Hey guys, I just rec’d a new Supratex Glacier.
It has a strap going across the skirt, whats that for??
It also has a different outer material than the
Glacier I got last summer, (only difference in the order was small instead of medium tube for my girlfriend). It fits her and the kayak well, just wondering why they put a strap across your lap on the skirt, to hold maps? clip on cellphones?
I also got a new CF Lendal straight shaft, expected 0 or 60 feather but it is “switchlock”,
variable 0 to 90…a nice surprise, I guess
(I usually use 0, probably from GP usage).
Strap
On other sprayskirts I’ve seen, the strap replaces a grab loop for pulling the skirt off the coaming . . .
My strap…
Holds water bottles, map case and other things.
Not sure what it is really for… GH
Yep
For those embarassing times when you get the regular grab strap INSIDE the skirt :)oops!
thanks for response.
A second grabloop make sense I guess, If it was
for Me I would probably cut it off, but my girlfriend may find it useful…and safer.
I just got a new one also
I’m not thrilled about that second strap, which is supposed to be a backup in case you tuck the main loop under the skirt (DOH). I might even cut it off.
Then again, maybe I can clip a map case to it.
Can knee off
One added benefit of that strap is, if properly placed, it’ll make it easier for the paddler to just lift their knees and bring the skirt off rather than have to find the grab loop. In certain conditions, or if you are dealing with a paddler that may be prone to panic, that could be helpful. I’ve contemplated adding that strap on one of my older Glacier skirts for that reason, especially since I have a boat that is useful for others to try out. (though on a recent paddle I found it probably wasn’t necessary)
My only complaint about the SnapDragon skirts is that I always have to add plastic tubing or a wiffle ball or something to make that grab loop likely to be grabbable if wearing heavy gloves. But they wear like iron.
knee strap
Immersion Research has a new skirt ‘Shockwave’ (2005) that has a Knee Strap on it…i have it for my touring boat in case i cannot get to my grab handle quick enough (ie heavy bracing and wanting to bail out at the same time)…
Not sure I understand.
If you are bracing, why would you want to bail - aren’t you still upright?
If you’re not upright, why are you bracing? Either roll or wet exit.
Seems to me, you should be able to hold your breath long enough to grab a grab loop.
Panic - it’s not about time
If someone hasn’t experienced panic from being under a boat, it’s unlikely they’d understand. I started out on the cusp of absolute panic myself from staying in the boat when I started to learn to roll, so tend to prepare for the possibility if others or even myself in case a whole lot of stuff were to go wrong all at once.
If you are truly panicked, the thought process to find that grab loop doesn’t exist. It could be the size of a volleyball and hanging right under your hand and it would still be of no use. But the impulse to get out of that boat no matter what will usually cause someone to lift up their knees to push themselves out of the boat. So any skirt that is rigged for a knee strap or loose enough to come off easily is safe.
There are instances where it is so bad that someone swallows a lungfull of water before even trying to exit, and there’s not much you can do about that except make darned sure someone practices wet exits in conditions with the most stringent precautions. But more often than not an easily released skirt will be enough.
(I can’t believe the tight skirts that some paddlers are started out in learning to roll. All it would take is one true panic response in something so tight it won’t release without pulling forward from the grab loop to really ruin an instructor’s day. And it’s at worst a little time-consuming to have to periodically stop to pump out water.)
An alternative view
"I can’t believe the tight skirts that some paddlers are started out in learning to roll."
In my opinion, people should not be “prone to panic” if they are trying to learn. One of the big helps to learning to roll is to be able to hang out under the boat. Some one learning to roll should be quite adept and comfortable with wet exits.
So, the tightness of the skirt should be irrelevent to people learning to roll.
Surprised coaches
– Last Updated: May-09-06 5:09 PM EST –
Yes, wet exits should be solid first. And a solid wet exit in safe conditions should indicate that the paddler is ready to calmly wet exit if things go south - they unexpectedly capsize in regular paddling conditions, they fall out of the footpegs and are just loose in the cockpit, or they go to setup and find that they are unexpectedly disoriented.
The operative word is "should". There are any number of things that can happen which are surprises, and having a calm and thoughtful wet exit in predictable conditions doesn't mean that it'll be there the first time or two that something goes unexpectedly. I had that happen to me, something similar happened to a solidly credentialed coach off of Cape Cod several summers ago and I think a coach weighted in with a response not long after that was reported - maybe in Sea Kayaker - about having had that kind of surprise with one of his student.
I think I recall correctly that the BCU issued some revised recommendations on what kind of skirt to put on newbies after the cape Cod incident, but don't quote me on that.
This is hardly a majority response - for most people the should works. But it'd be hell to find out the hard way that someone is among the minority.
This isn't just my own view, by the way. I know some awfully well-respected coaches who are very cautious about how tight a skirt someone uses in off-balance work until they have a good gauge of their skills and experience.
Tough call, for sure
and even more difficult for the coach/instructor.
If I were in that kind of position where I did not have as much time to spend with the individual paddler I would also probably opt for a looser skirt fit.
Seems like a valid method to avoid catastrophe for newbies that don’t have enough time upside down to really know if they’ll panic in an unexpected capsize.
Panic can easily turn a mere inconvenience into a potentially lethal situation.
Holmes
Tough call, for sure
and even more difficult for the coach/instructor.
If I were in that kind of position where I did not have as much time to spend with the individual paddler I would also probably opt for a looser skirt fit.
Seems like a valid method to avoid catastrophe for newbies that don’t have enough time upside down to really know if they’ll panic in an unexpected capsize.
Panic can easily turn a mere inconvenience into a potentially lethal situation.
Holmes