Today I drove down to Monterrey to pick up a wet-suit I'd ordered at MBK and decided to take a demo ride on a Heritage Shearwater. Conditions couldn't have been much better, super clear, sunny day, temp. about 60 degrees, about 6-12 inch breakers and clear water, guessing at least 30 feet visibility. In spite of all this I soon discovered that there is an astronomical difference in stability between my fat short Cobra Explorer, 11 ft. 7 in x 28 in. and the Shearwater which is 18 feet x 24 inches and has a kind of high seating position. I fell off 6 times in going about 50 feet. That was in about 3-5 feet of water so getting back in wasn't a problem but I definitely found out that I need to take some more classes (a whole _lot_ of them?) and do a lot of practicing in a boat that feels a little tippier than mine before I think about buying such a boat. If I were a macho dude I would have really felt trashed as there was a real little blonde gal, looked about 5-1, 110 lbs. max, around 35-50 yrs. demoing a Futura II and loving every minute of it. She really made that thing move! Sure made me feel incompetent. She'd been kayaking for 6 years and I'm almost at 6 mos. Oh, well, I've always taken a long time to learn physical things that require coordination and reflexes; things haven't changed. I know I can 'get it' if I just practice long enough. When I think back at how I used to fall over my own feet (literally) in beginning Aikido classes (1962) and how students at the police academy (1972) would comment on how fast I could move as I flipped them around I have hope for improvement. Now if I can just keep from getting in a crack and drowning myself before I develop some skill....... :-) *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
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