastic-Maps/

    Make your own Waterproof Maps by Printing directly on Plastic Film...garbage bag film. This is not simply laminating paper maps.

    The end result of this simple project is a 100% plastic map that is thinner, lighter, and more durable than paper.

    Sure, plastic paper can be purchased for printing water resistant maps however, it is expensive, and usually thicker and stiffer than regular paper; making it difficult to fold into a pocket sized, ready reference.

    This process produces a map that is only slightly thicker than a garbage bag; that is waterproof, and best of all, can be folded (or crumpled) without damage for stuffing in a pocket.

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