Re: [Paddlewise] BCU kayak entry & exit

Andree said:
<SNIP>
I think using the paddle behind the seat just the best way to go. It's
so natural for me I don't even think about it anymore. It works
from a dock, in surf, seal landing, adjacent to a beach, in a river
- - I've even used it to get part way out when I couldn't land and
had to go  to the ladies room....and
if the shaft breaks, it should just be replaced by the manufacturer.
<SNIP>

I couldn't agree more. I think this is a good entry/exit to first teach. If
you have a light weight shaft just be careful to not put all your weight on
it, fall on it, or lever it hard against something over too small an area of
the shaft.
I think that one of the reasons that this entry/exit is so secure is not due
to the paddle being there though, it is because holding the paddle to the
back of your cockpit forces you to put the weight you are transferring to
the boat right over the center line of the boat. Once you understand this
there are many situations where you can dispense with the paddle. Most
notably, when next to a dock where the dock height may not be ideal for
using the paddle due to the angles involved or risk of paddle damage over a
hard edge.
Side note: I have seen three paddles broken by a cleat on a dock. This
danger is not  obvious so I want to point it out. If you put the paddle
under the cleat (or under anything that will restrict it from being able to
move upward while the shoreward end of the paddle can't move down you risk
breaking that shaft (even strong glass ones) by levering it up under the
cleat. This is because the weight you are removing from the kayak (whatever
you weight) will allow the water you had previously displaced to force the
shaft up under the narrow edge (such as the bottom of the cleat) with up to
the force of the weight you just removed from the kayak.
Nobody would fix the paddle firmly over the edge of the dock and then stand
on the overhanging blade because the risk to the shaft is intuitively
obvious (but not that much different as far as the paddle is concerned than
getting out of the kayak with the paddle rigidly fixed down to the dock).
Matt Broze
http://www.marinerkayaks.com

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