[Paddlewise] Diehard Dinker in Santa Cruz

I was out surfing my new surf kayak at Steamer Lane, my hometown break ,
yesterday instead of surfing the web, so I guess I'm a little slow in
responding to confusion about the "head dink." But as one of the
misunderstood co-authors of the phrase "Don't underestimate the power of the
head dink." that Sir Derek took exception to, I'd like to throw my two cents
into the fray.

While I'd love to take credit for being among the first on the wave
extolling the head dink's virtues, I'm merely a writer reporting what I've
seen. As Steve Cramer pointed out in his post (thanks Steve), notables such
as Tom Foster, Kel Kelly and Slim Ray have been writing advocating paddlers
to "aggressively fling your head toward the working blade" long before I
thought about putting it in print. However, I do have a thing or two to add
that I hope will further illuminate the reasons why the head dink (or
whatever you want to call it) works.

As further explanation, let's examine the very name "C to C." If you are
bracing or rolling on the right side, for example, in order to form the
first "C," you put your ear up against your left shoulder. As you come up,
to
form the second "C," you'll need to drop your head down to the right
shoulder. I have found that if you don't move your head all the way from
one shoulder to the other, emphasizing a full "C to C" motion with both your
upper and lower body, you'll lose just a little oomph on your braces and
rolls. Call it "bringing your head up last," if you prefer, call it
"flopping," if you must. In our local dialect we call it the "head dink."
Without this motion the move becomes a somewhat less effective "J
to J" (or at best a  "J to C") instead of a nice, full "C to C." A good head
dink can add just enough punch and pizzazz to turn that teetering,
almost-made-it roll or brace into an upright success.

The reason I teach students to use a more vigorous motion in addition
reminding them to "bring your head up last," is for emphasis. If I can get
students to focus on including their heads in a full, crisp C to C motion, I
find they are less likely to get sloppy and fall back into the J to J. And
their braces and rolls improve.

As far as any potential neck injury from dinking is concerned, all I can say
is that in my somewhat limited experience, I've never seen any. Of course
I'm a relative newbie compared to the likes of Derek Hutchinson. I've only
been teaching kayaking full time for the past 10 years and have only one
book to my name. I do, however, try to keep informed on current technique,
and I am an ACA-certified Instructor Trainer Educator (for those uninitiated
in the ACA pyramid scheme, Instructor Trainer Educators are the ones who
train and certify Instructor Trainers who then train and certify
Instructors). In addition to training instructors, my partner Jan Shriner
and I also teach classes from first time beginner to several surf zone and
advanced rock garden classes each month for about 10 months of the year. So
far none of our students has ever hurt themselves by dinking too hard. But I
will definitely caution them toward more responsible dinking in the future.

Roger Schumann
Assistant to the Head Dink
ESKAPE Sea Kayaking
Reputation for Excellence--ACA Certified
(831) 427-2297.  Web Page: http://www.eskapekayak.com
authors of Guide to Sea Kayaking Central and Northern California


***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not
to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission
Submissions:     paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net
Subscriptions:   paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************