After so many years paddling and sailing on water it took a switch to a new sport to give me some insight. I finally realized that some activities are more difficult than others. This isn't as stupid a realization as it sounds. You can get so deeply into a sport that you can fail to understand just how incredibly complex it is and how daunting it might be for a newcomer to grasp its subtleties. The reason I say this is that in July I bought a mountain bicycle and started riding it. I had ridden bicycles before, of course - only a small minority of North Americans haven't - but riding on trails on fat tires was going to be absolutely new to me. I was prepared for a long learning curve due to inevitable technical issues that I knew I had no experience with. What I wasn't prepared for was the simplicity of it. Years of kayaking and sailing had made me expect certain things from a day's activity. I was used to thinking about weather conditions, tide conditions, water temperatures, distances, escape routes, geography, hydration, nutrition, fitness, apparel and equipment before starting. Most of these are pretty easy to ignore when you get on a mountain bike. For instance, if I capsize my kayak in Puget Sound I will probably find myself in a completely different environment with a new set of issues to deal with. If I fall off my bike I might get hurt but the environment doesn't change much. If I find myself in a situation on my bike where I am uncomfortably aware of my inexperience I can just stop and walk the bike or even carry it out. Or I can just get off and sit down and rest. Take a nap. Relax. Think it over. These are unfamiliar luxuries in most of the kayaking I have done. This gives me a new appreciation of just how a new paddler might feel when presented with the subtle complexities of kayaking. Why so many of them look at it and say to themselves, "How hard can it be?" The answer is that it's often not hard at all. But unlike so many other physical activities it can go from easy to life threatening in a few seconds with no way out. It's difficult to explain that to someone with no experience of a tidal stream against the wind, or following a compass course when the fog rolls in. A mountain biker falls off his bike he just gets up and gets back on; for a kayaker this is a major skill and the complexity of it has killed many paddlers. Because of this nearly-invisible complexity the most important skill to a paddler is, in my opinion, judgment. It takes some experience to be able to look at a body of water and integrate weather and your own skills to be able to know whether or not it's safe for you to venture out in your kayak. Not to mention what sort of equipment you should take along. Sometimes a VHF is important, sometimes a GPS is important. On certain waters a drysuit is a critical piece of equipment but on other waters it's superfluous; or even dangerous. So many things to consider. The only other sport I've done that compares with kayaking in complexity is soaring. But it's no trick to imagine that flying an airplane that has no engine might be complex; even to a complete novice. Yet many of the same judgment calls are required for both disciplines even though the technicalities of the two are quite different. What all this means is that paddlers face a bit of a dilemma when introducing friends to the activity. How can we express the complex nature of the sport when it just looks so damn simple? And how to do it without scaring them off. After all you can buy a shiny new mountain bike for just a few hundred bucks. Getting equipped to kayak is considerably more expensive. It's just something to keep in mind. While it looks easy, it's incredibly complicated in subtle ways. Judgment rules. Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA www.nwkayaking.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/ ***************************************************************************
It's more than "control" or I could achieve that by sorting the silverware drawer. But you are right that I much prefer to be the one "doing" vs "being." It was uncomfortable for me to park my car in New York City and rely on "others" to drive the trains that moved me around. Or yes, ride ferris wheels. There's a "freedom" element, or a going where most people never go angle or something. Maybe it's putting my ability to control right up against the edge of chaos? A mixture of control in an uncontrolled environment or something. The contrast of the two seems to bring pleasure. Or maybe that's the endorphins. *************************************************************************** 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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