tyson

The last time Emilie and I went kayak camping, we took our tandem and did some rolls with it fully loaded while near shore. Everything stayed in its place in the boat, including the paddlers. In our favor was that we were packed for only a single night.

Here is a map showing the spot. Cheers! Ty

I've got to remember that one!

yeah... I really enjoy watching lightning, but I don't like being the highest point in the area while doing it. The bridge was a very good move. Cheers! Ty

Follow Jason's instructions on where to put in and staying out of the way. You likely won't get through the canal if the flow is against you. It is a brisk ride when the current is with you. I've experienced a bit of a bumpy ride through there with some reasonable current induced swell. You also need to be careful about the other boat traffic. Its narrow enough to be a "single lane". The boats take turns going in each direction. If you have confidence in your participants or can time it for near slack, you'll be fine. If you have a group of folks with limited skills and hit it when its flowing well, you may find find yourself with your hands full. I don't think you need to worry about the tides at the school. Its the current at the canal you need to be concerned about.

Sounds like a blast! ...wish I could have been there!

You have not achieved a sufficient level of assimilation to be cleared to see the photos. I am able to see them.

Pintail, what is that green boat your paddling? I ask because it appears (I could be wrong) to be a plastic boat (Nordcap?) with an ocean cockpit which is a combination I'd given up on finding. If a Nordcap RM/LV with an ocean cockpit were available, I'd be quite tempted. Thanks! Ty

Busted link. Try this.

Looks like it was a VERY tight finish! They show 1 second between first and 2nd place, and they only measure to the second. I wonder just how close it was. Cheers! Ty

I'll have to take a look at the results! I'm not sure if Emilie and I will have time to make the Blackburn this year.

I heard that someone won that in a raffle at the RWS last year but was never going to use it because of its funny, short, fat blades and long loom. They decided it would be bad karma to cash in on something that they'd received for free and so donated it to MITA.

If you start with the swamped boat upright, it can start up onto the deck w/no effort. This is even more true if the rescuee pushes down on their stern (as pointed out by Bob). You then roll the tandem onto its side and if needed pull it up a little further, then finally upside down. At no point is there a suction that needs to be broken. At no point do you need to lift the weight of the water in the cockpits. Some expressed concern about damaging the SOF. This concern is not to be ignored, however, the primary load will be on the gunwale which is the strongest part of a SOF. Also, if my link is followed you will see a 150lb +/- person plus a 25-30lb qajaq all piled onto the fore deck of an other SOF. With just a little care, I doubt that the front half of a 100lb tandem is going to do any damage. As always, it is better to test and train in a controlled context so that you don't have surprises when you need to do it in "conditions". I feel that my speculation is well grounded, but since I've never T-rescued a tandem with a SOF, it is still speculation. Cheers! Ty

You shouldn't have any problem. You will need to have decent technique just because it will be more effort for you, but I'm quite sure that your F1 has at least as much buoyancy and volume as the Greenland qajaqs shown in this link. The point isn't the technique that they use, but that the qajaq has sufficient buoyancy to support Dan Segal. He's not a large man, but I'm certain that he weighs more than any tandem kayak. Greenland T-Rescue

When a traffic light is adjusted to have a delayed green, it doesn't take long for people to figure that out and start stretching things when their light turns red. What's wrong with running the red light because we all know that no one will be coming the other way yet? Speed limits are generally ridiculously low compared to the capabilities of a modern car in typical dry driving conditions. ...speed limits or routinely exceeded. Declaring limits that demonstrably have large safety margins in them will result in people routinely violating/disregarding those limits. That still leaves open the question of if 50-50-50 is an over stated limit, or John is just that amazing. Cheers! Ty

One strategy is to sweep, bow rudder, sweep, bow rudder... with a good strong edge to the boat.

When I go backcountry skiing, I carry a pack that looks like I'm going overnight camping. At the sight if my pack, I am often asked if I will be out overnight. When I answer that I'm just out for the day, the person asking is often a bit surprised and asks what all my stuff is for. From time to to time, my explanation of what happens if someone gets injured and/or the weather turns gets a wide eyed expression of realization of the risks they are exposed to in response. More often they just don't get it. However, when they do, its worth it.

I like rituals. They give life a feeling of comfort, home, predictability.

...and seems to require a MS Live account which not everyone has.

That's not always the case.

Manipulative S.O.B.

Chart, compass and situational awareness are your foundation and will be for a long time. Batteries run dead. Electronics fail. Charts and compasses keep working. I don't think I yet qualify as a seasoned kayaker, and I do use a GPS. However, most of the time it stays in a dry bag in a hatch and just records the trip for looking at later. In some cases I'll use it to make the task of tracking my position, speed and direction easier. ...but always cross correlated with the chart and compass so that I can pick up on them in an instant if the GPS fails. One of the things I find a GPS very useful for is tracking speed and distance. Some may find it easy, others may not care, but I find it difficult to estimate speed and direction of travel when far from land and when currents and winds aren't exactly known. The other problem with a GPS is that its screen is very small. You can miss the big picture and get into big trouble if you aren't paying attention to things further away than your immediate location. Cheers! Ty

That's why I'll not continue that thread unless I find time to prepare better material. There are multiple aspects to rocker and you guys are missing one of them. I dare you to say that to John Carmody. ...and I hear he knows a thing or two about kayaking. Why not? Having an off day? Cheers! Ty

I am referring to the shape of the hull below the waterline only. Some boats have a keel that is very flat for most of their length and then bend up more sharply upward at the ends. Others have a keel line that curves upward more progressively starting near the middle of the boat. These have less draft near the ends. The advantage of this is to reduce wetted surface area. Having the keel go deep (relatively) into the water where there is little beam, results in wetted surface area, but no much buoyancy. If you look very carefully at a modern performance hull, you'll see that though the water line goes all the way to the ends, there is very little draft near the ends compared with many recreational boats and some conventional sea kayaks. ...even if the rec/conventional boat has a bunch of hull that hangs out over the front above the water line. If I've failed to paint a useful picture, I'll try to come up with some graphics. Cheers! Ty