no worry
"That said, I was nervous about pushing the boat away from the bank and having it drift away. "
Put your paddle on the dock first. Do all the maneuver.
If the boat starts to drift, the 8’ long paddle can be used to coheres the boat back!
You do have a spare paddle on the boat, right? In case you lose contact with the dock and without a paddle in your hand… 
maybe practice with balance
Perhaps playing with balance away from the dock would help? You can try standing up or squatting in your kayak. Try sitting up on the back deck and paddling around. Try shimming around on your belly, from cockpit to bow, then spin around and shimmy all the way to the stern. This is a good exercise for gaining proficiency with rescues, and it may help you get more comfortable with the scenario you are facing at the embankment.
Dress to get wet, and then treat your kayak like a pool toy for a little while. See what you can do when you’re not feeling nervous about tipping over.
Let’s see if I can tell you without
– Last Updated: Aug-14-12 1:26 PM EST –
making it totally confusing. I don't remember what boat you ended up with, but I can do this from my wide, stable rec boat and also from my pack canoe. The SOT is so easy it doesn't bear explanation.
When the dock is high: I get the boat parallel to the dock, with the dock to my left. I get my feet under me without standing up, get balanced with one foot on each side of the center line of the boat and then stand up as I grasp the dock with my left hand. I usually put one foot either in front of or behind the cockpit to decrease the distance to the dock and get the other hand also on the dock, facing the boat and hoist myself up. It is easier if the distance isn't so great.
The only time I ever fell in--and it was really cold--I got tangled up in my spray skirt and the boat slid under the dock and I splatted right down in the water. There was no one there to see, which was rather a shame, since I'm sure it was comical.
When the dock is low, or in your case the concrete edge of a boat ramp, I get parallel, lean my left hand and forearm on the ramp, lift my butt up and slide on over.
I doubt if I'm anywhere near as agile as you, since you were a gymnast, and this did seem awkward at first. At this point, I've done it hundreds of times and don't even think about what I'm doing. I promise you, after a few times you won't either.
Edit: I would get someone to take a video of this process, but you'll have it figured out before I could do that.
Sorry! Missed embankment - 2nd try
– Last Updated: Aug-14-12 2:21 PM EST –
OK - you said dock or embankment and I stopped paying attention at dock.
To handle an embankment - like there are no handholds anywhere, right? Just a wall of concrete? If you are lucky it is eroded away enough to provide handholds you could exploit. Murphy's Law says if you are 5'2" it'll be in perfect shape. But it still works the same way as I said for a dock.
You have to get sitting on that back deck, behind the cockpit, to get more height, stabilize the boat at an intermediate point and be able to get your feet under you properly. The above responses indicate that you aren't getting that part.
Re the embankment, it may lack the easier handholds of a dock unless you are lucky and it is really corroded. And the move from standing up to torso over the top has to happen in one smooth action. Nigel Foster could stop and practice his juggling in the middle, most of us can't.
But check my assumption - I figure that when you stand up the edge of the embankment is no higher than your waist. Otherwise I don't quite see how you could get into the boat from there. Is that correct?
By the way, I can execute everything I recommend, and often have to in a boat that is a bunch more tender than what you are paddling.
Also, being able to balance well on the back (or fore) deck of a kayak is not an optional skill. If you get around this problem without being able to do it, you'll have to have this in hand some other time anyway. Go to some shallow place and practice climbing around on the deck of your boat so that is solid, then you can add the standing up part.
Other comments -
To hang onto the boat, you can always grab a longer line from the kayak in your hand. I prefer being ready to turn and put the paddle into the boat, but given where you are paddling I don't see why that wouldn't be OK just to initially get by the problem.
The Ken Fink video - it's neat and all, but a couple of issues. One is that the dock is level with the top of the boat - that is not what the OPer is describing. And it is a risky approach - if the on-deck foot is not weighted properly and the boat slips out, I see 60 year old jawbones crashing on that dock. Sliding in and out of the boat would work fine for that scenario, and the ladies involved. It looks like you could fit two of the particularly thin woman into that cockpit.
Ken is a great guy and knows far more than me about kayaking. We bought our first good paddles from him. But he is clearly not a shorter, lighter weight woman and lacks some of the alternatives that we have.
enter & exit at dock
Interesting reading but impossible to follow.
Why not watch a video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHDudVzb6Ro
minor quibble
"When the dock is low, or in your case the concrete edge of a boat ramp, I get parallel, lean my left hand and forearm on the ramp, lift my butt up and slide on over."
I prefer to put both of my hands on the boat while getting off my butt… And focus on balancing on the boat as I get up!
That way, if the boat moves AWAY from the dock, I’m still balanced on the boat. I can always move the boat back to the dock, either standing up or squatting or sitting back down.
The last thing I want is to fall in the space between the boat and the dock!
Thanks!
Now that there’s been so much discussion, I have to admit that I can’t remember quite how it all felt anymore… and I’m wondering why it seemed so difficult. (I’m sure it’ll all come back to me!) But I agree that I probably need to get more secure about balancing and moving around on the boat.
It’s a rare cool and drizzly day here… just the kind of weather I want to practice moves that might get me wet. Thank-you-very-much. 
One more sorry…
Looked back and I see that you have tried to get up onto the back deck, but going from there to standing is challenged because of the length from butt to heels. It sounds like you may have to stand on your seat instead of the bottom of the cockpit. I can’t say I haven’t done that as well.
You do need to be able to stand up based on lower body muscles rather than pushing up with your hand to do this and stay balanced. If you can’t maybe some leg squats on land…
Well,
my boat isn’t going away from the dock, because I still have my foot (but not my weight) in it as I slide over to the dock.
I know everybody probably has variations on how they accomplish this, depending on the boat, the dock, the current and wind, body build, strength, and on and on.
DetroitTigerFan seems to be a can-do kind of gal (or maybe guy, I don’t know) and will have this figured out in no time.
A helpful detail
One thing I have noticed is that it helps to let the kayak move forward as you lift yourself up and then drag it back under with your feet before standing up.
So it would go as follows:
- Pull up parallel to the embankment
- Find something to get a grip on or if low enough get your elbows on top.
- Pull slightly up and roll slightly toward the embankment to get your but out of the seat.
- Allow the kayak to slide a little forward so your feet end up in the open part of the kayak just in front of the seat. This usually happens by itself, but you have a natural tendency to try and stop it. Just let it happen.
- Press down with your legs to create some friction for your feet and pull the kayak back directly under you. You can stand up straighter and higher as the kayak moves directly under you. You should now be standing facing the embankment with your feet just in front of your seat.
The key is letting the kayak slide forward as you first lift out of the kayak so that your feet end up just in front of the seat instead of staying more under the deck. Then as you use your legs to pull the kayak more directly under your upper body it is possible to stand up straighter until finally you are fully standing from which point you should be able to pull yourself up on the bank.
Every time I try to lift myself up and keep the kayak still I have lots of problems. But if I let the kayak slide forward (effectively bringing my feet backward) I find I can get recentered and stand easily. Just be careful that you do not let the kayak slide so far forward that your feet come back as far as the cockpit rim or even worse that you come completely out of the cockpit and are left hanging on the embankment. It is a little disconcerting when you first lift up and feel the kayak “shoot” forward, but once you get used to it, you can do the lift,slide,pull back in one quick motion.
Good luck
Mark
I can stand up
– Last Updated: Aug-14-12 3:16 PM EST –
I don't have any problem getting my feet under me and crouching in the cockpit. (Here, I think the small size is an advantage.) But, relative to the length of my legs, the step up and out to the bank from the center of the boat feels very wide to me. (For instance, I'm a hiker and while guys "walk" across boulder fields, for me they are boulder "hops"...)
I guess I'm just going to have to learn to be more sure-footed stepping in and out of the boat. I thought I was pretty nimble in that respect but maybe not as much as I thought.
Walk out to the bank?
– Last Updated: Aug-14-12 9:32 PM EST –
I am confused again. (It seems to be my theme today.) I had envisioned a height diff that would have you rolling onto your torso onto the top of a dock or a high bank with the boat at least 2 plus feet below that. There's be little walking out in that case, more like pulling up and sliding your legs over.
If you are trying to get out of the boat at a level place where you can logically stand up, it is back to a water depth question. Can you just get your feet and legs wet and wade out?
Side stability lines. Get a canoe.
You can install cleats on the sides of your cockpit and carry a length of line to tie off onto a dock. This will allow you to stand up in the dockside bilge without worrying about centering your weight. Paddlers use this technique to mount the ladders on chickie platforms in the Everglades.
I quit my eight years of kayaking misery in some significant part because of the PITA nature of getting in and out of (the then smaller) kayak cockpits. I returned to single blade open canoeing where I belong, including outriggers, and don’t miss enclosed hulls, restrictive cockpits and double blades even an iota or scintilla or soupçon.