The weather forecast had everything, sun, wind, rain, snow, cold to start and warming a little,but being a Graham trip and to our regular haunt at Balloch it wasn’t cancelled! So we met up, 5 sea kayakers with a wide range of skills and experience under the enthusiastic instruction of Graham. Jo as the (relative) novice Canadian solo canoeist had the benefit of instruction from Glen and Garry, as well as a helping breeze which is a challenge for any solo open canoe paddler.
In the sea kayak group we spent most of the day practicing with one theme which Graham repeated a few times in his chats…. “SEA KAYAKS ARE DESIGNED TO GO STRAIGHT”. With the day being about turning sea kayaks the main message was to edge the kayak so it actually wants to turn and then use the paddle to make the turns more effective as no matter how strong and skillful the paddler is, it is edging the boat that makes a turn actually happen. Concepts such as scales of edging were introduced (e.g. 1= some edge, 2 = seam line in the water, 3 = spraydeck touching the water) and everyone managed all these techniques without falling in. The smell of the burger van in Drumkinnon Bay led to an early stop for lunch, hiding from the rain in the cars
After lunch the open boating team had a session on making progress in the wind, with options such as rafting, towing, and nudging all tested until it was concluded that the wind can be a pain! The sea kayaker kept on with turning the boat and even had a go at making sideways progress.
An earlier than published finish at 3pm and everyone left happy and contented. The next 2 Skills session are published in the calendar, more coaches and more people to be coached very welcome!
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