Good point. I had not thought about it quite in those terms.
I often think in those terms. I also contrast a totally freelanced paddling experience to lots of other nature adventure experiences that are more organized and scripted almost where there is a high degree of someone else looking after you at least to some extent.
Many years ago when I was a young man we quite often drove down to WV and went on whitewater rafting trips thru an outfitter. At that time they gave you an hour of instruction fit you with a PFD and we would all pile in an old school bus and really the bus ride on those steep winding narrow roads was likely the most dangerous part of the whole day. Once to the put in there was more instruction and introduction to the pros in rafts and kayaks the would guide us for the day. Before each tough sections we would pull over and instructions on the next rapids was given.
After a number of times some of my friends suggested we buy our own rafts and save a lot of money. I didnât feel comfortable with that and liked the idea of the kid in the kayak ready to snag me if and when I went for a swim.
In todayâs world I notice so much of our entertainment is scripted and young people not realizing the risk involved with doing stuff, or at least underestimating the risks.
If anything I like to feel I have over prepared rather than leaving to chance.
I guess that might be part of learning to paddle where I changed my thinking a little.
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I switched from a superb full carbon solo canoe (Swift Keewaydin 15) to a kayak after coming within an hour of being windbound in Algonquin. (I later heard 17 people had to be ârescuedâ from the far end of Canoe Lake that day). That was a dicey paddle down the lake in the canoe, but it would have just been a boisterous paddle in the kayak. Now if I can only figure out how more easily portage the kayakâŚ
I prefer my solo canoe, but sometimes a kayak just makes better sense. Good story.
The difference between knowing âweather can change fast on the lakeâ and experiencing âweather can change fast on the lakeâ is about the same as the difference between experiencing fast-changing weather on a 10-meter (3 and a half ton) sailboat and experiencing it in a kayak.
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When I first started surfing my sea kayaks at the beach and started learning to deal with breaking waves, that was a big change in thinking. I had a solid roll, both sides. But I realized my balance and bracing up to that point was all about being upright and balanced, and quickly regaining upright and balanced anytime I felt like I was, or might be going off-balance. Always edge - never lean type thinking. Then I felt the power of broken waves on all that volume of a sea kayak. A âlow volumeâ Greenland style kayak still has 15 to 18 feet (or some such length) of volume to be pushed around by a breaking wave. It isnât just wind acting on freeboard anymore. Itâs broken water acting on the entire kayak. And itâs also acting on your body when a wave comes over the top of the kayak. I very quickly realized that some herky-jerky âthrow-a-braceâ emergency recovery stroke needed to be revisited. Going to completely off balance and back to balanced over my kayak needed to become relaxed and fluid. Leaning into the paddle support and returning that balance back over just the kayak needed to become relaxed and fluid. Once I could fluidly rotate back up 25 degrees, 30 degrees, 45 degrees, rotating a full 180 degrees from upside down was rarely necessary. But it was that realization that if a wave is going to push you off-balance because of the intensity of the break, hoping that you can anticipate all the force against you and your kayak perfectly each time so that you can simply remain balanced upright over your kayak is a lot like gambling. You can only win some percentage of the time. Youâre going to find yourself off of the body-over-kayak balance sometimes. Committed practice made regaining balance much more of a fluid stroke and much less like throwing a brace. When youâre not worried about a need to maintain perfect balance over your hull, when things can shift on and off balance and shift from the kayak out to the paddle and back over the kayak fluidly, everything becomes more relaxed and more fun, and capabilities increase.
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Well-put, @CapeFear - Iâve got some of that realization in my head, but Iâm getting it into my guts/body now.
I went out on Lake Konstanz and it is like a giant ocean. I finally let the wind blow me to shore and I climbed into a tree. One guy was walking with his GF and he quickly looked away like he didnât see me but another guy (Eastern European) strolling with his GF ripped off his shirt and helped me out of the tree and get my boat over the seawall. Itâs going to be awhile to live that one down.
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