If the boat didn’t have a rudder
get a boat with a rudder.
Let the “purists” do their thing without one.
I can and do paddle all day long without mine, but in strong quartering winds, I want mine, and would not own a boat without one.
Cheers,
JackL
To get more seat time…
If you mainly have flat water around, try to find some big motor boats. Sit sideways in their wakes. Even try it with your eyes closed sometimes. That can help you feel the waves better. But, of course, always be on the lookout for boat traffic.
“seat time” and balance
Seat time is simply time in a kayak. In your case it would be time in beam seas in a kayak.
Balance is sometimes a hard concept for guys to master. As Peter-CA mentioned kayaks have initial and secondary stability - secondary being what keeps you from capsizing. Secondary stability can also be thought of as how stable your kayak feels while it you are edging it. You will want to play around and discover the secondary stability of your kayak. This usually involves sculling, low bracing, or holding onto the bow of another kayak with your hands to keep from actually capsizing.
The second part of balance is how you naturally try to balance yourself. Most guys balance themselves with their shoulders, most girls balance themselves with their hips. If you have a bigger upper body, very broad shoulder, or (from my observations) lift weights a lot then you carry your balance in your shoulders much more and the transition to balancing with your hips could be a bit more difficult. Sit in your kayak and rock/wiggle your hips from side to side. The kayak should rock from side to side easily, but your shoulders/arms/head should not move. You can have some one watch you and let you know if you are moving your upper body.
JackL - I am not sure you where you were going with the rudder comment. Both kayaks the OP paddled and felt tippy come with rudders (I assume they were actually fitted with rudders and in use but they may not be the case). Either way, I don’t believe a rudder provides much in the way of adding stability in beam seas.
or
– Last Updated: Jul-21-08 9:07 AM EST –
you can learn how to control your boat with a paddle--your guide gave you excellent advice, you followed his instruction and it worked--time in your boat in wind and waves will solve your problem of tightening up--if you feel more comfortable you could take a lesson or two in paddling in wind.
Using the forward stoke as a bracing stroke in beam seas works for me---or you could trade in your skeg boat for a ruddered boat but I suspect this wouldn't cure your nervousness in beam seas---don't worry--practice and time does that.
it sounds like you’re doing everything
right and only need more exposure to the same conditions/experience: Weight/center of gravity over the boat, loose hips, relaxed, forward momentum or one eye toward bracing. One thing you might do: work a whole bunch on/develope a reliable roll. That does a number of things: puts your mind to rest in case you do capsize; but more importantly it makes you familiar with that liminal “twilight” realm and developes a better sense of balance. “Dr” sounds like you’re a doctor; get one of you doctor friends to lend you his nice clean warm heated pool and spend a lot of time discovering where the edge of your balance point is. Of course instruction is good. If you don’t have it, check out EJ’s bracing and rolling DVD. Visualization helps a lot in other sports; think about what the wave does, pulling you your boat out from under you on the way up, then the other way on the way down. In the end, it may just take seat time: letting your butt and inner ear become familiar with like conditions. Paddling them a lot.
Eclipse has a rudder
watch the horizon
I got a great tip once from a fellow paddler when I brought up powering over and through breaking waves and finding myself falling through the air out of balance on the other side. Occasionally I could hold on with a brace when I hit the water. Occasionally I’d roll back up. He said his BCU coach told him to watch the horizon and it seemed to work well for him. I was amazed at the simplicity. After that, when I’d find myself a bit airborne, I’d look at the horizon, my hips would stay more relaxed somehow just by doing that, and the fact that my kayak might be leaning to one side or the other when I came over/through/off the wave seemed to simply lose all relevence. This technique works well for me in a beam sea as well. Something to try.
More of the same
If you could find an area where boat wakes throw a large wave and play in shallow water it would be ideal - like along a river. You would feel safe yet able to experience the waves. One thing you can try is as you paddle, lean a bit to the side of the stroke and see how the regular paddle stroke acts like a brace. Then do it on the other side. Then lean a little more on each side. Do that in shallow water and you’ll get the feeling of how the paddle stroke is your brace - as your guide told you. Just by playing in waves in a safe environment you’ll be amazed at how large of waves you can sit in comfortably and paddle in.
It does for me.
and I thought it just might for him.
cheers,
JackL
The cabie was asked:
How do you Get to Carnegie Hall? His response: “Practice, Practice, Practice”
Oh Both these boats sea cock pretty badly so that may be part of it.
A rudder or skeg can help or can be a nuisance: If it works and you know how to best use it it can be handy. My skeg has been stuck for years. I made it work for my instructors course two or three years back and it got jammed with tiny rocks again.
Skegs and rudders are handy but don’t count on them.
The wave thing will solve itself with practice.
Good luck and welcome to a ridiculously fun sport.
Alex
engage the thigh brace’s
and keep your eyes level, loosen up a little while leaning into the wave with your hips and stick the paddle into it with a slightly climbing blade after a while you’ll only want to paddle on big days with (on-shore winds) good luck with your new addiction
Thanks…
…for all of the thoughtful replies, and any more to follow.
Kurt
balance
– Last Updated: Aug-01-08 1:43 PM EST –
Sitting on a big exercise ball and 'balancing' with your feet off the floor is a way to teach your body some balancing skills especially with primary stability (the stability your kayak has just sitting in the water with no forward motion by the paddle). Secondary stability (stability of your boat in motion with the paddle) will actually help keep you upright, hence the advice to keep paddling. It's like riding a bike: the slower you are going, the harder it is to balance on the two wheels.
Balancing on the exercise ball is also fun. I use one at my desk just for being better able to balance in my kayak since I don't get to paddle as often as I'd like. Additionally, there are kayak specific exercises using the ball to help with braces and to help your body better learn a hip thrust for rolling.
However, none of this ball talk is a substitute for more boat time...
speaking of which
anyone read the latest rescue story in Sea Kayaker?
I’d like to
I don’t have a subscription, will you paraphrase or is there a link?
lots of good advice here
More paddling in beam seas, keep your hips loose, looking at the horizon, using your forward stroke as a brace also, playing with your cadence (sometimes my cadence quickens in rough water so I never get caught out)…this is all good advice. Maintaining speed helps also. Every stoke can add some buoyancy and support.
You’ll get there and sooner or later the small beam seas will feel natural - and the steep beam seas will keep you sharp!
There’s a fantastic new DVD out by
Wayne Horodowich on bracing. He shows how to practice it on land first, then sitting in the water without a boat, then sitting in your boat in calm shallow water, and finally in conditions.
If P-net doesn’t have it (they usually carry all of Wayne’s videos), you can also get it from Wayne’s site, the University of Sea Kayaking.
I just got a copy and I think it’s fantastic. I do have to disclose though, that Wayne is a friend and I have appeared in his ABC’s of the Surf Zone video.
short version
dozen paddlers go 12miles from island to island in SanJuans. One paddler isn’t up to the challenge, gets seasick capsizes three times and is rescued three times in about three miles. A tow is involved with assistance for the victim and both capsize, 3’ waves.
Seat time and guide’s advice
– Last Updated: Aug-02-08 11:29 PM EST –
You just have to get used to letting the boat move under you without stiffening up yourself, and there really isn't much cure for that but seat time. Just seek out gradually more challenging conditions so that you can ease into it rather than getting all your angst up at once.
If you have done wet exits and re-entries, you can also go into shorter wavelets near shore and practice capsizing in them and doing a re-entry. Nothing like taking a swim to relax you.
BTW, not sure that engaging the thigh braces is necessarily helpful when you are trying to relax in the situation you describe. To recover and do a brace yes, but my sense is that for starters you are trying to learn how to avoid needing that correction. For learning to let the water move the boat around without overreacting, it may be more effective to let your legs lie loose along the bottom of the boat. But try all of the above and see what seems to work best.
similar
"You just have to get used to letting the boat move under you without stiffening up yourself, and there really isn’t much cure for that but seat time. "
On big adventure-type bikes (think KTM 950), the only way to ride one in deep sand is to get up off the seat as soon as you start moving forward. That allows the bike to move underneath you at will while you’re looking far forward. Sit down, look at road just in front of your front wheel and you are going down. Some of the advice given here sounds similar manner - except for standing up of course - look at the horizon, let the kayak move under you, keep your hips loose…