-----Original Message----- From: owner-paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net [mailto:owner-paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net]On Behalf Of Kirk Olsen Sent: Tuesday, September 22, 1998 7:30 AM To: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subject: [Paddlewise] Chicken Kayak Surf Safety <snip> After a quick dejanews search: Someone advocating leaning back versus tucking forward. FWIW, Corran Addison is a whitewater rodeo paddler. -------------- Corran Addison is a champion WW rodeo paddler. He needs a very quick, very reliable roll. A failed roll could cost him the contest. OK, all that aside, his roll is also very efficient...duh. <Another snip> OK, lets look at this. Lean back exposes your face. Hummm. A smack in the teeth, maybe a few scars, broken nose. Not much fun. Whats the alternative. Leaning forward. Expose the spint between the top of the life jacket and the helmet - C1 through L5. Can you say Christofer Reeve? Not nearly as appealing as losing a few teeth is it. ------------- There seems to be a big difference in the difficulty level between rolling a WW rodeo boat and a touring sea kayak. For one thing, the deck is much lower, especially behind the seat. Most of the sea kayaks that I've paddled don't allow me to do the same style of roll that I do in the river. I simply can't lean back (unless my butt comes way off the seat). I could do a one-hand roll almost 100% of the time in my last river boat. I'd start with the back of my head nearly touching the rear deck. I'd end in a forward tuck. I can't come close to doing that in a sea kayak. <snip again> Lastly, with your eyes open in this position, you can see the rocks comming, and if necessary, let go of the paddle and fend them off. ------------- Whoah! It is true that the forward tuck exposes your neck. I can't see how leaning back doesn't do close to the same. I mean, if you're being tumbled in the sand-filled surf, you're not going to open your eyes to look for oncoming rocks. With your eyes closed, a rock or something could hit you in the face hard enough to twist your neck violently. Did Christofer Reeves land on the back of his head/neck or did he land face first? It doesn't matter I don't think. He could've broke his neck either way. Of course, if he landed on his face, he might be without teeth in addition to being paralyzed :-( One of the best way to avoid problems is to choose your waves very carefully. Cheers, Dave Dave Williams, SeaCanoe Training Director Home tel: +66 76 254-514 Work tel: +66 76 212-252 Fax: +66 76 212-172 dave_at_seacanoe.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Sep 22 1998 - 08:40:44 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:29:59 PDT