Going with the flow!

Yesterday I was happily reminded how much fun sea kayaking can be. Spring tides, paddling around in the bay (Castlebay), working with Ian on rolling , and edging, we thought we'd go and have a wee look the sea loch (Bagh Beag) just outside Castlebay. The tide was on the start of the flood, so we didn't think it'd be worth floating in casually, only to be imprisoned when the rate picked up. How wrong we were!

After floating in on a trickle, we played with edging , eddy hopping, and ferry gliding, we were engulfed (sometimes) in a raging torrent! So much fun! Oh the satisfaction from sitting on a standing wave! The photo's not great quality because it's a still from soem video. In 2 weeks time (next spring tide) I'll definitely be heading back for a play there - so much fun! Hopefully with a bit more wind and so some bigger standing waves.

It got me thinking about how we learn, and the processes involved, so I started writing in my notepad and have come up with a few ideas. I'll put them in my next blog entry in a few days...

Learning experiences: 1) reverse sweeps have a much bigger effect than forward sweeps when pointing upstream, due to the speed of the boat relative to the water 2) ferry gliding can be explained by resolving the forces into downstream and across stream...so you have your boat keel line at an angle to the flow, paddle forward, and the resultant force counteracts the downstream force, and pushes you sideways - the angle allows you to control down/across stream motion 3) where we were was really useful for coaching because it built up slowly enough to develop the skills as it did so.