Spend time on this now
If you stay upright and the weather cooperates so you are not in over your head with the conditions, you’ll be trying to paddle at least 12 or so miles. Probably more in real distance by the time you are done.
If there is one thing you can do that’ll help - a LOT - spend time with a good (light) paddle that fits you well and with someone who can get you going on a good forward stroke that’ll protect your joints. This is best done in the flat situation you have available to you nearer home. Strength isn’t what that is about, but if you have a strength training background you could easily go out there and do a hell of a job on your joints.
I also suggest that you speak with your wife about whether she’ll be ticked off if you run into problems and can’t continue as her SAG, whether it is by capsizing or just generally blowing out a shoulder or a wrist. She is apparently assuming that everything will work out just dandy and may not be happy if it doesn’t.
I agree with this advice
Except he lives in central New Mexico. There are a few lakes in New Mexico but none that are going to have conditions like he would face on the ocean.
Learning a good stroke
It’s easier on the flat anyway. I think everyone (including the OPer) agrees that it’s a crap shoot how much of the training he gets near home will translate to the intended environment.
And maybe they’ll get an unusually flat day.
Local Kayak Club Volunteers
The way people handle this in San Diego, is they contact the local kayak club or known paddle enthusiasts and say "Hey I'm coming from New Mexico and I need somebody to spot me in a race" Usually someone will volunteer. This is pretty common in the large rough water race we have here and in races from Catalina Island (21 miles open water.) Nobody here is saying you are an idiot, we are just saying we have done this before and we don't think a beginner from New Mexico ( where the largest lake maybe gets 6" waves) with no ocean kayaking experience is going to be very helpful to his wife when the winds kick up ... just saying.
Central New Mexico, and a type A wife
Maybe you can practice at Elephant Butte Lake. That’s big enough you’ll at least get decent wind waves and distance, plus powerboat wakes. And it’s far enough south that you should get a jump on spring training.
You and your wife know each other better than we do, but please remember that sometimes very competitive people (like her) who are bent on doing something their way (having you as the SAG) may be so tunnel-visioned that they don’t see danger signs.
Your fitness through cycling helps but it won’t make you a good paddler all by itself. I came to the sport from decades of cycling, and like 95% of paddlers I started out arm-paddling and developed bad habits. I got away with it because I was strong for my size, and because our (Colorado) waters don’t develop the kind of conditions that open ocean does. It has taken many hours of paddling, instruction, and re-training to break those habits, and it’ll take many more for the good ones to be solidly ingrained.
Not trying to kill your desire to help your wife, but bear in mind that she’s not exactly an impartial observer.
And I, too, am looking to move to the coast in the not-too-distant future. My husband is even amenable, as he enjoys seeing marine birds and other wildlife.
Sounds like yer gonna do it , so
just one more bit o info ya may want to consider . You’ll be in deep water but there is always a chance o runnin into a patch o seaweed which could clog the pedal drives.
Possibly bring a pool noodle along alot easier to grap an float if she has any muscle cramps an such than tryin to put on a pfd .
A stirrup an paddle float self rescue for yourself may come in handy .
couple o blow up life rings in a net bag could hold water an snack while she floats on it , that way yer not touching her if I understand the rules.
The thing thats gonna get ya in trouble is the thing ya don’t plan for .
Good ideas , an I like that both of ya will practice practice practice
M
Elephant Butte best but…
It’d be the best bet but it’s not really close. I know because I’ve spent years at sea and a few days or so on and off on the Butt. The differences are enormous. Lack of waves and current mostly but also a vastly different feel to things.
Also my schedule makes it somewhat dicey to do this even if I had a kayak to just grab and go. I plan on buying the Adventure there and either keeping it at a friend’s house after the event or selling it back the dealer. I bridle at buying $1,500 / boat here for practice and then buying it there to use. It doesn’t seem shippable and anyway, really have no way to stow it here or to carry it from here to the lake.
Sometimes you just need to take a chance on performance. My concept is that anything my wife can swim, I can paddle. After all, the elements of effort are extremely different. My guess is even if I feel fatigued, then my sense of shame were I to seem tired would appear and pull me through.
Concerns
If I fail in my SAG duties, I can call on my friend standing by who can continue in my place, but with a less desirable craft (motorboat) but one which will permit her to finish the race. I would use the motorboat (it’s offered) except for the exhaust and propeller danger, but those can be addressed with decent seamanship. Since my friend almost lives at sea, I trust he has this ability. I do too but I am preferring a non motorized method for aesthetic reasons.
Before I committed to this, I did check the typical wind speed which is 8 kts. There is a 20% probability of a windspeed =>B4 so I do have a 20% chance of having a rough go of it. If, though, the windspeed is typical, the conditions will be light and that’s my 80% chance.
My concerns if, in fact, the conditions are rough, caring for my wife will be foremost and way ahead of concerns about my endurance. Feeding a person in the water from a light craft with 2m swells or chop will be a huge issue and way more of one than if my arms tire.
Club
I am working now to contact the local club to see what sort of local information the people of it can provide.
Puget Sound is NOT the open ocean
I’m going to throw a bit more cold water on this even though your intent is clear.
Your wife’s time in the cockpit paddling around Puget Sound does not automatically qualify her to judge your ability to support her in the open ocean regardless what her experience is. Being an instructor here in the Puget sound area I can tell you that many people just get lucky and don’t suffer an incident and paddling around in the San Juans in a Klepper (it sounds like that’s the boat your wife has) with her dog is not open ocean paddling.
Don’t do yourself the disservice of thinking that sailing and kayaking are even remotely similar, the only thing they have in common is both are water craft.
Another thing to think about is the amount of freeboard you have in a SOT, it’s a lot! This will catch the wind and make you life miserable in holding your position.
Like I said, clearly you are going to do this regardless of advice to the contrary and I’m just not convinced you are going in with you eyes open. You’re relying on your wife’s assessment even though she has an agenda and there has been some good advice given here that you have no plan on taking i.e. practicing on Elephant Butte, contacting a paddling club to escort her, etc. Additionally you’ve made it clear here that you have no real intention of being able to provide rescue and that you’re simply a roving pantry. Pretty weak.
Odds are that nothing will happen(see statement about the lucky). The best advice I can give you given your clear intent, is to get a NOAA chart and read the pertinent sections of the Coastal Pilot (this is available online for free) to learn of tide rips and other hazards to navigation.
What you’re talking about is a serious undertaking and it just doesn’t feel like you know how to take it seriously.
when you learn to paddle
make sure it comes from your torso, not from your biceps at all. Your arms are just guiding the paddle, the drive is coming from your mid core. If you paddle with your arms you’re going to be fatigued in no time with eight miles left to go. Brent Reitz, Ben Lawry, and Greg Barton all have good DVDs on forward paddling technique. You might be able to find things on line too. Good luck!
It costs a bit more
but if you’re going to get a boat, why not get what you want? Something you can use in the future. Something that fits your life style a bit more. I’m going to suggest a Feathercraft Java. It’s like a sit-on-top that you can take with you. So you buy one, paddle it where you live, and then take it with you broken down. It costs a bit more, but you can see the advantages. (We’re going to make a kayaker/gear whore out of you yet!)
http://www.feathercraft.com/kayaks/airline/java/index.php
http://feathercraft.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2009/03/dive_gear.jpg
http://www.sit-on-topkayaking.com/Images/Inflatable/DuncanSayers/java_beach_sm4.jpg
http://www.sit-on-topkayaking.com/Images/Inflatable/DuncanSayers/java_beach_sm3.jpg
Great … try posting
On www.sit-on-topkayaking.com forum and on the
“Getting together and going paddling” forum here.
The sit on top kayaking forum has a list of clubs.
All it takes is one class
I’d take a forward stroke class from a recommended instructor. Then you’ll be able to paddle all day without tired arms if you are reasonably fit.
No current, but you can pick windy days
Wind waves on the res are still waves, even though they won’t have the heavy feel of ocean surf (that’s the best way I can describe the difference). Certainly better than only paddling calm water. Even if you aren’t concerned about tippiness, bucking a strong headwind or crosswind is hard work and will test your ability to maneuver.
You can also go on a windy day when there’s lots of powerboat traffic randomly roaring around.
“Closer” is way better than “skip it because it’s not identical.”
Since you asked for input, you got it. That includes some advice that you don’t seem to want to hear. The very fact that you wrote about your arms getting tired suggests that you would do well to take a lesson or few now, and practice a lot.
If you flounder in the Leadville 100…
you just sit there and wait. No chance of drowning or of being swept to ???? by tidal streams.
SOT?
Thanks, Sitka. As to doing it no matter what, it’s not that I am ignoring the advice here but rather give greater weight to my wife’s advice and her desire to have me around to support her rather epic swim. Yes, I will give it a go unless my practice indicates I’m out of my league.
That’s the side I wish to emphasize. I am not showing up at the site, buying a kayak and then, the next day, setting off on my first kayak adventure as SAG for my wife. I will have had over a week daily in the kayak paddling / footing in the actual waters I’ll be supporting my wife in. If the week’s practice doesn’t prove to me that I can do it, will NOT do it. Participating in this event isn’t as important to me as seeing that my wife has adequate SAG.
So if the day approaches and I believe I can’t do the work properly, what would I do? Well, there are a few things. First, I’d contact the organizers and say my plan to SAG for my wife isn’t going to happen and ask advice. Second, I could always just use my friend motorboat (offered) and stay a bit further off until she signaled the need for support.
I appreciate the warning advice I have gotten here and dismiss none of it. I would only ask in return that those giving the warning recognize that I will not be doing this cold but only after having been on site for a week, in the water and the kayak for a week and also that my desire isn’t to paddle the day away but to support my wife’s efforts.
Also a Adventure isn’t a SOT (sit on top?). haven’t clue why anybody would wish to sit on top of a kayak.
OK.
You got me there. I got no reply except I don’t plan on giving my life to this adventure.
SOT?
I thought SOT was ‘sit on top’. Why would one wish to sit on top of a kayak? You mean use it as some sort of log conveyance?
The boat I have in mind is one which operates like a boat. You sit IN it, not ON it.
Muscles
Not to be technical here, but I don’t see biceps as overly involved. Were I to guess I’d suppose the lats were foremost and the delts also majorly involved with the bicepts third. I may be showing my ignorance too.
I don’t own a kayak and while I would like to have one on the ocean, piddling about these pissant lakes here don’t do much for me. I have no interest in whitewater kayaking (the major kayak event here) having done whitewater rafting which was kinda thrilling but not my style as I’m a peaceful sort of fellow. My wife got interested in whitewater & learned to eskimo roll - something I’d prefer never having to resort to because being upside down underwater worries me. She seems ok with it.
If time and circumstances permit, I will take your and others’ advice. I will buy or rent a kayak, haul it to some water and paddle around. I would like if we got two and my wife could also come along & instruct me as to technique. It may not be the ocean, but it will be better than nothing.