Wetexit

More about cold water kayaking dangers from the Baltimore Sun.

Here is my first video of last Thursday's MD Chute play session. It's about 7 minutes long and the file is 29MB. It requires the free DivX codec to view. One of these days I'll figure out how to do the streaming video thing, but at this point I'm a video neophyte and it took me quite a long time to get some kind of decent quality output after editing the footage I shot. The problem is that my Pentax Optio 43WR only takes video in QuickTime (.mov) format, which I really don't like, and converting it to anything else really reduces the quality. Fortunately a while ago I got a free license for the DivX Pro codec, so that's what I used to encode this movie. I'm still playing with the output quality settings, so hopefully my clips will improve over time.

As the air temperature starts rising into the 50's and 60's, this is probably a good time to remember to dress properly for the water in case of a wet exit. Besides learning to roll quickly, your layers of clothing is what will delay hypothermia enough to allow you to re-enter your boat. I went out yesterday to the MD Chute, and had my standard cold-water gear on: three layers on top (capilene, powerstretch fleece, and dry top), two layers on bottom (powerstretch fleece and dry pants), capilene socks under neoprene booties on my feet, neoprene gloves inside pogies for my hands, and a neoprene headwarmer under my helmet. Granted, as a whitewater paddler I expected to get wet, so I dressed appropriately. Except for my hands (which always get cold) I was toasty warm for the entire two hours I was out there playing in the 40-degree water with air temp in the upper 40s. Please, everyone, dress appropriately and be careful out there.

Due to my big kitchen remodeling project, I have been forced to choose this year whether to take advantage of the 50- and 60-degree days this month to go paddling, or take care of various tasks with the kitchen. So I missed a couple of great opportunities to paddle, but finally managed to get out to Center Chute on Friday at about 5.33-5.4. This keeps up my streak of paddling every month of the year since last January.

The only problem with taking a month off from paddling, and not even going to the pool, is that the muscles aren't used to the motions, so there is some lethargy, some inertia, that needs to be overcome. It took me about an hour until I started feeling normal again. Hopefully, as the kitchen project nears its completion, I will be able to get out there on a more regular basis. Actually, probably I should try to come out even more often, just to work off all of the takeout food that we've been eating since we couldn't cook at home.

Here's a great article about EJ and Jackson Kayak:

http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051222/BUSINESS01/512220354/1003/BUSINESS

I've been neglecting the web site a bit. Here is an article I wrote during our trip to the Adirondacks in September.

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Going the Distance: Improving the Forward Stroke; How to get from Point A to Point B without killing yourself.

On the first day of paddling after arriving in the Adirondacks, our group of 16 did a 15-mile paddle. Although I would consider that a medium-length paddle, many of us had not done that kind of distance all season. The result was that several people lagged the group, and after we arrived at our destination I heard various complaints of aches and pains.

The following day I had the opportunity to help a couple of the women in the group to improve their strokes, and observed several things about their paddling technique. I was able to suggest improvements that they said helped them, so this article was inspired by lessons learned from those two days.

As always, a lot of this stuff may seem like common sense, and you keep hearing it over and over, yet paddlers keep making the same mistakes. My hope is that some of these suggestions will help sea kayakers to improve their stroke technique so that they are both better able to keep up with the group and arrive less fatigued. The ultimate goal is to develop an efficient, natural forward stroke that you don’t have to think about.

First, here are some of the mistakes that I observed:

• Not enough torso rotation – This is probably the most common mistake, and is often the hardest to correct. As many times as you hear people tell you to rotate your torso, it’s really hard to develop proper torso rotation unless you really concentrate on it. Eventually you will develop natural torso rotation because it’s simply easier than paddling with just your arms, but in the beginning it’s very difficult.
• Pushing the top hand too far – Many people recommend pushing the top hand to help improve power, but a lot of people wind up pushing the top hand too far. My belief is that if the top blade of your paddle pushes more than a couple inches over the deck of the boat, you’re pushing the top hand too far.
• Pulling the bottom hand too far – This is related to pushing the top hand too far. Since many people have problems with proper torso rotation. They try to compensate and take longer strokes by pulling the blade that is in the water past the point where it is effective. My belief is that if your elbow goes farther than your back, then you’re pulling the bottom hand too far.
• Paddling air – This is something I didn’t notice before, but both of the women I was working on the second day with were doing this and I’m guessing that this is true of many paddlers. Basically, paddling air means that as the paddler reaches forward with the bottom blade to take a stroke, she starts the stroke before the blade is in the water.

I like to call my paddling technique “lazy paddling” because I tend to take low-angle and relatively short strokes, yet I am still able to paddle faster and with less fatigue than many people. Therefore based on the observations over those couple of days, I would like to suggest a number of improvements that may help a large number of paddlers.

• Use your stomach muscles to rotate your torso – There are a couple of techniques that may help with torso rotation. The first is to practice rotation on dry land, without a PDF, to see and feel what your torso is doing when you don’t have to concentrate on the water and everything else around you. The second technique is to more or less lock your elbows at a 90-degree angle, and use your forearms to just raise and lower the paddle into and out of the water, without a lot of reaching or extension. This basically forces you to exaggerate your torso rotation in order to take a stroke, and is where most of your power comes from. The thing to think about when you're doing this is pushing the paddle with your stomach muscles. If your stomach muscles are sore after a day's paddling, then you know that you're doing it right.
• Paddle with your legs – This one comes from my wife Barbara. It’s something both of realized that we’re doing automatically when paddling, but it should be pointed out because it’s not taught and it may not be obvious. Basically, in order to rotate your torso, you need to brace your feet against your foot pegs so that you can get the proper leverage. The trick here is to actually push a bit on the left foot if you’re rotating to the left, or push on the right foot if you’re rotating to the right. This requires that the foot pegs in your boat are properly adjusted so that your knees are slightly bent in the sitting position. Pushing your feet forward has the effect of improving your leverage when you are trying to rotate your torso, and therefore it also increases the power of your rotation, which leads to more powerful strokes. If you have a rudder, I recommend pushing with both feet, just slightly more with one or the other to get that extra leverage.
• Sit up straight – Hey, I like lazy paddling, but leaning back while paddling is a bit too lazy. Sitting up straight allows better paddle placement and more powerful torso rotation.
• Low angle strokes – Higher angle strokes are good for power and acceleration and give you more of a workout, but can also wear you out. I like to take low angle strokes just because it takes less energy. Why lift your arm to your forehead if lifting it to your chest will get the job done just the same? If you have to take higher angle strokes just to get the entire blade in the water, it probably means that you need a longer paddle.
• Take shorter strokes – You’ve heard this before: Put the paddle in at the toes and take it out at your seat. But as I observed, many people overestimate the length of their legs when they are inside the boat. On the stroke initiation, if your arm is extended and your elbow is nearly straight, or your paddle blade goes over the deck of your boat, then you are definitely reaching too far forward. My recommendation is to bring the paddle parallel with your chest, then rotate your torso about 45 degrees, keeping the paddle parallel with your chest, then put the bottom blade into the water. That is approximately where each forward stroke should start. As far as where to remove the paddle from the water, try to do it when it reaches the back of your seat pan. Also, pretend there is a 2x4 attached horizontally across the middle of your back, and you do not want to pull your arm so far that it hits the 2x4. This means that if you want to take a longer stroke, you have to rotate your torso to change the angle of the 2x4.
• Stop paddling air – Paddling air is a big energy drain, probably second to only paddling with your arms, because of the extra body movement that does not translate into forward motion. My recommendation is to watch when your bottom blade reaches its furthest point (at your toes, remember) and immediately place it in the water before starting the stroke. This actually extends your stroke by several inches, giving you more power and speed.

I would recommend that paddlers practice “conscious paddling”, which is to actively pay attention to your own paddling technique as you paddle. See if you can find yourself slipping into any of the bad habits that I pointed out, then see if you can apply any of the suggestions I made. Even one or two of these improvements may help your stroke enough so that you are better able to keep up with the group and less tired after your trip, which leads to a more enjoyable paddling experience for everyone.

Sometimes I'm ashamed to be an American. I'm sitting here watching Fox News Channel coverage of Hurricane Katrina, and all I see are stories about lootings, rapes, riots, shootings at police and emergency workers, people stealing ambulances and boats, and other senseless violence. And that's just in New Orleans.

Granted, this hurricane affected areas of New Orleans that are poor and already have high crime rates, but what happened to the helpful spirit that America showed on 9/11? The problem in this case is that it's not just a few people who are causing the trouble; it seems that so many people are committing crimes that they may as well shut down the entire city because the crime wave has spread so far. Why is it that in a disaster of this type, so many Americans turn into animals?  There are so many victims of the hurricane already, and these people are creating more victims with every passing day.

A news alert just came on the screen that the mayor of New Orleans issued an SOS, ordering police to stop search and rescue (SAR) operations and put all efforts into controlling the crime wave. Earlier today I've heard stories that the mayor seemed dazed and confused, and that people saw police officers standing around trying to figure out what to do because no one was directing efforts. So I guess this SOS is a step in the right direction, but will the mayor survive the political fallout of this disaster?

Not that I've actually tried this, but it's an interesting concept.

http://www.shelter-systems.com/kayak.html

Since the river level has been so low, it's been a rather slow summer around here for Potomac whitewater.

Last weekend we drove down to Cape Hatteras, NC, and spent a few days camping and enjoying the ocean, and I brought my Jackson All-Star on the off chance that I would be able to get some ocean surfing in.  Fortunately one day conditions were good enough and the waves breaking far enough off-shore that I was able to get out there and play with the board surfers.  I managed to catch quite a few waves, and even got a couple quality backsurfs.  (I guess all that backsurfing practice I did on the Potomac paid off.)

I had a pretty good time with the ocean surfing, and started wondering where else I could go.  Maybe some Chesapeake Bay surfing?  I also considered doing something about the windsurfing bug I caught down in Belize.  I started looking at used windsurfing gear, but I'm really not interested in spending another $2K at the moment, so I'm not sure how much I'm going to pursue that.  If anyone has a used intermediate-level windsurfing rig they are willing to let go cheap, please let me know.

Thanks to Jim and Monique Hubshman of PotomacPaddlers.com, who both won their respective classes last night, we have some photos.  Theres a few good ones of me starting with this frame.