[Paddlewise] slow paddler's complex

At 04:48 AM 1/30/01 -0800, you wrote:
>I work with a knotmeter sometimes to fine tune my forward stroke.


jed!  knotmeter, knotmeter, knotmeter!  where do you get one and are they 
expensive?

i too have "slow paddler's complex".  however for me it is at least 3/4 
psychological.  i was always the last kid picked for sports teams, and only 
like sports where there IS no team.  i am sure i'm always going to be the 
worst, and feeling like a geek seems to be my default setting.

  yesterday my husband and i went up the petaluma river in mild chop 
against the current (this was on purpose....we *do* read the tidelog).  i 
knew we didn't have much time (1----2 hours before we had to get the kid 
from school) so i really turned it on.  in my little beamy boat i felt like 
i was getting some good momentum going, with, of course, some stops for 
herons, cormorants, rafting-up practice, and an absurdly muddy naked barbie 
doll afloat, which we caught and saved (just TOO weird) for a possible 
kayaking-finds collage someday.

in the afternoon he said, "when i paddle by myself i generally like to go a 
LOT slower than that.  i like to be steady, but not push too hard so i can 
see more birds, the sky, and just enjoy myself."  GOOD GRIEF, charlie 
brown!  he is so strong, he was a wrestler, i was just going that fast 
because i thought HE would!  and because i thought i wouldn't be able to 
keep up with him!!!

so i'd like to go out on a trip (with beginners, just for sport <hi 
scott!<g>>) and see how i'd do keeping up.  i do much shorter strokes than 
i was(thank you marilyn and many others for your suggestions) and things 
are feeling effortless, and FASTER.  the beginners could be my 
knotmeter.  oh by the way none of this is to imply that i am, after about 7 
months of kayaking, anything MORE than a beginner.  i meant first-timers, i 
guess.

nonetheless how does the knotmeter work, how $$ is it, and where can i get one?

going to look it up on the web,

kcd




kathleen comalli dillon~friend, mom, wife, musician, violinist, writer, 
ailurophile extraordinaire
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We can do no great things; we can only do small things with great 
love."-Mother Teresa~~"I find a lot of people like chubby 67-year-old 
girls."-Beverly Sills~~"I care not for a man's religion whose dog and cat 
are not the better for it."-Abraham Lincoln~~"Prepare to be 
assimila-----OOOOOoooooo, jelly donuts!"-Homer of Borg~~"I am Boris of 
Borg. Moose and Squirrel are irrelevant."~~

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