My back yard isn’t near any signifcant body of water but I have populated it with a water garden, flowering shrubs, and flower gardens.
On a nice day it’s almost like sitting on a river.
The dogs, cats, squirrels and birds all enjoy being there.
3 Likes
@spirit4earth, if you aren’t hard on yourself, you might find joy and peace, but you won’t improve. I don’t think I’m aging well, but I figured out how to paddle the same kayak route that I did 14 years ago and finish within the same time interval. It didn’t feel any harder today than it did back then, and I’m doing it with a bad shoulder. All you need to do is apply your superior intellect, and accept that nothing gets easier.
1 Like
I disagree. Some formerly healthy people have real deficits. It’s not always about one’s willingness to work hard.
5 Likes
@spirit4earth, don’t disagree. Nothing wrong with going out for a leisurely paddle and enjoying the natural setting. @szihn has a natural talent for speed, but he’d rather look at ducks. He observes more wildlife looking out his kitchen window and taking out the trash than I see in a month, but that’s why he lives in the wild Wyoming Territory. He only goes fast when he has too.
Based on my interaction on the forum, Ive foundcvery few members who share my enthusiasm for paddling efficiency. So suffice it to say that my comment applies just to me. What I lack in physicsl ability, I can compensate for in technique. I do agree with your sentiment.
3 Likes
My left rotator cuff is kaput, and two of four tendons are detached. The joint has sepsis induced porosity, which I call arthritis. I don’t care. That doesn’t mean everybody has to ignore a bad joint. I learned to work around it.
1 Like
Thank you….
That sounds rough…
Eh! Rough is not being able to lift it above level, but life is about adapting. I’m sitting here eating pizza and it feels neutral - no pain. No pain because of my revised paddling technique. It’s the new normal. Like Clint Eastwood said, adapt and overcome. I feel bad for people who don’t adapt.
I typically avoided easy paddles until a friend wanted to accompany me, but she preferred to explore. She appologized because I had planned to do a training paddle. Not a problem, explore today, train tomorrow. You have to clear out the cobwebs, occasionally.
1 Like
Yeah…I do like ducks.
2 Likes
And all kinds of birds too. And antelope. And deer, And elk. And beavers. And otters. And spying on fish.
2 Likes
God given natural talent for kayaking and you look at ducks. You worry me. I learned more about paddles from you, and you’d rather look at elk. Makes me weep.
1 Like
I see all that. I just say goodbye as I pass.
That’s OK. I will wave as you come back the other way too.
Speed is a goal for you and I have really learned a bunch from you because you approach it like a science project.
Me… I go fast when I see some reason to. (catching up or getting away are the only 2 I have had real-world stimulus for so far and the other times I have gone hell-bent on speed it’s just to see how fast I could go. And without accurate GPS I still really don’t know. I assume it’s fast because a few other paddlers (with a LOT more years in a kayak then I have) told me it was, and because my friend Bret has a GPS and had me go a mile while I used it, and he was shocked I could outrun his rowing shell, and that he could not catch me. How fast it is? I really don’t know.
Not fast enough that time the lightning was hitting the cliffs close to me.
So I try for speed when there is a reason to go fast.
Some times that reason is just to see how fast I can go, but once I know I slow down so I can enjoy seeing wildlife a lot more.
But I do understand the goal to see how well you can do. “How good you can get”. I did that for most of my life in various other activities from shooting, martial arts, rock and ice climbing, but in my kayaking the goal is to enjoy every detail I can about the paddling, and most of those details work counter to speed. Fast turns, bracing, rolling, controlled back-paddling and so on.
If I go fast I get tired, and in some cases my shoulders and hip joints can hurt if I go fast for a long period of time. So I don’t get to do the turns and rolls and see how well I can maneuver around things, and when it’s all done at the end of the day there is no reward (to me at least)
Different priority I guess.
Doesn’t make you wrong. Not at all.
Just different.
1 Like
That’s quite an adaptation, I’ve tried to keep going with this knee. The pain I can live with, it is the loss of function that I can’t. I am unable to ride my bike, lift weights and entertain the grandchildren like I want, no paddling problems, so TKR it is.
On the speed side of things, I used to race bikes and canoes. I got to the point that training became a distraction to enjoying the great outdoors and wasn’t relaxing, so now I don’t worry about distance or time. I just go when I want and as far as I want at whatever pace I’m feeling. The only training I do is with the kettlebells, mace bells and sandbags, and I’m definitely not what I used to be, but enjoy the sweat and fatigue.
2 Likes
Go see a neurosurgeon. Partner had a back problem 10 years ago my best guest. Went to orthopedic doctor for MRI, therapy, shots in her back and everything else they threw at it. Severe pain constantly working on Wall St on her back. Literally doing major mergers and acquisitions on the technical end.
Finally went to a recommended neurosurgeon with her MRI results. Guy looks at it and said you have bone chips floating around. Tells her no amount of therapy, shots, or anything else will help they need to come out. Five days later she’s in the hospital getting surgery. She awakens and was terrified pain was still there. Boom pain was gone like a miracle.
Now tell me how all the other idiot’s couldn’t see the same thing on the same MIR? This doctor gave her back her life in a matter of days.
Another three friends I have are having severe back issues. Going for therapy, shots, pain specialist constantly. I think some of the doctors want you to keep coming back, and back, and back.
Puzzling thing is they won’t even go for a 10 minute consultation with her doctor. Good luck 
keep looking for a solution.
1 Like
Yeah, I did a lot of hiking, then bicycling. Life always seems to takes priority over the things you enjoy. Just as I got to the point where the activity started to click, I’d have another aspect of life pull me away. I figured how to break barriers on the bicycle and the trail I used instituted a radar enforced speed limit. So I returned to canoeing and found kayaks. I retired and more things got in the way. I reached speed and distance goals then things got in the way again. I had to build a room addition on my house and excavate the original foundation to waterproofing it. Re-landscaping the construction damage yard cause the shoulder injury. I though that torn shoulder ended my kayaking permanently. Based on what I know now, I would have locked the shouldes and rotator cuffs out a long time ago.
Then I helped my nephew get started in kayaking and I figured piddling around was better than nothing. I joined the forum and started progressing. My original paddling technique wasn’t practical, so I adjusted until I locked out the shoulder. My goal was to recover the capacity that I had 15 years ago. I hit that milestone today. Next on the list is to cover distance.
Most people have a goal, while some merely want to sit on a pond and let the wind rock the boat. Everybody should have a plan, any plan.
Displacement boats have a built in limiter- the hull speed. @szihn , our early contact was based on you wanting to improve to keep up with paddling groups. I figured out from our discussions that you were far faster than you realized. There is no doubt you were pushing up against the hull speed of the 17 ft Chatham, 6.4 mph. That’s as fast as the Chatham will go because the boat gets caught in the trough. Faster speeds are possible, but the boat falls off glide immediately, which is why it becomes so exhausting. By the way, today, I was hitting speeds around 5.9 mph without paddle flutter, cavitation or oscillation. I still believe you’re overpowering the paddle.
My goal is to reach speed more efficiently. Previously, I could go on long distant kayak trips two or three days in a row. More recently, I needed up to 5 days to recover fully. Since comparing notes with Steve, Craig and @Onski326, my paddling efficiency has improved dramatically. I’ve managed to go on fairly intense trips with one day rest in between and the last trip equalled the best time over the set distance that I manage to accomplish 14 years ago.
Everybody has a goal, mine was to set back time. Since pulling the 175 out of storage, it now doesn’t seem any heavier than the 145. These threads made me realize that age, disabilities, and things that interfere with kayaking only stop us if we let them. Only you know when the game is over.
1 Like
There is a point you and I could not agree on more John. If you quit you die, and if you stop playing you get old faster.
Sure, age and injury cause everyone to slow down and finally stop, but that place of “finally” can and often is more a point of giving up than it is of impossibility. No one lives in their mortal body for ever, and those that live long lives are never mistaken at 90 years old for being too young to buy a beer.
But I have had 33 bone breaks and 4 wounds in my life and I am still out doing “young man things” with several younger men. I hunt, hike, paddle, and do martial arts training with men in their early 20s and up to mid 30s fairly often, and just 2 weeks ago one of the young moms at our church lost $40 to her youngest son in a bet when she was told by that son how old I was. She told me she never bets more then 25 cents on anything, but was SO SURE he was way off that when he offered a $40 bet she took it.
No bragging is intended, but the point I am making is valid. It’s not universal and I know that, but I believe it’s more general than the majority of people over 45 years old believe it is.
I am not competitive in the usual scene. I try to improve in some areas not to keep score, but to see if I can get better, and to see what helps and what doesn’t. I trained troops for many years and in so doing I was always open to ideas I’d not tried before. I goal in kayaking is the freedom to go on extended trips in places I have not been in the past, and never become “that guy” that needs to be rescued over and over. Because the group of paddlers that invited me are all my age and older, my concern was becoming “baggage”. Now, as I have gone out paddling with, and also corresponded with some of those paddlers who do remote trips in Alaska, I have come to understand I am not going to be “too slow” and that I am going faster now they any of them are going. So my next set of goals is rough water practice and all that entails. Good rolling skills being the most important of them bunch.
I was intimidated several years ago when I started this mostly-self-taught education because of the wind we get here, and thinking it may be a bigger skill-set than I can learn in what ever time I have left to live, but by following advice from some experts I was able to contact, I found that for what I want to be able to do (Long trips in remote Alaska coastal waters) this “kayakers kindergarten” may just be the perfect place to learn. Calm days on this water are rare, and chop is something we have nearly every day. To start out I went on days when the waves and chop were maybe 1 foot tall. Several times I learned that it can get a lot higher and do it very fast. But on the lake here, there are roads to almost all the shores and can get within about 1/2 mile of a road any place on the lake shore, so if I got blown off the water I can go about anywhere and get out, and walk to my truck to pick up the kayak.
I still, try to always go into the wind starting out, so I’ll drive to different places on the lake to launch from. That works most of the time. However I again learned that my best plans are not honored by the wind at times. 3 times now I have started out with the wind in my face only to go miles and have the wind shift 180 degrees and fight me all the way back. The last time that happened was just about 2 weeks ago and not only did that 12-14 MPH wind fight me going out but increased to near 40 MPH before I got back, and 3 times I was sure I was standing still and was not going to get back to my truck. I did, but that was one test I’ll try not to repeat. I think my “land speed” was about 1/2 MPH as I got to the shore where my pick-up was. And loading the kayak in that wind was also an adventure. I lost control of the kayak one time and broke off the antenna on my truck. And I had to turn the truck around to get the ropes on, because the wind would not allow them to stay around the hull before I could get them to tie off.
But all things considered, looking at what I do today compared to what I was doing when I first got the Chatham, it’s night and day and I believe it’s because I am willing to go out in difficult conditions and train myself, knowing I may need to do some hiking to get back. (side note: I always pack socks and a set of good hiking boots with me in my forward compartment because I know I may end up walking out)
So I do push myself. Just not exclusively for speed. Once I knew I was not going to “be baggage” to my Sister and her group of paddlers by slowing them down, I then shifted to learning about handling the kayak in wind and waves. No way for me to train in surf “because we ain’t got none” so I still have a ways to go,
But I am getting better every year and that keep me excited about the progress.
1 Like
I’m not competitive either, but I enjoy improvement. The Chesapeake Bay is dubbed the Land of Pleasant Living, and I agree. I don’t like sitting still unless I’m with someone. My enjoyment comes from taking in the whole area. Rather than focus on any specific thing or place, I prefer to analyze everything and calculate how conditions will affect the trip. Rather than contemplating the endless paddle strokes, I occupy my mind with calculations. If the last trip took 4 hrs and 45 min to cover a certain distance, can I finish this one in 4 hrs 40 min. If wind, current, waves, or tides are against me, I factor that in. You need to be able to predict your average speed for the duration of a trip. Otherwise, just go, paddle and enjoy the sensation of windnin your hair.
There was a time when weather could throw in a surprise, but that is rare today around this area. The atmosphere gives ample warning if you understand and read the signs. I assess conditions in stages and won’t make certain passages because I know a tide reversal will make the return worse. Instead, I’ll divert and go up a river where the tree lined banks protect the waterway. If I anticipate high tides of 2.1 ft, or an astronomical anomoly causing a high tide over 3 feet, I “hightail it” to several marsh feeder streams to explore deeper into the regions. There’s a real sense of serenity to sit in a narrow waterway with reeds towering 8 to 10 feet overhead as they rustle and sway in the breeze. That usually happend with a gusting south wind, which means a fight to paddle back home. That’s just part of the package. Even on a day experiencing local intensity, it’s nothing like you face. I don’t go out in 40 mph wind, unless it’s launching from a protected cove that offers sheltered conditions. Too much like work. On the other hand, some wait for a hurricane to brighten their day.
It’s satisfying and rewarding, both physically and emotionally to surpass standards you accepted years ago. I’ll see how much is left in the tank. The progress I’ve made since my shoulder injury is undoubtably the result of improved technique and not physicality. That’s a good thing, because hopefully technique will benefit me far longer. Paddlers who are still at it well into the 80s and 90s are probably taking advantage of intellect rather than braun. I suggest to paddlers that if you’re feeling pain when paddling, analyze your technique. Explore and exploit the traits of your boat.
Above all, figure out how to make the paddling experience better for you. I now leave my kayak on the truck ladder rack. I no longer have to load and unload it before and after a trip, just when I arrive and unload at the launch and when the trip is over.
72 in December going down fighting. It will keep me from getting old one way or the other. Wait I am old. 
3 Likes
I like to say that I’m now faster than when I was old. Eh, why not, its true.