Apparently, my thing, when I get into big stuff, is to paddle hard. At least that's what Kevin said to Tom when I said I didn't have the skills for his Rough Water Symposium.
The thing is, Kevin is right... that's exactly what I do. When the waves get big and breaking, I want momentum, and I want my paddle in the water all the time, and as long as I'm paddling hard I'm feeling stable. And much as I love catching rides on waves, I only play at this surfing thing when the waves are *little*. My response to surf launching is to get in my kayak, do up my sprayskirt, and demand that whoever is near me push. I can think of more than one launch and several landings where I felt no compunction about having help.
And while I'll never be one of those elegant kayakers with mad skillz, for a short time, this past weekend, I got it, this drive for wanting to be *better*. Until now, my entire focus has been on tripping: the kayak is the means to get to places I cannot otherwise get to, paddling is kind of fun, and I need to be good at staying upright and strong enough to resort to my paddle when the big stuff comes strategy. I have a boat that matches this attitude: it takes an ok amount of gear, it tracks like its on rails, it likes to go fast.
And then Kevin bought a Romany. I was in his Ellesmere (which felt fine and all, but required way more effort than my Solstice to keep tracking) and he asked if I wanted to try the new boat. I did, in part because I wanted to do an on-the-water boat swap - it's not something I've done very often, and I was wearing full-on fuzzy rubber and we were in sheltered water. And I got into the Romany. Despite the fact that the cockpit was not really designed (or padded out) for my proportions (I have hips, ok?) and I hated the backband... oh...
I want a boat like that. Despite a very rockered hull, it tracks better than the Ellesmere (not quite as good as the GTS, but better than any other rockered boat I have ever tried). And then, I wasn't even going fast, and I didn't lean into it much, but a really lame low brace turn turned me more than 90 degrees. I did a half-assed high brace turn, and I got more than that. I turned it in five paddle strokes, from a stationary start. I did not suggest another boat swap for the rest of the paddle.
And while I was in there, despite the less than ideal fit, I kind of got this whole desire to make the boat *do* stuff. I wanted to learn more stuff, and practice things I already know, and for once I didn't think that all these courses and things were for other people and I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.
It didn't help that Tom told me that there is a version of the boat that would indeed fit my body. It didn't help at all.
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In other news, perhaps it was the lack of compatibility between my body and the Romany, or perhaps it is just the time of year, but I've done the last of the things that I needed to do to be a full-fledged KW resident: I joined a gym. I loved my old gym, especially the bike classes. I'm hoping to love the new one too... it is less posh in some ways, but the main features that it does not have (steam room, saltwater pool, squash courts, fireplace lounge, juice bar, daycare) I never used anyway. What it *does* have is gadget-geek features, which I will explore during my gadgetry orientation today. What else do you expect from a gym in the same building as google?
Posted by Johanna at September 24, 2008 11:09 AM