This little tidbit from a Paddlewise email.

From: Duane Strosaker
Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Catalina for Lunch Crossings, 38 NM-Video Report

snip... I'm 5'10" tall and at first I used GPs that were 88" long. In the surf it felt a bit long, so I made an 84" long one, which felt really good for distance too. Since then all of my GPs are 84s, and I use them for everything: crossings, touring, rock gardens and surf.

On crossings I try to eat about 250 calories each hour and drink at least every half hour. Typically for the 19 NM Catalina crossings I'll drink 3 quarts of water. I only stop long enough to drink, eat and pee. You may be interested in my group crossing procedures: http://www.rollordrown.com/tips/cross.html

I don't worry about actual speed. How my body feels is much more important. On long paddles I try to think of doing walking effort, a pace you could do all day and still enjoy it. On one crossing, a friend took the lead for an hour, and during that time, he really jumped up the speed.

Afterwards, I asked him why he paddled so fast. He said his GPS (I hate them) indicated we were going a speed that he didn't think was fast enough, so he speed up to what he thought was a good speed. I told him to "F" the GPS and go by how the body feels.

As far as avoiding cargo ships, a few times I've been in the fog and avoided them by listening to their horns, which they are required to blast in the fog. If you can cross a street safely, you can cross shipping lanes safely. It's the pleasure boaters zigzagging all over the place that freak me out.

Duane
Southern California

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...and I'd like to share THIS brutal slap of reality with others. Makes me evaluate the impact of my choices on my family and friends. No sport is 100% safe and it's up to each of us to make good, well-informed, and unfettered decisions EVERY time we paddle. I honestly try my best, try to stay objective and aware, and I hope that I never become a sad story for others to take heed from.

I'd like to think my years as a go-deep, go-grotty, caver prepared me for the tough decisions. Thanks Brad.

~d

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An interesting read that might help prevent shoulder injuries HERE.

Some interesting new links on K1 paddling techniques. Most of which are refinements of basic kayak skills. Thanks to Peter for pointing me this way.

http://www.olympiatoppen.no/fag/basistrening/Idrettsspesifikkeovelser/idrettsteknikker/page194.html technique videos of Norwegian Eirik Verås:
...and
http://flatwater.info/ Lots of good video footage at Flatwater.info
...and
http://bloggen.motionspaddla.nu/ In Swedish but Lars Ericsson offers some excellent information on his blog.

Emptying a flooded kayak

I'm looking for the best way to empty an unbulkheaded kayak on the water and came across this on QajaqUZA's site. Remains to be seen if it works but I'll try it out.
~d

"I use the technique that Chris Cunningham shows in his book Building The Greenland Kayak. Stand at the bow of the kayak with the kayak right side up, push down on the bow so that the water will all flow down to the bow and hold it there for a minute. then quickly lift the bow and rotate the kayak so it's upside down and the water will run down the fore deck and out the cockpit. This works very well for me. Hope it makes sense."

Dewatering_And_Self_Rescue.pdf

Who designed this thing?

Look at the girth of this kayak... yikes. Hate to be the guy paddling this mule in anything but a tail- wind. I'd call this a case of severe over-compensating for a perceived flaw.

Becher Bay and Pool Session

Paddled with the Sunday group out from Becher Bay to the point. Weather was warm and the paddle pleasant. Ten paddler's in total. Really nice way to spend a day. Hopefully I'll get out on more of these as I'd like to continue developing and refining my guiding style with groups before I decide if it's what I want to do for a partial living. I tend to be very watchful, a result of my emergency response background. Safety first, especially with an unknown group with unknown skill levels. I'll loosen up a bit now that I know the paddler's needs and styles better.
Time on water - 4 hours.

Went to the pool for a training session in the K1, balance keeps getting better, only thrown off twice all night and diabolically sucker-dumped by an evil, evil man... all in good fun of course... *wink*

All this sculling is giving me bulges where I don't seem to remember there being bulges before.
Time on water - 2 hours

Couple of videos of Harvey Golden, kayak historian showing off one of his favourite kayaks. Not too keen on the idea of denim for paddling... but hey, who am I to dress others. Cotton is truly nasty when wet though.






Time on water (two outings) - 6 hours
Time volunteer guiding - 4 hours
Time volunteer instructing - 1 hour

Portage Inlet and Pool Session

Spent 3 and one half hours paddling the K1 in Portage Inlet and the Upper Gorge. What a slimey mess in the farthest reaches of the inlet... ewwwwwwww.

Good news is that my head didn't go under on the capsizes, the bad news is that I accidently ended up in a disgusting oil slick which left all my gear slimey... took the hose and shower to it all. Big thanks to my paddling partner for the day Neil for repeatedly pulling me out and helping me get the water out of my... errrr... the... (as of yet unbulkheaded) hull. The pace wasn't fast most of the time, in fact it bordered on full turtle ahead.

Later on went to the pool and kept her upright for most of the night. Few spills but my balance is improving dramatically now.

Canadian Champion Adam Van Koeverdan has beautiful technique.


He's in #3, white kayak with red nose in this one...


bunch more...




...above all, paddling should be fun!



Time on water - 6.5 hours
Time volunteer instructing - 0.5 hours