I’m looking to take a BCU 3-Star Kayaking Touring Assessment and noticed in the assessment notes a section on sailing and ropes. (section A.8-Beyond the Paddle) It states “Paddlers should be able to produce or improvise a sail to move downwind” and “Paddlers will be able to demonstrate the use of ropes tied onto the kayaks as a means to move the boat around”. I spent a couple of hours trying to find some info online as to specific performance measures, but came up with nothing. In fact, I couldn’t find a single reference to improvising sails or maneuvering the boat with ropes. If anyone could point me in the right direction or shed some light on this, I would be very grateful. Everything else in the syllabus seams cut and dry.
I got no clue what BCU wants. However I have used an umbrella. Works best on boats with rudders.
I’ve sailed enough to know that sailboats don’t have ropes. They are called lines. Beyond that, I’m useless.
@Overstreet said:
I got no clue what BCU wants. However I have used an umbrella. Works best on boats with rudders.
At the front of a tandem canoe works nicely as well. Bowsperson anchors the umbrella’s tip somewhere near the bow and holds the side of the umbrella to keep it from going inside out. Sternsperson just keeps the blade in the water steering with a stern rudder.
It kept my dad and I moving along quicker than we could paddle a few years ago.
I looked up the phrase and found this from a 2009 document:
"A.7 The ability to deal with environmental concerns
"Poles and Ropes
"Poles (canoe only) – Demonstrate the use of the pole in either shallow or
deep water to propel the canoe over 25m as well as turning to the left and
right.
"Ropes (canoe or kayak) – Demonstrate the use of ropes tied onto the
canoe or kayak as a means to move the boat around. "
"Examples:
"o Headlands
"o Up or down moving water
"o Rafting boats together
“o Tethering the canoe or kayak to the bank or storage rack”
http://menzi.dk/archive/public/kayak/bcu/tour-star/3%20star%20Touring%20Guidance%20Notes%20V2-0.pdf
Maybe it refers to lining a canoe?
The training notes include this:
"Sailing: Training will cover how to utilise the wind and improvise downwind sailing rigs. "
https://f58619eed67ecf47f9c5-69635130c45beb2524d5bafa9c042fe0.ssl.cf3.rackcdn.com/documents/3-Star-Touring-Kayak-Training-Notes.pdf
While Overstreet’s umbrella idea would work, who carries an umbrella on a sea kayak? On the other hand, if you have a tow belt and a light weight jacket, you could improvise a downwind sail using the jacket and tow line, although it wouldn’t be pretty.
In canoes tarp & paddles works pretty well. Alas, I don’t have a picture of Emma with paddles through the sleeves of a rain coat.
A golf umbrella is fantastic for extended camping trips, especially in rainy conditions, makes trips to relieve oneself much easier. Also works to put on the windy/rainy side of a tarp, cuts down on the draft. Keep it stashed under the bungees and can grab it for some sailing as well.
@Johnnysmoke said:
A golf umbrella is fantastic for extended camping trips, especially in rainy conditions, makes trips to relieve oneself much easier. Also works to put on the windy/rainy side of a tarp, cuts down on the draft. Keep it stashed under the bungees and can grab it for some sailing as well.
Interesting idea. I’ve done it canoeing but hadn’t considered it kayaking because it wasn’t likely to go in a hatch. I used to bring one on hiking trips too because I get wetter inside rain gear than the rain would make me.
Turns out the best use is just to ward off the rain because any time I brought the umbrella it never rained!
I’m not sure about using one in a solo kayak though. It seems like it would be hard to manage the umbrella/sail and keep the boat on course at the same time. Maybe only for a kayak with a rudder, not a skeg boat.
Where do you plan to take this assessment? Granted it has been some years since I paid any mind to the BCU, but I was around when the 2007 changes came out and do not recall anyone talking about improvising kayak sails in the changes for a 3 star assessment. I am pretty sure that would have gotten comment. Even with the canoe distraction.
If my sense is correct that this discussion is partly related to your local area, your best bet may to to contact some local folks with a 4 star sea and find out what they encountered.
I took the 3-star Sea Kayaking Assessment this weekend and passed (yeah!) - we did it in Narragansett, RI. There was no improvised sailing or ropes (except for towing). There is, however, a new 3-star Sea Touring award that is suppose to be multi-discipline (canoe/kaya) but my instructor indicated that is really new and they haven’t even begun to teach it and aren’t that familiar with it. But that is what has the sailing and ropes business.
The “new” multi discipline award is in the changes made in 2007. Concern about my canoe skills was cited by coaches sitting with the RCO at the same dinner table as a reason to not allow me into assessments to proceed. That was in about 2010.
But then again l was not one of the drinking buddies.
Hence my caution. If you can actually advance thru the BCU enjoy the training and the skills gain. But it is probably not wise to get overly invested in it.
Umbrellas for sailing? Yeah okay–But always use one of them large CLEAR PLASTIC ones to better see where yer headed downwind…In the meantime, myself I’ll just continue to “improvise”…
