[Paddlewise] maiden voyage with vertigo & sculling braces

I've used my new Eddyline Falcon 18 twice in the swimming pool, and once in a
small lake, none of which seemed like an appropriate maiden voyage, so
yesterday I went on an Easter paddle in Skagit Bay.  I took in Hope and Skagit
Islands, got into some boat wakes and tide rips, and thoroughly enjoyed my
first real paddle in six months.  I began the maiden voyage inauspiciously.  I
tried a roll, and, as soon as the cold water engulfed my head, I got vertigo.
I've never had it happen before.  (I always wear a light neoprene hood to
protect me from cold shock.)  I didn't lose my presence of mind, but I was
sure weirded out.  I rolled up, failed to stop at the top, and fell over to
the other side.  I caught myself on a brace, sculled a moment, and then
managed to sit up and balance.  I took a couple of breaths, and did several
rolls on each side.  No vertigo.  Huh?!  


    I almost bashed a rock as I was sprinting around the end of Hope Island.
I saw a big salmon swimming half of its length out of the water as it chased
something onto the beach on Skagit Island.  I stopped and stretched my legs at
the campsite on Skagit Island where my wife and I camped on our honeymoon.  On
the way back I wondered if I'd be able to find water deep enough to paddle
through between two halves of a ridge that stretched across my path.  I
tentatively nosed into the gap, and then shot through at high speed as the
flood tide took me through a fine, deep channel.  For some reason I really got
off on it.  I did a bunch of rolls and sculling braces, and really enjoyed my
new boat, and the custom cockpit I made for it.  It was a very gratifying
evening.  


    I'm curious:  How do the rest of you sit up from an in-the-water scull?  I
sweep forward and follow with my body, then sweep back and roll up on the rear
deck.  I have to push down a little bit with my paddle as I come up on the
deck.  It is very secure, but I don't quite like having to push down that
little bit.  When I roll I don't have to push down.  The difference is that
when I roll the boat is upside down until I snap it up, and then it pulls me
after it.  When I scull, I hold the boat semi-upright, so at the end of the
scull I have to get back on the boat without that helpful rotational momentum.
I'm getting a little body english by going forward and then back, but not as
much as a roll.  Has anyone found a way to get some of that same cocking
effect that one gets from doing a roll, into the finish of the sculling brace?
(My boat has quite a bit of volume, this is not one of those low rear deck
Greenland types.)





Ken Rasmussen






***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed
here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire
responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author.
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************