RE: [Paddlewise] Skills: bracing, rolling.

George Bergeron wrote:

>         Not an indestructable attitude, I'm trying to find the median
> on all
> this. 
>         The instructor I'm referring to is half my age (he's 23) and
> big on
> the "adrenaline" stuff. He's an avid fan of surf yakking, likes to
> head out
> in storms and heavy seas, and is beginning to get serious about white
> water
> and diving off waterfalls in a boat. So that's one end of the kayak
> paradigm. 
> 
>         On the other end, I paddle with people who never go out in
> open
> surf, stay away from rough water, and just plain don't roll. That's
> maybe
> the other end.
> 
>         There's a creew in Seattle that has practice sessions before
> group
> paddles around the Gulf Islands. That seems somewhere in the middle.
> 
>         So I'm "testing the waters," trying to appraise what sort of
> skills
> I need to yak safely where I want to go. I suppose what I'm trying to
> figure
> is if the proposed lessons are training me to be a kayaking "hot-dog"
> or
> just ensuring that I don't end up being "turkey sausage."  
> 
> 
> Learning to roll is _much_ easier with the help of a friend or an
> instructor.  I read and read and flailed about for weeks on my own.
> (Boy was my wet exit smooth!)  Then a single day working with a
> patient friend and I was rolling.  Knowing how to roll is not a bad
> thing, not knowing how to roll is not a bad thing either.  Being able
> to quickly and reliably self-rescue is a very, very good thing -
> regardless of the conditions that one chooses to paddle in - and it
> doesn't matter how you do it.
>   _Rescue_ skills are not ordinarily needed when one is paddling in
> conditions that are comfortable and match the paddler's expectations.
> The surf-yakker's roll is not a "rescue" skill per se - it's simply a
> part of the normal and expected conditions.  It's when the conditions
> _change_ that  rescue skills may come into play.  Most of us (ok, it's
> a gross generalization) won't set out on a journey in conditions that
> we feel are dangerous - but sometimes even benign conditions can turn
> nasty with frightening rapidity. Having a skill set that enables you
> to deal with conditions beyond the expected is what I feel constitutes
> good rescue skills - whether they be self rescue or directed at
> providing rescue to others (both are important).  Maybe it's that old
> Boy Scout adage that was drilled into me so many years ago - "Be
> Prepared".  There aren't any penalty points in this game for knowing
> too much - the penalties for not knowing enough can be pretty harsh.
> 
> Dave Seng
> Juneau, Alaska
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