Just looking around…
In the last few days there has been no boat traffic(except a few kayaks) and very few people around. I would think the croc took advantage of the quiet for a look around. This the first one sighted in my canal…
An Illustration?
http://members.aol.com/waveskisurfing/Pinjada.GIF
( Have you got Eric Jackson’s Rolling and Bracing Video, he has good advice on just concentrating on getting the job done, you can roll up in less than 3 seconds.
I can sometimes over think
things too…I don’t have a roll yet, but think Sing and some of the others have already given you some good advice. One thing that has helped me with some of the issues you mention is just practicing wet exits and a variety of reentries, including the cowboy scamble, etc. and a playing on, and with the boat in calm, warm water. I went to a workshop where we practiced paddling our boats without paddles, sitting on the deck and paddling, and even played musical boats with one another!
I also found practicing this renetry technique helped with the issues you mention:
http://www.kayakshops.com/waterwalker_articles/float_roll.htm
I am just now back on the water and getting stronger after a rotator cuff injury, but hope to get some good practice in this upcoming spring, and at least get a roll in my avocet, even if it isn’t bombproof:)
Keep us postedon how you’re doing and what works,
Pam
I ONLY NOW GOT AROUND TO READING THIS
– Last Updated: Oct-23-05 11:27 AM EST –
post, Paul, and I've got a few things to say about it...
1) I actually HAVE caught fish, NICE fish, KEEPER fish -like a 28" snook? But it was the day after the season closed, so I had to throw it back. And I've actually caught a few from the Old Pro, but they were so small.., well, never mind...
2) It's not "Peter Pans's" aligator, friend, it's a) Captain Hook's b) CROCODILE; that movie, like Grayhawk's back yard canal, was a CROC...!
3) Your fear is exactly Sally's, and why the I isn't HER full-time ride: it's the "things that go bump in the day" (especially after I was nearly -literally -"bumped off" not by the godfather, but by an otherwise placid manatee I apprarently spooked a few years back).
While she hasn't ever fallen off the I -which S-Cruz M-Wife, Greyak, Grayhawk, Cap'n Jimbo, and a few others, which all of whom have and/or CHARACTERIZE as tippier than some skis -Sally knows 4 of the 5 above, and knows their skills, and knows about them falling off -and has seen ME do it PLENTY enough...!
See, she's from downstate, middle-of-the-country flatlands far from the ocean or Great Lakes rural Illinois. It's amazing she puts a toe in the ocean, let alone swims and snorkels on the reefs in it... And she knows I delight in telling her we're kayaking over barracuda and sharks and sea urchins and stingrays and such...
So she rides it, but not far from shore, and has gone with a more stable Tracer SINK for easier paddling and the Scupper Classic for easy slow paddling and gunkholing.
But she knows whereof YOU speak when you both get "OUT" when y'all go out on the water to
PADDLE ON!
-Frank in Miami
Hey Frank, I have never even been
on the “I” -let alone fallen off of one:)
Some glup …
really creeped me out on a roll this summer in the Mohawk River. Didn’t expect anything as I was out in fairly deep water away from shore and then my hair touched this underwater ball of vegetation or ???. I was test paddling a Hurricane Tracer and came up so fast I almost window shaded (and I don’t mean the Greenland roll ‘windowshade’). So far, this is the only time I’ve been creeped out and I have great hang time and usually do nice slow controlled rolls. A friend has a SOF boat which I have rolled a few times. It is very different to roll and comes up much slower. It was made for a much taller person than I am, so there is nothing for my feet to rest on. If you can find someone who has a SOF you might give that a try because (at least in my case) it forced me to slow down. I do a lot of rolling after dark now (at the end of evening paddles). You might try that as well - even more things to worry about when you can’t see!
~wetzool