Sea Kayak Specialists Blog

On an Outward Bound (OB) trip into the Utah desert, a student rock climbing is injured by a falling rock. Her little finger is broken. But she starts showing symptoms of shock and the then OB protocols state that is time to call for an evac. A helicopter responds but on the way crashes, killing the three crew members. On review, the protocols required an unnecessary evac because it was acute stress reaction – an emotional response that mimics shock and doesn’t need an evac, just calming. This situation led to the formation of Wilderness Medical Associates (WMA) – click here.

It was 12 years ago that I attended my first WMA course near Bayfield. I was amazed, the instructor had actually done CPR on a person. Actually, most of the course he taught from his experience. Altogether I’ve had 6 instructors, all similarly experienced. Quite different from prior CPR/First Aid training where those instructors literally had little to no experience.

Getting ready for my first season as a guide brought me to the course. I learned a lot and it influenced my guiding – “No, I don’t care what Tim said, there will be no cliff jumping on this trip.”. I haven’t had to evacuate anybody, yet. On a couple of trips a person got sick and the training taught me to know the signs that it was serious (none were).

This weekend is my 5th WMA course. Over the years the protocols have changed and so the courses are one way to learn about the changes. It also helps to refresh and reinforce what may one day be some very critical knowledge for me to help a friend or a student.

sam

With all the ice around on the first paddles, it acts as an enticement to get out. Early paddles are relaxed affairs with time for gawking and taking photos of the ice as well as enjoying being back on the water again. Over the years I’ve come to realize, it is important to have the goal of these early paddles be fun and unstructured to rediscover the joy of paddling after the winter season.

Training on the other hand can be anything but fun. Paddling in the rain, cold and sometimes even snow in the quest to build fitness gets old, especially as fatigue starts to build and the call of a warm bed in the morning becomes difficult to ignore. But training despite the sometimes misery is necessary to regain the fitness lost over the winter. Important so the first days of paddling a loaded boat on a trip doesn’t become an even greater misery.

On those early paddles in the ice, some training happens as the endurance to sit in a boat increases. But it takes a new chapter with a different type of paddling to build fitness. In these paddles, distance and speed are important and carefully measured. Initially that starts out with paddling a set distance, in this case, a course four miles long.

One of the goals is to have a constant paddle stroke rate. During those first paddles of the season, the stroke rate is irregular and the paddle is sometimes resting on the cockpit. By keeping a steady rate, it builds endurance in the muscles and the heart & lungs.

Paddling a four mile course is a modest distance but one I can easily monitor my speed over distance. The goal is to stay at a constant 4 mph, close to my regular paddling speed. By maintaining this speed over this distance, I’ve found it builds the physical foundation needed for longer distances.

Over the upcoming weeks, the distance will increase building on the base from these paddles. The end goal is the physical capacity to paddle 20+ miles in 5+ hours.

sam

Often, people think of pool sessions as rolling sessions. But there is more than rolling one can do there. One of the things I do is practice strokes. Why? It increases paddling efficiency. For example, efficient bracing and sweep strokes make a significant difference in a surf zone. Important as locally there is often rough water and surf in the early season from march to may. Also, I can model them more accurately during lessons and instructor workshops. Accurate modeling allows students to be able learn the stroke better by seeing it.

Below are some photos of sculling draw practice. Draw strokes are suppose to draw the boat straight sideways which means for the boat:

• the bow and stern move the same distance (ie the bow doesn’t move more than the stern)
• there is little to no movement forwards or backwards (towards the bow or stern)

A pool offers great feedback on what the boat is doing by drawing along the edge. Note in the photos the boat is staying parallel to the pool edge on its beam (side) – this tells me the bow and the stern are moving the same distance. Also note the bow is drawing along the edge by the bow without significant forward or backward movement. See there has been a slight forward movement in the third photo, something that would have been tough to notice without the nearby edge.

Of course, there are three components to every stroke: boat, body & blade. This practice appear to focus on only one part but it helps to refine the others as well. After all, if your boat isn’t going where it is suppose to, chances are your body and/or blade is not doing something correctly.

sam