on the rocks wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 24, 2023 5:45 pm

The C to C roll seems to demand more flexibility and/or arm length to get its set up position (paddle at 90 degrees to boat) while the boat is fully upside down.

Realistically I I think 45 degrees is probably about what many people achieve (me included) - but it helps to aim for 90 :)

Both Lee valley and the nene have “house” clubs you can join based at their sites if nobody can suggest one closer to your home. The LV Paddlesports Club requires you to have passed your Legacy assessment to go on the course on club nights (Wednesday): http://www.leevalleypaddlesportsclub.org/?page...

If you're a beginner, Nene Valley (Northampton) is the better option. It's Grade 2 except for one Grade 3 drop, and good for developing skills such as eddying out. It's quite shallow though - if possible, restrict your rolling practice to the deep pool below the Grade 3 drop! Lots of beginners paddl...

Thank you, Rich, that's a very impressive amount of work you've done to put that data into such a useful form. If only the UK government was as enlightened and made publicly developed data freely available; I doubt the income from selling it covers the costs of managing the sales, while making the ...

I'm not saying that there isn't a problem, but there are some dubious statements in that article. "Campaigners told The Ferret..." Which campaigners? "Dog and gull faeces have been identified as two significant sources of the pollution there." These are weasel words. The report a...

Therefore the new question is - is the C to C roll a Micky Mouse roll? and if so, why? I'd say it's easier to learn than the screw roll. It involves two relatively simple gestures (reaching out and pulling down), rather than one more complex gesture (moving your paddle in a screw motion at the corr...

Oh well, looks like you'll have to wait for an introduction to WW course.

No reason you can't do it in autumn or winter - after all, in the UK, winter is the white water season. It's just that capsizing is a little less "fun" in cold water :)

After watching your video from the sluice the other day, I didn't think you had much to worry about. Good news re. the roll.

If you want to do a white water course at LV, I'd recommend booking it now, before winter comes. It's nicer to learn in warmish water!

I thought the high brace was deprecated. It can result in shoulder dislocation and so far as I know doesn't have any advantage over a low brace, particularly if using an active blade. I can't remember the last time I did a high brace. I was taught that you shouldn't use the high brace, and yet I've...

I would feel l happier if I could roll before I hit the Legacy. The only eddie's I had I go on are the ones at weirs, I live in Norfolk, it's flat, we don't have any white water, so I can't even work in it to get at least some experience. I live in Cambridgeshire, so I was in a similar position to ...

A further query if I may, having watched a good few legacy assessment videos, it appears that the roll is mandatory, do they teach this on the intro to white water, as its only 4 I'm thinking not? Perhaps I'd best get it dialed in before I even think about the intro course... Maybe the roll is mand...

Hi Bashy, Apologies for my assumptions - I was just going by what I found on the LV web site. I don't know what a lake-only assessment is like. If you've got your 3-star, even if a long time go, I'd have thought you'd be fine. The lake is very sedate. There is some moving water (Grade 1) in the area...

Looking at the Lee Valley booking pages - there is no lake assessment, only a Legacy/Lake assessment. So it sounds as though you will be paddling on the Legacy course. I took my Legacy assessment back in 2014, so things might have changed since then. But here's what I remember... The assessors will ...

Now sold.

If you're swimming in anything other than a dry suit, you will get wet. You can't change the laws of physics. Water goes through holes. For kayaking trousers to be watertight during a swim, they'd need a huge latex waist tube so tight that you wouldn't be able to paddle, or probably even to breathe!...

Bought new in 2014. The last time I used it in earnest was 2019. It has the usual river rash, including a couple of shallow gouges, but it is structurally sound. Very comfortable Contour outfitting, with backband replaced. One of the left hip pad attachments is repaired with strong twine. Ergonomic ...

Since no one else has replied, I'll stick my oar in... There are lighter boats than the Dagger Juice, but for anything significantly lighter you'd be looking at a full playboat. Even then, you'd only be talking about a kilogram or two compared to the Juice. (E.g. Jackson Rockstar 4.0, medium - 13.2 ...

The story of Donald Crowhurst is another fascinating and disturbing seafaring story, which I thought had a very tenuous link to kayaking as I assumed he must be some relative of Nick's. (It turns out he isn't - Nick's got the book, but hasn't been able to trace any family connection to Donald.) The...

I demoed an Antix 2 at Lee Valley recently. "Squirrely" certainly describes its behavior when I first got in it. I moved the seat forward and it felt much more stable. The problem then was that the stern was right out of the water. I'd cross eddylines like in my Nirvana, expecting the main...

I celebrated my first rolls this week after 4 years of not very committed trying. Three were with that sneaky assistance from the bottom of the pool and the 4th was a proper roll and a shout of YES from me as I pulled through. It'll need more practice but that's with goggles and nose clips. I can i...

adventureagent wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 23, 2023 8:01 pm

I thinking it's not so much about the paddle, ... eh?

Ah, I'm with you. I couldn't manage that without a Jackson Happy Thruster. An 18-inch one of those would keep anybody buoyant and in the game.

Weigh (I was younger and lighter) back I had a bomb-proof river <span class="skimlinks-unlinked">roll.Both</span> sides. Getting onto 'flat water' intimidates me more. Funny thing about people - our personal perspective. Our coach always said all you need to do a roll was 18" depth. ...

Simple answer: the prices of parts, manufacture and transportation (of everything, not just kayaks) are skyrocking, and everybody's cutting costs. If crap £1600 kayaks are the only thing available, it's "Take it or leave it." On the plus side, it will bring the prices of second-hand Dagger...

Sea waves tend to bigger and steeper than river waves, and in my experience can be quite disorienting to be capsized in - you seem to be tossed around on multiple axes. Quite often while surfing in my playbost I've capsized in just a foot or two of water and there wasn't room to turn the boat round ...

Well, slow progress so far. I’ve been out with the new boat(s) 3 times now. First went to Hayle rivermouth. There wasn’t really any surf but it was a good chance to try both the inazone and the whip it. In the few tiny waves I caught the inazone seemed to be good fun. It was a bit of a shock paddli...

pathbrae wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 29, 2022 6:28 pm

A skeg on a kayak is a fraction the size or weight of either of these devices.

I know. I was just wondering if, given its similarity in shape, its effect would be to stablise the boat in a similar way, even if by a barely consequential amount.

Imagine if a skeg were the size, relative to the boat, of a keel on a ship - basically it would then *be* a keel. So shouldn't it stablise the boat? Or would its position at the stern complicate things? If the underwater current is more or less uniform, a skeg/keel won't act as a lever - it will be ...

Sounds interesting, but the resolution is too low for the text to be readable. On a pedantic note, how can a coastline be unpredictable? The water can be unpredictable, but not the coastline. And who measured it as "Europe's most unpredictable"? I suppose these questions are answered, lite...

He does look in genuinely bad shape in the photos on https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11366299/Kayaker-rescued-Channel-fishermen-upset-break-father-reveals.html The buoy looks big enough to climb onto...I suppose at some point it will emerge whether he spent the time on it. That seems more l...

Also, I have a Palm Impact spray deck that seems to be leaking both sides of my hips. Has anyone else had this issue? Is there anything I am able to use on it to try to keep as much water out? I highly recommend Aquasure. It's very easy to apply and works a treat. I've used it on both my dry suit a...