>wind punchers You can plan specific experiments/training for paddling stretches of windy and exposed water ; there is always a lot of way for improvement, as an individual or as a group. Seee below for ideas As one will guess I have a sailing sailing instructor (glenans - (some of you might know about glenans) background to start with (10 years ) ; I discovered sea kayak with Glenans 15 years ago and focused on it 4 years ago helped by someone (an old timer of sea kayaking in France) called Guy Cloarec, in Paimpol. I now paddle sprint racing kayaks for fun/exercising or sea kayaks for touring/expeditions around Brittany France either with my SO or as an instructor/group leader. As I work for Sun in Paris, my club, ACBB, is located on la Seine, close to la Tour Eiffel ! we also paddle with other clubs in Northern Brittany/France beetween Ile de Brehat and le Mont Saint Michel or in the area of Brest/Crozon. I have also paddled in the bay area/San Francisco although I cannot understand why people there wants to give me a paddle that is 2.40 meters long. Thanks for this list and for all the postings I have been reading during the last three months. Good balance beetween facts/stories/debates/discussions/ jokes. I also appreciate the broad watercraft/outdoors focus. rgds Marc Chapuis : 1st contribution PS : ideas - Think you "sail" your kayak close-hauled while paddling and try not to "punch" headwind ; very few people have enough power to keep this going on try altering your course by a few degrees (<10 ) right or left of the direct course ; it can make it easier to breathe/paddle/slide through the waves ; and you get the benefit of our body+hull as a sail area. Small benefit but it pays ! try to anticipate wind shifts announced by the shipping forecast ; look for local effects (shelter, places/stretches of water where the wind is stronger/slower ) : watch and optimize your course ! try to figure out which wind the next cloud or group of clouds is going to bring ; if you paddle long hours you will experiment changing patterns, wind slightly veering or backing, gusts/lulls, wind steadily changing direction ... ; planning r anticipating these changes will make a huge difference in your CMG and VMG ; speed up when the wind direction is improving for you, speed up in lulls ; keep a low/ steady pace during gusts watch the waves/ watch the tide/watch the current : there is always some combination or local effect that is going to help you sooner or later it is good for morale to realize that you have food for your thoughts. Call it a fight, call it playing go or chess, playing cat and mouse : it doesn't matter as long as you can stick to it ! - WATCH : Learn the Beaufort scale in full details regarding to the effects on land and to the effects on stretches of water : forget about instant speed of the wind ; you don't need it ; think by yourself/watch/ and do not rely solely on weather forecasts or on reports from coastal stations ; sailors who designed the Beaufort scale were navy officers of the age of sail ; they had no weather forecasts ; they had gunnery problems in mind or specific manoeuvers with square rigged ships of the line that were slow and cumbersome ; specific landings/towing/soundings problems ; they wanted a reliable way to plan exercises/manoeuvers together as squadrons/fleets/combined groups of small crafts, a reliable way to report in their logbooks the state of the sea and of the EFFECTS of the wind. - Paddle as groups : don't let the wind punchers of your group ruin the trips ; it pays to teach weaker paddlers how to catch waves, how to catch the wave of other kayaks or the distant wave(s) of any other boat, to learn how to shelter themselves behind the powerhouses of the group ; powerhouses/leaders can also optimize the way they lead/protect others while paddling ; competitive marathon sprint racers know a lot about this and are a very positive source of information improve your timing as a leader : it is hard to decide when to help/when to raft the group for a pause, or when to push everyone to its maximum speed : takes time to learn that and be comfortable with people/kids you didn't know a few days before ... - Learn about yourself and experiment before you plan any trip : . can you breathe comfortably while exercising and facing the wind : most people simply can't perform because they have never tried these conditions ; weight lifting will not change that ; gym clubs usually don't throw wind and spray at their members ... It takes time to adjust to this environment . wind takes water and energy away from your body/face/mouth to begin with; wearing a cap and drinking frequently will help going on. Besides, remember, you have to think about your course, you have to use your brain, your eyes, your ears ; take care of them ! - Make yourself comfortable with your paddle/your boat/your paddling style: . I had the wrong idea that open canoes couldn't be paddled solo safely upwind in windy/choppy conditions ; changed my mind after reading one of the books of Bill Mason (Path of the paddle) and exercising the positions/paddling styles he is recommending with my Discovery Scout : it simply works, I had to learn. . some sea kayaks definetly do better than others but most of the popular ones "work" as advertised ... : I paddle sprint racing boats, a very seaworthy seakayak, a Catchiky(designer Loic Bourdon) from french company Plasmor + foldable Nautiraids (a double expedition grand raid) + a Greenlander MKIII all of them have their pros/cons/fine points ; each one needs a different attitude/paddling style/power upwind : bottom line is you have to experiment/adapt/understand their designs and get the best of them . oh, almost forgot : pick the right paddle for yourself, for your kayak and for what you planned ... things go real bad if you are wrong *************************************************************************** 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 Fri Oct 16 1998 - 09:25:41 PDT
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