Kayak lessons with a friend

Paddlers' Place
#1

Spent yesterday at the sailing club with Rusty who is just getting started with sea kayaking. We have sailed together and camped on his sailboat to watch the start of the Everglades challenge a couple of years ago. I bought my Scamp sailboat from him.

He picked up a used Artic Tern from a couple who had made two for themselves back in the 90s. They didn’t build in bulkheads or hatches so I brought a pair of solo canoe float bags, and we installed them in front of the foot pegs and behind the seat. He is free to use them until he does the work on the kayak. He picked up a skirt and had a kayak paddle and PFD.

We started out with doing a wet exit which he easily did with no trepidations. Then I began talking about efficient paddling technique. The paddle box concept and how you want to keep the box shape throughout the paddle stroke. From where the blade enters the water near your foot and is lifted out at the hip. Also how to get the feel of paddling with his core by following the path of the paddle blade with his eyes and head. This works because as you turn your head to follow the paddle blade you also turn at the waist. Which then when lifting the blade at the hip you are set up for the next stroke. You turn your head and watch the blade enter the water at your foot following it once again to the hip. He was to push into the pedal with his foot on the same side as the paddle. This I believe transfers the paddle’s energy into the hull. It also keeps blood flow through the legs and feet. And to keep his head over his center of gravity.

I let him use both my Werner Cyprus and my Greenland paddles talking about how the stroke is extended back more and blade angled with Greenland. How on a sweep stroke it can be fully extended. How to edge with the knee and opposite hip to help in turning or compensate for weathercocking. I also had him using the bow rudder stroke to help turn at speed. Both high and low bracing, dinking the head and a hip snap as you do them. He was familiar with sculling.

We paddled out and around an island about 3/4 of a mile out from the ramp did maybe a 1/4 mile around the Island and then headed over to the start line to watch the clubs M C Skow Fleet practice racing. I regretted forgetting my camera and the phone was in the car. We may have paddled about 2.5 miles in distance practicing what had been covered. The wind was up with some strong gusts, and the waves were just shy of white capping. and had lessen some by the time we got back.

When we returned to the beach, we had launched from I demonstrated two basic rescue techniques both the paddle float and the cowboy rescues. We both wore dry suits as the water was 54F and high for the day 64F, and I knew we would be in the water for a good portion of time. To my surprise and chagrin my pee zip was all the way open. The next surprise was that I was still comfortable and not cold. We had burped our drysuits completely before paddling but I had visited the rest room after doing so. I didn’t get a suit full of water because there wasn’t much air space to displace with the water. What did get in pooled at the feet when I came out of the water. However, I was able to enter the kayak doing first a paddle float reentry and a cowboy reentry next. I came back to shore and stood in waist deep water while instructing him. He did the paddle float reentry on the first try but it took 3 tries to get back in with the cowboy reentry. After which we called it a day. I keep a bag with a change of clothes in the car when I canoe kayak sail or fly fish while wading and was glad to change my cloths. I did have high tech long johns, nylon, and wool under the dry suit and never did get cold.

We did take a few photos of the day once on shore. I had a blast, and we plan on doing this again. I hope I remember to zip up!

I store my two sea kayaks under the house on a homemade roller system.

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Some of the racing boats at the dock and our kayaks

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Me doing a paddle float reentry after flipping the kayak up and over emptying as it is righted.

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Rusty working on a cowboy reentry.

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Carried my tandem to let him use a rudder and just to paddle it some, but we ran out of time. Neither of the kayaks we paddled have skegs.

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#2

Maybe he’ll replace the previous PNet “rusty”…? :slight_smile: Starting him off right. Sounds like a good day for both of you!

-sing

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#3

How do ya’ll paddle with all those garments on?

#4

With ease and comfort. My dry suit is one of my best investments. I have paddled mid-winter for many years because I have it. Like wearing my PFD it gives me peace of mind even though I am a good swimmer and use to do some free diving when younger. Cold water is a killer.

The sailors at the club thought we were crazy for tipping the kayaks over in cold water intentionally. They always do sailboat capsize and recovery in warm water and summer temps.

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#5

It seems that every paddle stroke is “CRINKLE.”

#6

Winter kayak session with friends. Most of us wear wetsuits AND PFDs. I prefer wetsuits. Personal choice but do WEAR immersion gear and PFD, especially in cold water conditions. Winter surf session:

-sing

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#7

Are Wetsuits more pliable but don’t offer as much thermal protection as a Drysuit?

How much more thermal protection does a Drysuit have over a Wetsuit? Drysuits just look so bulky, it just seems it would be hard to paddle in one not knowing anything about them.

#8

I have a farmer johns that I quit wearing because the glue at the knee patches and seams caused my skin to breakout in a rash that lasts for days. I wanted to make it work and even tried wearing thin long johns under it but that didn’t help. I think it has something do with my autoimmune disorder. However, the dry suit works fine.

#9

dry suits offer little insulation it’s what you wear under it that provides insulation. Dry suits are not stiff, and you do have freedom of movement. when the water got in I didn’t get cold because of what I wore underneath the suit. It seemed to work a lot like a wet suit except there was more water in it than a skintight wet suit has water next to the skin. Where the water in the suit would pool in the foot and lower leg could have been a problem and did add more difficulty was when I had to lift my legs out of the water. The amount in the suit wasn’t enough to prove to be a problem and after the doing a paddle float reentry I went ahead and tipped back over and demonstrated a cowboy reentry with the water that was in the suit. I was surprised how I stayed warm even with the water in the suit…

#10

Then a Drysuit is just that, it keeps you dry and you provide thermal protection underneath it. But again, how much more thermal protection does a prperly outfitted Drysuit give you over a good Wetsuit? In other words what is the lowest temperature watr yu would go into with a Drysuit and a Wetsuit. Drysuits always looked bulky to me, they msy be more pliable and soft then I realize, I shouldn’t even be talking, I have never seen one. No one probably owns one in the entire area.

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#11

The Coast Guard SAR swimmers that go into the water to rescue people wear dry suits not wet suits. I think that speaks to their utility. Even Artic divers wear dry suits not wet suits. That is not knocking wet suits they work well for their intended use.

The reason you don’t see them is they are expensive and lots of folks don’t understand just how dangerous cold water can be. I grew up in Florida so had little awareness of the true danger of cold water. Not until I heard of a high school swimmer drowning in Lake Stanford FL trying to swim to shore after a capsize. Something he could have done easily if the water and been warmer. That could have been me as I would have thought the same thing he did. I can swim that far.

#12

I wondered about that, do people dive in Drysuits. But whete is the breaking point, at what water temperature you would not rely on a Wetsuit and go with a Drysuit and what is the lowest water temperature you would go into with a Drysuit? What those Coast Guard guys go in with is far superior to what me an you can get?

#13

My suit has a lifetime guaranty against delamination and failure of the Gore Tex. I do have to replace the wrist and neck gaskets when they deteriorate. I have done so once and will do it again this year. I bought a new suit for a great discount at a total of $735. At the time it cost $1,025 before taxes. They vary in price depending on the fabrics, zippers, etc., and brand. I went top of the line Kokatat lacking only the hood because of the deal I had. It is good down to 32F water temps if you wear enough insulation under it.

Yes, the SARS suits are more robust, and I know some of the dive suits have silicon not latex gaskets that can be separated from the suit. I’m not an expert on them as I have never needed them.

Actually, you too can own a SARs suit all it takes is a deep pocket.

#14

Having a mentor is a gift. People need to get wet and learn the skills in order to be safe and expand their skills.

Taking a class is another way to get the knowledge.
Dress for immersion, wear PFDs and practice rescues and live to paddle another day.

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#15

Just paying it forward like so many folks here do. I was thrilled to have the chance to start him out with the fundamentals that most folks aren’t exposed to when they start out. It seems everyone thinks they can paddle because they go out and paddle, but they don’t really know what they don’t know. Arm paddling seems to be the norm for most paddlers. Some die because they don’t know the danger of cold water or how to self-rescue. One of the reasons I took the time to share this in some detail was in the hope of increasing awareness of these things for the new folks who come to this site. I know for many here they already know this stuff.

A book I highly recommend to starting paddlers is John Robison’s “Sea Kayaking Illustrated” a visual guide to better paddling. It covers a wide range of paddling knowledge with numerous and often humorous drawings illustrating the information in the text.

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#16

Or you could move to warm weather…

#17

I hope left him room to grow on his own…

#18

Yes, I guess I could, but I think I just wrote about a high school swimmer drowning in a central FL lake during a boat capsize during mid-winter. The 2 other kids that stayed with the boat survived. He drowned tying to swim to shore in spite of being able to swim much farther than that because the cold water robbed his extremities of blood. Water temps in the 70s will kill you if you are in it long enough.

Do you remember when the fatal boating accident involving 4 NFL football players in the Gulf of Mexico off of Clearwater FL occurred. The incident took place on February 28, 2009, when their boat capsized while fishing 50 miles off the coast of Clearwater, Florida. It was the cold water not injuries that took 3 lives. It took 43 hours before the one survivor was found clinging to the motor of the capsized boat.

There is a movie being made about the incident.
New film in the works will tell story of 2009 boating accident that killed college, NFL players | FOX 13 Tampa Bay

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#19

There is so much more to know than one day of lessons.

#20

Ya’ll keep repeating it over and over, I guess it is true, people have no idea of how dangerous immersion is in even mildly chilly water is, it does not have to be freezing water for hypothermia to set in. I was joking around, but the work to be able to paddle in frigid conditions in order to extend the season seems pretty involved. If you are in the South, that is not necessary.

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