Kayak training (Day 1)
I went down to Parys, South Africa with a few friends for a kayak training weekend. It’s the same location where I did an adventure race a few weeks ago. My cousin organized the trip, since his cousin (confused yet) is running the kayaking school there. Unfortunately my cousin tore three ligaments in his shoulder three weeks earlier. He fell on his shoulder after trying to jump a poorly built mountain bike ramp. Pitty. Had to go for an op to reattach the ligaments. Ouch.
We went ahead with the training, starting in the pool at our campsite. We practiced falling out of the kayaks and being upside down for longer periods. After that, we practiced the rolling motion by pressing on another boat or the side of the pool for leverage. This was child’s play and enjoyed this a lot. Next came the hard stuff.
Rolling with a paddle looks tricky… and it is. At least for me (and a few others). I understand the action and could probably teach you how to do it, but doing it is a different story. Some of the other ‘trainees’ manage to get it done by sheer force. I’m quite skinny so that didn’t quite work for me. Another canoeist chick also managed it on the first go… which is like a kick in the crotch for the rest of the guys there. Hehe.
After the pool training, we went down to a rapid and tried to cross into eddies over the eddy-line. The eddy-line is basically the part in the river where the current speeds up when the water flow between rocks. This didn’t go any better than the rolling. I fell out the kayak a billion times and near drowned myself a dozen other. Not being able to roll is a huge disadvantage and also a lot more dangerous.
I was dead at the end of the day and also quite down after my dismal performance in the water. Felt like packing up and going home, but decided to stick around for the next day when we’ll just be running the river without really practicing the rolls and eddies too much.
Logbook Activity
- Type: Other
- Date: 03/29/2008
- Time: 10:00:00
- Total Time: 1:30:00.00
- Calories: 500
*We must have been busy for 4-6 hours, but it wasn’t constant paddling, so I’m only logging 1:30:00.
Filed under: White Water |
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