Spiritline…
… out of Anacortes Washington. Great inflatable, 400 denier nylon, stiched and glued. I have several and like them a lot.
As for getting instruction or not… I can always tell the “do-it-yourselfers” from the people who were humble enough to admit they could use some help early. There is a big difference between thrifty and cheap, but to learn that lesson, it is often necessary to pay the instructor.
Hmmm…
The other side is that I’ve seen plenty of folks who paid and took lessons. Watching them perform, I try give the instructors the benefit of the doubt and write it off to the variations in individual physical abilities.
sing
Between your legs?
Hi Matt,
Do I have this right? You wedge the float in between your legs and up against the deck? If that is correct, how do you perform an assisted rescue? At some point you will be on your belly with legs sliding in the cockpit, then you must turn over to completely get set into the cockpit. The one leg must cross the other which is why a foam pillar with a leash seems to me to be not so good. I believe an assisted rescue is a much more common rescue when paddling than a foam or inflatable paddlefloat rescue, unless you paddle solo.
Rob G
Instruction is worth it
I know that you are self taught, but the key probably is that you didn’t ‘teach’ yourself in an hour or two on how to do all these things. It was practice and determination.
You can’t do a lot of practice in a couple of hours - no-one expects the students to be proficient in such a short period of time. It’s up to the student to complete the learning experience (if it is even ever ‘completed’).
A lot of people come to classes not knowing what end of the boat is front, and are terrified of being underwater capsized and trapped. Going from that to being able to get back in their boat is excellent progress in several hours. Some people just don’t hae the strength, agility or mental focus to perform some feats. Sometimes it’s a mental barrier; self practice, another instructor or other motivation is all that is needed.
Instruction doesn’t necessarily need to be paid: but with pre-defined courses, you at least know that you’ll be taught something. This is teaching, not coaching. The ability to perform (a self rescue with paddle float) is down to the individual, not the instructor, and the achievement may come well after the instruction period.
Having said all that, I like a double-chambered paddle float, with a ‘mesh’ at one end (so the water drains out of it. Double chambered floats (with both chambers inflated) seem more ‘stable’ than a single chamber.
If You Read Up A Couple Of Post
– Last Updated: Jul-05-05 7:31 PM EST –
you'll see that I agreed that instruction is the "fast track" for most folks. I just disagree with this notion that paid instruction is the only way, or that somehow that someone who doesn't perform a specific technique well must have been "self-taught." That would be the equivilent of me blaming instructors when I see folks who have taken multiple lessons who still can't perform as well as some folks who are self taught. And, to state unequivocally, I don't blame the instructors en masse when students can't perform. Rather, I am trying to point to absurdity of the other statement. My point is that there ARE different individual capabilities, physically and mentally, in any pursuit, as you noted as well.
sing
The value of professional instruction
The primary benefit of professional instruction (ie instructor makes his/her living at it), is that to be successful the instructor has to be able to not only introduce the skills, but develop activities that address each individuals learning style. The more you teach skills the better you can become at identifying and correcting mistakes in technique before they become embedded. I have met paddlers with great personal paddling skills that had trouble sharing them because they did not have good teaching skills. Great instructors measure their success by their students success.
Falcon
Agreed What You Presented Is The Ideal…
about good instruction. The “value” of anything is set, however, by the person assigning the value, or not.
sing
Value
It is important to remember the difference between price and value. The price is what you pay and the value you is what you get.
Falcon
Vote for Foam
It’s big, it’s bulky and I had to get extra recessed deck fittings on my Explorer LV to carry the thing. But my big red foam float from Northwater has spent more time off my boat being used as an aid in various practice sessions than any other float in the group because it is so easy and available.
Or you make your own - cut and shape foam them use stretchy velcro straps or duct tape around it to help hole you paddle. Cheap. works great and consumately replaceable since you usually have to buy a good sized sheet of foam. or share it with your friends.
Cheers, Falcon!
Too many people look at the price of something without looking at its worth. Congratulations for not being one of them.
A lot of very good and reasoned opinions here. Thanks!
Cheer On! I Am Sure Everyone
gets their “value’s worth” no matter the costs. Just like most boats get rated 10’s. 
sing
If you’re just
– Last Updated: Jul-06-05 1:20 PM EST –
getting a paddle float, you may not have a pump, and they sort of go together, sooo, Seatle sports has an inflatable float, pump, leash and whistle, basic safety kit for around 50 I think, it is a good deal for the lot. I must admit, I haven't tried a foam float, but I did the instruction with the inflatable and was pleasantly surprised how easily it works, when you got someone to tell you how to use it. I give it a 10/10! (Just like my boat.) Just one possibility. (The practice was very very instructive, aside from learning the basics, I have removed all the crap from my PFD that was getting caught in the rigging as I re-entered. I guess there is just no substitute for practicing.)
Lesson not always better for PF re-entry
Believe it or not, there are nuances to PF re-entry. The way I’ve seen/heard most commonly described has the paddler getting across the cockpit (in front of the paddle and float). This was the way taught to me in a lesson. It worked for me, but barely.
Later on, I experimented by getting across the rear deck instead of the cockpit–MUCH easier, more stable, easier to enter the cockpit from, etc etc. Rear deck is always lower than cockpit coaming. And with torso across rear deck, inserting legs into cockpit is much easier than if torso is across cockpit. So why is the across-cockpit method depicted as the “correct” method??? I don’t get it.
BTW, after I discovered that “my way” worked infinitely better than the “correct way”, I saw some photos at Nigel Foster’s website showing paddle-float re-entry. Those photos showed “my way” of doing it. Ha, I am vindicated (just joking).
not sure
who you took lessons from but…we teach a not RIGHT and WRONG way but the WAY that works system.
It is WAY easier to come up abaft of the paddle, like a cowboy scramble.
Our typical R&R (Rescue and Recovery) course is 8 hrs. It’s plenty of time to have a instructor guided self discovery session to find out what works best for YOU.
steve
CHEER ON is right
you want a good value in instruction?
take a lesson from Falcon. He’s good.
steve
Who would have guessed…
…that Falcon had a vested interest in promoting professional instruction? 
Whether he wants to admit it or not, there are other options that are equally effective. For example, the club I belong to offers free, mentoring-type instruction programs/skills sessions that are VERY effective and reach a lot of paddlers who would not pay for “professional” instruction. The other advantage of this type of training is that we have the opportunity to work on many variations of rescues that cannot be covered in a single beginner’s course, resulting in paddlers with a broader range of rescue skills.
While I don’t dispute the value of GOOD professional instruction, most paddlers won’t pay for it at the beginner level.
Don’t You Know?
y’all doing it wrong 'cause there ain’t an ACA/BCU instructor type overseeing it. Don’t matter that you have successfully used it in real conditions 'cause an ACA/BCU type can just tell you went the cheapo route just by looking at you. However, someone who has taken tons of lessons and blows it is still in the development stages…
Talk about self serving… LOL!
sing
sing
good point
IF you have a decent club in your community. The key to a strong paddling community is the cross pollination of ideas and communication amoungst it’s members!
steve
Just for the record,
I also have a vested interest in wanting people to take lessons. Which is not to say that it is the only method of learning. Clubs are a wonderful incubation zone for great paddling knowledge… and there is no substitute for getting out and finding what is best for you on your own and with friends.
What baffles me is the knee-jerk reaction that some people have toward kayak instruction, as if taking a course is an admission of inadequacy or a personality flaw. I went skydiving; I took a class. I bought a good camera; I enrolled in a photography course to get the most out of my new purchase. We put our kids in Driver’s Ed classes because we know that they have value. Why then does the testosterone of some people flare up at the mention of taking kayak classes?
There are those out there who know more about kayaking than I do. I make it a point to seek them out and take a class from them. I paddle an 18-foot touring kayak, with lots of room for storage, but I don’t have room for my ego.
It Flares Up When I Read…
– Last Updated: Jul-07-05 1:50 PM EST –
blanket statements as yours above because I think it's self serving. If you read any of my posts for the past three years, you'll see that I almost always encourage new folks to seek lessons as the fastest way. I, however, don't believe that ACA/BCU has the lock on knowledge.
sing