[Paddlewise] Vertigo, solid paddle float/paddle breakage--better way

<No I'd venture a guess of tension. I haven't had it quite that bad but I was

trying my first rollin really cold water, with my drysuit. I had never tried 



rolling in really cold water and was particularly afraid of the ice cream 


headache. After that first one I felt fine but that first one made me feel 


dizzy for a moment.>


 


I wasn't tense, Joan.  I'm extremely comfortable rolling and underwater.  It
was really odd.  I couldn't feel where up was.  I could see where up was
because there was no water there, but when I rolled up I couldn't tell where
the top was, so I kept going clear over to the other side, where I sculled for
awhile, because that doesn't require any balance.  After awhile I could feel
my sense of orientation coming back, and I sat up.  I might have gotten some
cold water in my ear.  Isn't the equilibrium thingy in the ear?





 I do my paddle float rescues the way they show in the video, "Performance Sea
Kayaking".  I hold the shaft of the paddle behind the cockpit combing with my
forward hand, and swim/surge my chest onto the rear deck BEHIND the cockpit
and paddle.  I lift the ankle of my forward leg onto the paddle shaft, then my
second ankle, then the first leg goes into the cockpit, then the aft hand goes
to the paddle shaft, then the forward hand goes onto the rear deck, then the
second leg goes into the cockpit, then I turn forward facing the side the
paddle is on as I rotate.  (It is something like that, anyway.  I just do it.
I don't think about it.)  The paddle is not under any deck rigging.  If I
carry a solid foam float under the front deck rigging I can fit it to the
paddle under water, before exiting.  My capsize to recovery time with such a
rescue is about 30 seconds.  I think this method is physically easier than
most, faster, and is less likely to break a paddle.  Your weight will be on
the boat and on the float, and very little strain needs to be on the paddle
itself.


    


 






***************************************************************************
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/
***************************************************************************