billvoss

A helmet for safety and as a hat for sun protection. Ideally without holes so you can use it to dump water on your head when you don't want to roll. I like the Strutter from Sweet Protection, but fit is essential. A Buff to protect my neck. Some light weight summer paddling gloves I found at EMS. They help keep away blisters. Light weight non-cotton tee shirt and tights/shorts to wear under a dry suit. Preferably a dry suit who's durable water repellant has worn away. So the dry suit still keeps you dry, but the fabric wets out. All the cooling benefits of wearing a wet cotton tee shirt without the downsides! Depending on my layering choices, an old dry suit can keep me cooler or warmer than any wetsuit, so I never paddle with a wetsuit. Of course if you can not afford a dry suit, a wetsuit might be a cheaper alternative. I do occasionally wish for a shorty wetsuit to wear at pool practice sessions on days the pool is cold, but that is off your summer topic.

Correction, my "modern minimalist GMER GFER suit with Velcro." I believe I've had the neck chafing with both my GFER purchased new December 2009, and my delamination lottery replacement suit acquired either two or three years later. It may actually be the "sharp edge" that was getting me. Though my memory has faded. It has been a few years since I've used a neck Velcro suit without either a Buff or a Hood protecting my neck. My ancient suit acquired used with the vertical Velcro closure is much more comfortable. Comparable to the punch-through in comfort.

I could have expressed that better and provided more detail. I currently own an ancient suit with Velcro (mostly retired for zipper issues), a modern minimalist GMER suit with Velcro, and my newest Meridian suit which has punch through. I alternate between the two new suits. If I was ordering a fully custom suit I would pay extra for punch through. The neck gasket Velcro rubbing against my neck has been my primary issue with Velcro. Though if I wear a Buff or adjust the Velcro perfectly it is not a problem. Unlike the neck, I don't think the wrist Velcro has ever gotten into a position where it chronically rubs against my skin during a paddle. I have occasionally brushed my water soaked skin against the rough side of wrist Velcro which is definitely not a big deal, though I don't find it comfortable. Forgetting to undo neck, wrist, and/or ankle Velcro before trying to take off or put on a suit has sometimes been a minor annoyance. By the way I like the tunnel overskirt for rolling, but when combined with my PFD the overskirt makes it difficult to impossible to access the inside of my boat without popping my skirt. With my GMER I can stick my pump down the skirt tunnel and pump out water without popping my skirt. The zipper cover has just been a minor annoyance. I have not noticed a benefit in having it.

I strongly prefer neoprene punch through to Velcro closure at the hands and neck because otherwise I sometimes find the Velcro scrapes my skin. I had arm pockets added to my GMER and use them. I have a chest pocket on my Meridian and never use it, because I can not access it while wearing my PFD. I like the idea of reflective tape, but my PFD has reflective tape so it is not a big deal. Sorry, I've never tried an integrated hood, nor an Expedition.

From a safety perspective, a full wet suit is fine at Chebacco and Walden in June because both sessions take place very close to shore. Even if your kayak literally fell apart, you could easily get to shore very quickly. Besides most of the other kayakers there will be interested in practicing rescues anyway! From a comfort perspective, it depends on what you want to practice. If you are going to practice strokes, it might be a bit hot. If you are going to practice rolls, it might be a bit brisk. If you are going to practice slower rescues, it may be quite brisk. However, I would suggest you just go. Nothing says you have to keep getting wet if you feel cold. -Bill Voss P.S. I'll try to remember to bring my spare Greenland Paddle when I start attending Walden sessions. Though it will probably be too big for you. While Walden sessions are certainly not 100% Greenland Paddle based, many of the Walden regulars do use a Greenland paddle at least some of the time. Most people will be happy to let you try their paddle at least briefly.

Last year the Calendar shows Wednesdays at Walden starting on May 22nd, though many early sessions were cancelled because of thunderstorms. Last year the first session I personally attended was June 19th, and the last session I attended was October 2nd. Though sessions have to start earlier and attendance becomes very sparse after school resumes in the fall. I am in the middle of replacing the skin on my kayak, so I personally will not be going until I finish that work. However, I do hope to attend most of the Walden Wednesday practice sessions again this year. I'm thrilled that Walden does not conflict with the Seabrook Surf sessions this year!

Awesome! -Bill P.S. Happy belated birthday wishes on your 30th.

You are not an oddball. It is a stage most people who first learned with a mask or goggles go through. Though I don't recall when I last wore a mask while rolling, I learned with a mask, and I still open my eyes some of the time. Especially if I miss my first roll. I still advocate that beginners start rolling wearing a mask or goggles because they usually get their first rolls sooner. Very few humans know exactly what their body is doing as it moves through any motion sequence. Last year during a roll training session I told my mentor that I normally first moved my body and paddle perpendicular to the kayak for a particular roll. I then performed the roll and was informed that my paddle was actually closer to 135 degrees than 90 degrees. I opened my eyes at that point during the next roll, and the mentor was absolutely correct. I was getting up either way, but with my eyes closed I was not doing what I thought I was doing. Rolling with a wing paddle has a reputation for being a bit harder. However, since you report no problems rolling with the wing unless you are blind, I don't think that is your current issue either. -Bill P.S. Be sure to let us know once you get three blind rolls in a row!

The eyes provide a lot of feedback. Think about a major league baseball player with wonderful muscle memory for hitting the ball. Now make him swing with his eyes closed! His swing may be beautiful, but his aim and timing will probably be off. A roll can also use a lot of feedback. For example how long it takes from the start of your capsize for your kayak, body, and paddle to all reach the "setup" position can vary considerably. If you have practiced using mainly your eyes to judge that point in time, closing your eyes can cause you to start your sweep way too early. Successful rolls also involve a series of steps. If you have always practiced with your eyes open, then seeing for example the "setup" position may be your cue to begin sweeping. I sometimes see beginners who capsize, then try to roll while sitting straight up(side down) in their kayak with their head pointing straight towards the bottom. They are disoriented and never float up towards the surface into a proper setup position before beginning their sweep. Closing your eyes can also change your sense of time, especially while also being upside down under water. Even if you are not consciously scared, the lizard brain stem knows you are doing something stupid and dangerous, and that you are going to run out of AIR SOON!

I certainly agree with you Leon that for a "combat" roll you need to practice wearing only the gear you wear in "combat." Transitioning to that by closing your eyes while wearing goggles is a good approach. Doug has already described the most likely cause of your current issue. Pretending you are looking at the paddle blade may be all you need to roll up successfully with your eyes closed. If Doug's solution does not solve your problem within two or three tries, then I suggest you try a more incremental training approach. You said: Instead of an "all blind" approach, try gradually doing more of the roll with your eyes closed. So use a progression something like this: Blink, then capsize and do a roll with your eyes open. Close your eyes, capsize, open your eyes, finish the roll. Close your eyes, capsize, push the blade to the surface, open your eyes and roll. Close your eyes, capsize, push blade to surface, start sweep and open eyes during sweep. Close your eyes, capsize, setup, sweep, open eyes as head comes out of water.The exact progression does not matter, just work from success to success. If your roll flops, open your eyes earlier next time. If you do a sweet roll, keep your eyes closed a tiny bit longer next time. Since you already have a reliable goggle roll, you just need to find where your blind roll is different. Besides head position, two other easily solved possibilities that come to mind are not getting your blade to the surface when blind, and a diving paddle blade angle when blind. You can "slap the water" with your paddle blade to confirm you really have reached the surface. Try that with eyes open and closed and you will quickly feel the difference. Once you know your blade is at the surface, blade angle is usually pretty easy to feel, though you may have been using sight to judge it before. Again move your blade around with your eyes open and closed to dial in the feel for the proper blade angle. While I want to minimize how much you "practice" failing to roll, the bright side is that practicing coming up on your second attempt is also very good "combat" practice. If you roll on both sides, you should also practice changing sides when your first roll fails. In "combat" if your first roll fails there is a good chance rolling on the other side will be much easier. However, you have to practice switching sides or you won't do it in "combat."

The 10 knot current provides an initial apparent 10 knot headwind in the "no wind relative to the shore" morning, and an initial apparent 0 knot headwind in the afternoon when the "10 knot relative to the shore" wind becalms the sailboats relative to the water. Assuming a wide river and modern racing style sailboats, the racers will be able to go faster down the river into the headwind by following a zig-zag course than they can drift while becalmed. So the morning sailors are faster. Assuming a narrow river and/or an old fashioned square rig, the sailors will not be able to follow a zig-zag course and will drift faster while apparently becalmed than while fighting an apparent headwind. So the afternoon sailors are faster.

All the factors fall out of the equation except the tailwind. Baring something really weird, all other factors being equal, moving with a moderate tailwind is always faster than still air or a headwind. Of course for the sailing brainteaster the first heat held in the morning was called off because there was no wind! So the second heat has the only times. If they didn't call off the morning heat, a kid in an inner tube could kick occasionally and beat the sailboats as they both drifted with the current. P.S. I'm no sailing expert, but I believe sailboats normally tack upwind. I've never heard of a sailboat needing to tack when they are traveling directly downwind, except to avoid an obstacle.

I started kayaking at the end of the summer, and that November/December I read and was strongly influenced by: Sea Kayaker's Deep Trouble: True Stories and Their Lessons from Sea Kayaker Magazine http://www.amazon.com/Sea-Kayakers-Deep-Trouble-Magazine-ebook/dp/B001NAC4W8/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396919744&sr=1-2&keywords=deep+trouble Among other things, it convinced me to invest in a drysuit and a VHF radio that first winter before I resumed paddling in the spring.

First thanks Doug for organizing the pool sessions. Regarding Ipswich, both location and time were a problem for me. While I loved the Ipswich facility itself, the location was over an hour's drive for me. When I combined the 5pm-7:30pm time slot with drive, loading, and unloading time an Ipswich pool session would keep me busy from 3pm till after 9pm. That made scheduling dinner with my wife impossible which was a big negative. I was lucky enough to enjoy a pleasant Post-Pool-Pigout after the only Ipswich session I attended this season. However, that got me home very late, which is not something I want to repeat regularly. Haverhill sessions were just over half the drive time, and only disrupted lunch which was more tolerable. Unfortunately, Portsmouth is going to minimally decrease my drive time while actually increasing my driving distance. So I sure hope Haverhill is available again next year!

I remember being very surprised when I discovered that I can swim faster using just my arms and a swim pull buoy between my legs than I can swim using both my arms and legs together or for that matter a kick board. I eventually concluded that I was aerobically limited, and that using all my aerobic capacity to drive my more efficient arms resulted in the best times, assuming I could minimize drag by keeping my body level. In your race Leon, the short sprint was apparently mostly anaerobic. So using the big muscles was an advantage compared to a paddle, at least initially. Basically another way of looking at your point #1, and Lisa also touched on the issue. However, in the longer race I'll bet you were both aerobically limited so using those big legs was no longer an advantage. I could easily believe the MirageDrive introduces more drag than a paddle, and I'm confident that the drag for both will increase more than linearly as speed increases. So as speed increases the paddler would have a growing drag advantage. Basically your point #2 Leon. I also think Rob is probably correct that adding gears would help the MirageDrive racer. Though I wonder if there would be a degradation in MirageDrive efficiency at greater power inputs, and if a human power source would ever be materially affected by such a degradation. Of course for me, until someone shows me how to roll using a MirageDrive my interest is probably limited. :-)

My "drysuit season" is based on comfort. With the appropriate layering I can adjust my drysuit to be comfortable in much colder and much warmer conditions than I find a wetsuit comfortable. So unless the water is warm enough for me to want to swim in just a swimsuit, it is "drysuit season" for me. I paddle white-water during spring run-off with ice floating in the water and lots of layers under my drysuit. I also wear a drysuit over just a short-sleeve shirt in the summer when kids think the water is just great for swimming, but I'm not quite convinced. For years now I've always practiced at least one roll every day I kayak regardless of water temperature. So I know I'm going to be getting wet before I launch. If I'm getting too hot, I just dump some water over my head, or practice an extra roll. What water temperature anyone can survive is very person specific. So be skeptical of any temperature claim. The best advice I can give you is to just Swim-Test Your Gear Every Time You Go Out and you will quickly figure out where "drysuit season' starts for you.

Wish I could join you this Sunday. I've never paddled while it was snowing. Maybe next time. Have fun.

The NH AMC Paddler's White Water School is being held in April for 2014. The Boston AMC White Water Schools will be later in the year. -Bill Disclaimer: I've volunteered as a NH AMC White Water instructor again this year.

The Amazon reviews were good enough that a used copy was ordered for me as an X-mas present. It should arrive in February.

Personally I normally drive with a cockpit cover on my sea kayak. The one I own is nylon fabric, not a fancy neoprene one like Pintail prefers. Like nylon skirts, I suspect my cover is not as secure as the neoprene alternatives. My cover has occasionally come part way off while driving. After the first time, I started clipping the front and rear of the cockpit cover to deck lines.. I mainly use my cover to help keep some of the rain out of my kayak, and to keep semi-loose equipment such as my foam seat pad from blowing out of the kayak.

Missed you Katherine, but Matt, Mark, and I enjoyed a pleasant dinner and conversation.

Certainly.

I'm signed up for this Sunday's January 19th, 2014 pool session from 5:00pm-7:30pm at the Ipswich YMCA. I expect to be very hungry after rolling, but I am not familiar with restaurants in the area. So based on a quick Google search, I plan to try the Spice Thai Kitchen which Google shows as about a three minute drive from the YMCA. Everyone is welcome to join me.

I just renewed this past week, so it can be done. Sorry I don't know what issue you hit.

A good time as usual in the pool at Haverhill. I'm sure Doug will have pictures up soon. Special congratulations to Joyce Carpenter (aka carpy) on her first roll! She immediately repeated it with a second roll as well! Nancy Hill deserves the credit for providing a kayak, paddle, and lots of tutoring to get Joyce over the hump.