[Paddlewise] Kayak clinic

Well I made it back alive!  Actually the weather forecasters over predicted
on these storms and it wasn't that bad.  We had a good amount of sunshine.
Saturday it rained almost all night and we had some gusty winds but it
wasn't horrible.  Had a great weekend we practiced all different rescues,
paddle float, T rescue (I'll bet that is nearly impossible in rough water,
assisted, assisted rolls... phew all those rescues in chop are strenuous I
am sore all over today. Doing rescues in the wind is great practice and it
teaches you to hold on to your boat; the cold water is incentive to do it
fast.   We practiced towing into the wind, boy was that a drag.  We also did
some on land clinics such as map and compass, knots, rescue and repair
equipment, we even made bread in the evening.  I wish we had reviewed the
proper protocol on a vhf radio.  Sunday I worked on all my strokes, forward
and reverse sweep, bow draw, sculling, bracing.  I knew most those strokes
but the critique was invaluable and I improved my technique tremendously.

We didn't get a chance to do surf practice. I have done surf clinic with
them before and they are reluctant to teach side surfing. They teach you to
back paddle on a crest of a wave and come in on the trough.  That method is
extremely exhausting, I was wonder what you folks do in the surf seems like
I see lots of folks side surfing in. Any suggestions or thoughts... does
coming in with a loaded kayak require different technique than an empty one?

Oh yeah I did one really stupid human trick, I forgot my tent :-(  I had a
big nylon tarp which I pitched low and managed to stay dry.  From now on my
spare tent will live in my van.  I had my tent packed and ready to go but
somehow it never appeared in my van, must have been the trolls.

Thanks again for your encouragement it was a great weekend.  Now I need a
little recovery time.  -- MZ

visit my website:
http://www.mzuschlag.com

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