Paul said: "One vivid GP memory is sitting under a tall bluff and waiting out some wind 'dumps' that came down and hissed across the otherwise flat water - kicking up little whirls of spray. I've always remembered them with my reaction at the time 'sh#t - this has to be 50+ knots'. For a few minutes, I was in 'brace to survive' mode, low to the deck and GP held low & centrally - equally out on either side, as I was struggling to stay head-on to the rock wall and keep whatever shelter I could get. The ease of doing a slap-brace on either side with no hand movement - and no wrist rotation (un-feathered GP, of course) was certainly something I valued in that particular experience - and something I continue to think of as a benefit of the GP." -------------------- Thanks Paul! Finally, someone that "Gets It" !!! Chuck Sutherland *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Paul said: >>>>"One vivid GP memory is sitting under a tall bluff and waiting out some wind 'dumps' that came down and hissed across the otherwise flat water - kicking up little whirls of spray. I've always remembered them with my reaction at the time 'sh#t - this has to be 50+ knots'. For a few minutes, I was in 'brace to survive' mode, low to the deck and GP held low & centrally - equally out on either side, as I was struggling to stay head-on to the rock wall and keep whatever shelter I could get. The ease of doing a slap-brace on either side with no hand movement - and no wrist rotation (un-feathered GP, of course) was certainly something I valued in that particular experience - and something I continue to think of as a benefit of the GP."<<<<<< - -------------------- Chuck Sutherland responded: >>>Thanks Paul! Finally, someone that "Gets It" !!!<<<< That may work with a Greenland Paddle and I want to say up-front that I don't have experience with Greenland paddles in extreme winds. I have lots of experience with Euro paddles in extreme winds though as I used to go out in storms that later were given names (like Friday the 13th Storm) for the challenge and the experience and to learn what worked best in them in the way of strokes, feather angles, and survival preparation. I was using several Euro paddles, and different blade sizes and shapes. When the wind was really extreme I tended to stick with the left feather that I knew but in strong but managable winds I paddled with several different feather angles to determine how much less than 90 degrees I could go before the paddle became very akward to handle. Those who use less than 70 degree feather (or more than around 20 degrees) may be in for a rude shock someday when they have to deal with an extreme wind they are trying to go into. If it wasn't for wind I'd probably go to 45 degrees but after experiencing differen feather angles in strong winds I'll only go to 75 degrees. I was doing these experiments when almost all paddles were 90 degree feather. My first paddle came with the $50 WW kayak I bought used in the last half of the 1970's was unfeathered and one-piece. After paddling into a strong wind in one of my earlier paddles I cut that paddle in half and put a sleave and a 90 twist in it and duct taped it back together. Paul seems to be saying he was keeping his bow pointed toward the cliffs and I'm taking it to mean that that was also primarily the direction the gusts were coming from (am I correct in that assumption?). When the wind gets so strong that to use the paddle to take a stroke is to risk losing it one of the toughest things I've found to do is to keep the kayak pointed into the wind (especially if the gust lasts for some time). What worked best for me was to point the paddle into the wind and put the windward blade in the water or on its surface so the wind couldn't get under it. I would think the gust would have to have been pretty short to keep the kayak pointed into the wind with an unfeathered paddle held in the middle across the kayak as Paul describes. Once the kayak was blown sideways an unfeathered Euro paddle would be at great risk of the wind getting under the leading blade, lifting it and therefore sinking the downwind blade (or letting go of the upwind hand) and then have the wind blow the kayak sideways over the buried downwind blade. Keeping the upwind blade in the water also works with extreme gust from the side. You can usually sea thestrong gusts coming over the water and have time to set up and be ready. This pointed into the wind blade in the water also lets you lean on it some to lean into the wind gust. There is more than the usual support from a brace because the kayak is being blown sideways across the water (so the paddle blade is supported by the relative current flowing under it). It seems to me the last thing one would want to do with an unfeathered paddle would be to brace downwind because a gust tipped you that way while you had the paddle evenly across both sides. That would result in the braced blade snagging the water and the kayak being blown over it. A longer Euro paddle would just offer the wind that much more lever arm to take the paddle over your head. My experience at that point (if I had been unable to twist the shaft to spill the wind) was that the prudent choice was to let go with the upper (upwind) hand, but hang on with the lower downwind hand. Once the paddle was flipped over flat to the water downwind pick the paddle up (pointed into the wind) and bring it back into paddling position (but now with asymetrical blades anyway--upside down). If you don't let go then, your next move is likely to be to try an Eskimo roll. They are nearly impossible back up into such a wind and coming up on the opposite side with the aid of the wind it is easy to keep going too far and roll again and again until you roll just hard enough to end up in the (high--wrists below the shaft) bracing position (into the wind) that I found to work the best for me in that situation. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Paul said: >> One vivid GP memory is sitting under a tall bluff and waiting out some >> Wind 'dumps' that came down and hissed across the otherwise flat water Matt said: > Paul seems to be saying he was keeping his bow pointed toward the cliffs and > I'm taking it to mean that that was also primarily the direction the gusts > were coming from (am I correct in that assumption?). Natasha & I had been paddling (in singles) with strongish off-shore winds all day and had been very conscious that prudence dictated using the land to shelter us. Openings in the shore (rivers & harbours) were crossed with energy and concentration - after assessing the current wind strength. We had no desire to wind up 'all at sea' ;-) So, we both had an immediate reaction - when struck by these sudden gusting wind dumps - to keep head-on to the shore and resist being pushed away from it. I guess it just followed on from our thinking all day. The actual wind dumps seemed to come down from the cliffs above and were quite uncharacteristic of the day's wind pattern - which was a steady westerly (we were heading north on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula). I must also blush and admit that my memory has played me false. The wind conditions were as described, but Natasha just came and looked over my shoulder and said I was talking cr#p - we were both still using Euro blades. I wouldn't have believed it was 7 years ago... but we just looked up the photos of that trip and, as usual, she was right ;-) So we survived it with Euro blades and not even our early Mk 1 GPs, much less our Mk 2 (few inches longer) ones. She commented that her memory was of bending completely forward, doing a constant brace with paddle dug in on either side to retard being blown backward. Best Regards Paul Hayward, Auckland, New Zealand (Temporarily in Alaska) *************************************************************************** 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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