Re: [Paddlewise] Ripped Out of the Cockpit?

Several years back I was playing with a plastic sea kayak in the surf at 
Long Beach. Just as I completed a roll I was broad-sided by another large 
wave. Since I was playing too much attention to my sweep and hip flick and 
not enough to keeping my knees locked against the deck, I found my self 
doing a text-book brace on the wave, marred only by the minor detail that I 
no longer had a boat. Depending on whether you're kayak-centric or 
paddler-centric, you could say the boat was sucked away from me or 
vise-versa.

MORE BELOW SNIP

>I attribute these embarrassing and sometimes dangerous events to a number 
>of
>things:
SNIP
>2.   Slippage.  I have had problems with seating surfaces which were too
>slippery (an outfitting problem), but also when wearing multiple layers of
>clothing -- due to slippage between adjacent layers.  During warm-water /
>cool weather paddles, I sometimes wear lightweight goretex pants over poly
>long johns  These slippery fabrics have made bracing and rolling precarious
>for me on occasion.  Again, this is more likely when paddling a boat which 
>is
>not optimally fitted out for me.

I'm big fan of applying lines of Shoe-Goo, Aqua-Seal and similar rubbery 
goops to things to increase traction. I've used it successfully on my 
cycling over-booties, the bottom of my winter camping down booties (prevents 
that embarrassing glissading back down 2000 feet of snow slope when you're 
answering nature's call in the night)and on the top of my self-inflating 
sleeping pad to grip my sleeping bag. You can sprinkle the drying goop with 
salt or sand for additional grit and grip - the salt rinses away but leaves 
a grippy texture.
On your own boats you could try this on the fabric of the seats - and I 
suppose if you really put function ahead of fashion you could goop the knees 
and bottom of your Gore-Tex pants for use in loaner and rental boats.

Philip Torrens
N49°16' W123°06'


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