Chasing Two Stars

This may sound hypocritical given that I've previously said that chasing BCU stars is silly for recreational sea kayakers, but I really wanted to nail my BCU 2 Star assessment.
Last summer I took a 2 Star training with H. Greg Paquin was doing a series of 2 Star trainings and a number of the RICKA sea kayakers took the training over the course of the summer. It is a good overview of basic boat control skills. H and I can always use a brush up on basic skills.
Greg, and his partner Paula, do a great job teaching people across various levels of experience and skills. Both H and I enjoyed the class and got a lot out of it.
At the end of the day, Greg offered us the chance to assess for the 2 Star award. The RICKA paddlers who taken earlier sessions had all taken the assessment and passed, so I figured I should take it as well. I also figured it shouldn't be too difficult to pass....
Well, at the time I choked and didn't pass. I spent the winter and part of the summer smarting from that. I know that I've got the same basic skill level as the paddlers who passed the assessment, but just couldn't get my act together enough to assess. Getting the 2 Star became important As a point of personal pride.
So, I practiced the basic skills whenever I had the chance. When Greg offered me a chance to assess this past weekend, I jumped at it. I was a little worried that I'd choke again, but was willing to take the chance. One thing I had going for me was that I was too tired, babies are not conducive to sleeping, to over think things.
Greg ran me through the paces and this time I passed. One of the nice parts of the assessment is that it is more than a test. Greg pointed out areas where I can improve my skills throughout the exercise. For example, he pointed out that I don't consistently face my work.
Now that I've assessed for the 2 Star, I'm actually thinking about taking the 3 Star assessment..... After taking the training again.

Friday is for Fun

I missed the kayaking fun over the fourth of July weekend because H and I were off having a wholly different adventure. The following weekend was filled with family adventures and adjusting to the reality of having a small child.
So when BH sent an e-mail around asking if anyone was interested in playing in the lunar currents at Westport at the end of the week, I immediately asked for permission to paddle. H, knowing that I could easily go mad without regular ocean adventures, granted me a day pass with the condition that I didn't do anything stupid. (Imagine me doing something stupid.)
The weather was perfect for a paddle: hot and sunny. We met at 1:30 and took our time getting on the water. I, as usual, took more time that the others. I was in a bit of a sleep deprived fog which I hear wears off when the kids turn twenty five.
We paddled down to he mouth of the river and found things to be pretty calm. We puttered around for a bit while the current built up. BH and JS were itching for some big surf, but I was more than happy to putter for a bit. I just enjoyed the freedom of being on the water.
The race never built up any good standing waves, but it did offer some nice conditions for practicing skills. We played with leaning the kayak when crossing eddy lines. TM and I did some rolling in the current. I practiced some basic boat control stuff.
It was enough to ease back in after a two week hiatus. Also, my head was not fully in the game. Half of my mind was thinking about the bug. It was strange and wonderful at the same time. This will take some adjustment time.
I enjoyed my time on the water and returned home recharged. Paddling, while not as important or as enriching as family, plays a big part in maintaining my sanity. Still going home was extra nice.

The Long Two

When a paddled is listed as a 2/3 you can never tell what you are going to get. When it leaves from the Bay Campus the possibilities are limitlessly good.
The possibilities were reflected in the number of paddlers who showed up. For the first time in a while a RICKA paddle have twenty plus paddlers. The group ran the gamut from old hats to new faces.
The large group size and open ended trip description was exciting. However, I was very glad that I was not on the hook for coordinating the trip. Any group of paddlers presents coordination problems (there is a reason it is called herding cats). A large, diverse group exacerbates the issues. Balancing the desires of the advanced paddlers with the needs of newer paddlers, ensuring that everyone enjoys themselves, maintaining safety, communicating plans across twenty kayaks..... Not an easy task. CC and RB managed to pull it off with aplomb by staying firm, but flexible.
We started out by crossing from the Bay Campus to Ft. Getty and then working our way south along Jamestown. The light winds and small swell meant that the newer paddlers could comfortably get some open water feel. The rocky shore line offered the more adventurous paddlers a chance to play.
I took it easy and just worked on my forward stroke and edge control. I needed some calming Zen time. Life has been stressful lately and many of the stresses are outside my sphere of control. Kayaking offers a nice balance between control and no control. It happens in real time. The ocean is beyond control, but how the kayak responds to the ocean is controlled. The awareness helps me bring the rest of life back into perspective.
We lunched on a low tide beach before reaching Beavertail.
After lunch we turned north and returned up the coast following our original path. Once we reached Ft. Getty, we continued on to circle Dutch Island. We hoped that we could catch a glimpse of the air show from the northern tip of Dutch Island.
We stopped at the northern beach on Dutch Island. Most of us got out of the kayaks and lounged on the beach and watched for planes. I decided to perform stupid kayak tricks along with a few others. I tried and, somehow, pulled off a forward finishing pry roll. I nearly did a butterfly roll. My regular roll was in fine form.
The return to Bay Campus was the only real challenge of the day. The wind had picked up and was blowing west to east-in our face. The wind was not blowing fierce, but it was blowing consistently. With a large group wind makes sticking together requires the advanced paddlers to ramp down to the pace of the slower paddlers. If the advanced paddlers take off, the slower paddlers struggle to keep up, tire out quickly, and start making mistakes. All in all we did a good job keeping it together.
Back at the beach, I tried a few more pry rolls. None of them were successful, but they were close. I need to spend some more time working on the technique. You cannot power a pry roll, it is all about getting your body to move through the right positions and using its buoyancy to roll the kayak.
To finish the day on a positive note, I did a few regular sweep rolls. They were perfect.
Not a bad way to spend a day.

Safety Practice 2010

I like the annual safety practice. It is valuable to get the the group of people you paddle with together to practice rescues. It is also good to teach newer paddlers basic rescues.
One of the things I learned at the RWS is that when the poop hits the fan knowing how the people with you react is invaluable. It helps when deciding what options are open. It makes it easier to coordinate. It also helps your general confidence.
Paddlers who know how to do rescue and how to be rescued are generally calmer in emergency situations.
The one rescue I never liked was using a stirrup. I know it can help a swimmer get back in their boat, but it also leaves them encircled by a loop of rope. I'd much rather just use a scoop to stuff the swimmer in the cockpit or find some other way to get them to climb out of the water.
Speaking of the scoop... It is hard to manage with a heavier paddler. TM demoed the scoop using H as his rescue dummy and made it look easy. When I tried stuffing him back in his kayak I nearly busted a gut. It took a while to find that sweet spot on his hull where I could get the leverage I needed to right his kayak.
One nice trick TM showed us was leaving the paddler face down on the deck when doing the scoop. It makes keeping the swimmer low to their deck. It also means you don't have to risk damaging a possibly injured back as much.
You can always learn new tricks!

RWS Day Three

H, who did a girl's paddle with CC and MA, snuck into the campground Saturday night to get some snuggle time. Unfortunately, what she got, was sleeping in the car. There were thunder storms in the area, and, as I discovered using a quick Google search, tents offer zero protection in thunder storms. In fact, you may be safer outside the tent than inside the tent. So, we repaired to the car to wait the storm out, and spent the night there.
Fortunately for me, I can sleep just about anywhere and managed to get enough sleep to be ready for a third day of hard paddling. The lack of sleep may have dulled the ache from my overworked muscles. I was a little more stiff and my back was beginning to hurt, but all in all I felt pretty good.
Turner and Cherri were still around, so I intended to learn as much as possible. My plan was to work on my forward finishing roll, and, possibly, sneak in some stroke work.
The venue for the day was once again the Narrow River mouth. With the new tide rip that forms at max ebb, the mouth of the Narrow River is a one stop shop for the gamut of kayaking conditions. It has currents, a tide race, surf, and rocks a plenty. Even the Brits were impressed with it.
Cherri and Turner used the morning for rolling work. They started off with Cherri demoing the basic rolls. Her rolls are things of beauty. They are effortless and graceful.
After the demonstration, the split us up into teams of two and had us start practicing. They worked through he group offering tips and pointers to everyone. It worked out well. They got a chance to see where people needed help, and we got to simply practice and integrate their comments.
The basic forward finishing roll is a pry roll that looks a lot like a low brace. The foundation skill is a chest scull where you scull face into he water. While it sounds counterintuitive, it actually provides a lot of power. The trickiest part for me is getting my shoulders square to the water without pulling the kayak on top of me. From the chest scull, you roll up by prying the blade across the front deck and driving your knee up to right the kayak. It takes a lot of stomach strength and body control.
The first lesson for me was taking the time to make sure the kayak side of the blade was deep and my shoulders were square. The blade points out of the water away from the kayak so that when you pry the blade across the deck, it provides leverage. Once you begin the pry, you need to keep your face down and sweep your nose across your knee as your knee finishes righting the kayak. It is a little like an upside down twisting crunch. I managed to do a few, but I tired out quickly. It is something I will need to practice at the pond over the summer.
After lunch we started off doing basic strokes in the river. It was a nice warm up, but not terribly rewarding. Apparently, my strokes are pretty good. I did practice my draws and other strokes in the hopes of polishing them up enough to pass the two star this summer.
Once Turner and Cherri were comfortable that everyone in the group could handle the race, we headed out the mouth of the river. The race was mayhem. There were close to twenty kayakers trying to work the race and they were not well coordinated. Turner was insistent that we follow a clear pattern of running the race and pealing off to the side to retune to the head of the race. We were not to paddle up the center of the race because we would get in the way of someone playing in the waves. I did see one accident where a kayaker surfed into a pair trying to return up the middle of the race. The surfer dumped before there was a collision, but it was close. It also meant that a rescue needed to be done in the middle of the race.
After trying to get a few runs in the race and being frustrated by not being able to find any clear paths, I moved south down the beach to join a group that was surfing in the shore break. The conditions were small, but good. The waves were predictable and breaking a nice distance off shore. I caught a few sweet rides. One in particular was near perfect. It was a long smooth ride where I was in total control of the kayak. I should have called it a day after that, but was in the grip of surf fever.
The surfing was an perfect end to a challenging and educational weekend on the water.
The coaches and organizers did a great job of putting the event together. If they do it again next year, I highly recommend it.