Lest people think my first sour apple of a paddle spoiled the barrel, I'll hurry to write of the great experience I had on day two. I wasn't sure there was even going to be a day two, frankly, as I was still wearing the same gear. But I think Jen, who knows Dave and I asked Sean to cut us some slack, as I wasn't escorted off the beach the next day. My confidence was a bit ragged from my jaunt at Lime Point the day before, but the day was looking up. I was in the Tidal Race 2 class and my coaches on the day were Ben Lawry and Garth Schmek. They seemed quite ready to get down to business. I admit most of my kayak knowledge comes from seat of the pants learning, so it was good for me to get some practical knowledge from people who knew what they were doing. We started out with some balancing exercises on the sand which quickly showed me these guys new their stuff; I was already learning of some of the mistakes I've been making off on my own. They asked us our hopes and expectations on the day and I told them I wanted to paddle about half a mile and spend the day playing in the tidal races. They liked that idea! We hit the water and Garth and Ben let us know right away, rolling and swimming weren't an option. Darn it if I wasn't already hot being as I'd added my wetsuit top to my ensemble anticipating some wet work. But at the end of the class, they told me that was just the point! They weren't trying to melt me, they were trying to get rid of my resignation to the thought that capsizing wasn't a bad thing. It was time to step up to the plate and expect to hit a winner. Yellowbluff was the ultimate destination, but we spent some time on some basic strokes waiting for the flow to start. After quite a bit of back paddling and bracing, we took a break on the beach for some diagramming on what we be doing on the day. As the flow picked up, we went out to get our feet wet in the race. We worked on spawning and attaining and breaking in and out and ranging in the fast moving water. With only four people in the class, either Garth or Ben were handy to let us know what we were doing wrong and what we were doing right. We worked on attaining our way past the point, something that would have helped me the day before with my trial at Lime Point. As the flow increased, we found ourselves in some pretty challenging water, at least for me and the Lollygagger, but we all managed to stay upright. When we stopped to take lunch up on the rocks, we got to watch the Tides 3 class come by and shred the increasing race while sailboats out in the channel battled the current to try an make their way in. G&B never stopped giving advice and pointing out tricks as the advanced group played. Back on the water, we worked on ferrying back and forth across the race and then fell back to a spot where we worked on letting the tide spin the kayaks around using the cockpit as the axis. I had been able to do that a bit at Lime and it certainly is a skill that would come in handy to get you turned around in a tight spot. Throughout the day B&G had reminded us to keep a smile on our faces, we were supposed to be having fun, but sometimes when you're concentrating on new skills the smiles have to wait. By the end of the class though, there was no holding them back. Ben and Garth left us all with a positive feeling of our accomplishments on the day and confidence to face further challenges. I'm not a fast learner under the eye of a teacher, but I know I learned plenty to keep me busy as I try to incorporate their teaching in my everyday paddling. Mark Sanders www.sandmarks.net # *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
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