It's becoming an annual tradition to spend the weekend at Pedder Bay RV Resort & Marina for the Thanksgiving holiday. Our friends Dave & Kelly Reaville were also spending the weekend there so it was a great way to unwind with no plans other than for the food festivities which we seem to over indulge in every year.
On Friday Robyn and I headed out for a simple relaxing paddle to explore the coastline of the bay. It's been a while since we just went for a paddle without focusing on practicing skills but still it was a good opportunity to use the GoPro to have a look at our paddle strokes.
I think it is fair to say that most paddlers don't pay enough attention to the stroke that is used the most. The forward paddle stroke is the #1 means of propulsion for a kayaker and for most of us it is a work in progress to seek maximum efficiency. On this paddle I did a simple bit of math to determine how many forward strokes that I used today. Completing several one minute trials while paddling at a comfortable 2 - 3 knots I determined that I was averaging about 65 strokes per minute.
Now that doesn't seem like a lot but let me put this into perspective. Our paddle was 2.25 hours or 135 minutes in duration so paddling at an average of 65 strokes per minute equaled roughly 8775 (+/- 5%) forward paddle strokes that I used on this very relaxing paddle. 8775!! Now I have to ask you, how efficient is your forward paddle stroke? If you have the opportunity to video yourself using a GoPro you should do it! Look to see if you are just using your arms or if you are also engaging your torso core for every type of paddle stroke. If you are just using your arms then I would imagine that after 8775 strokes they are going to hurt a bit. Something to think about next time you head out on the water.
We did have a little fun playing in the rock gardens on the way back into the bay and every once and a while a rock would swim up underneath our kayaks to see what we were doing :-) That's our story and we are sticking too it!
On Friday Robyn and I headed out for a simple relaxing paddle to explore the coastline of the bay. It's been a while since we just went for a paddle without focusing on practicing skills but still it was a good opportunity to use the GoPro to have a look at our paddle strokes.
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| What? The play kayaks again?? |
I think it is fair to say that most paddlers don't pay enough attention to the stroke that is used the most. The forward paddle stroke is the #1 means of propulsion for a kayaker and for most of us it is a work in progress to seek maximum efficiency. On this paddle I did a simple bit of math to determine how many forward strokes that I used today. Completing several one minute trials while paddling at a comfortable 2 - 3 knots I determined that I was averaging about 65 strokes per minute.
Now that doesn't seem like a lot but let me put this into perspective. Our paddle was 2.25 hours or 135 minutes in duration so paddling at an average of 65 strokes per minute equaled roughly 8775 (+/- 5%) forward paddle strokes that I used on this very relaxing paddle. 8775!! Now I have to ask you, how efficient is your forward paddle stroke? If you have the opportunity to video yourself using a GoPro you should do it! Look to see if you are just using your arms or if you are also engaging your torso core for every type of paddle stroke. If you are just using your arms then I would imagine that after 8775 strokes they are going to hurt a bit. Something to think about next time you head out on the water.
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| Robyn paddling past Cracked Rock at the entrance to Eemdyck Passage. |
We did have a little fun playing in the rock gardens on the way back into the bay and every once and a while a rock would swim up underneath our kayaks to see what we were doing :-) That's our story and we are sticking too it!
On Sunday we decided it was a skills day so we headed out to work in Eemdyck Passage where the current was running at about 3 knots on the ebb. It's a great place to practice crossing the eddy lines and use ferrying techniques to work our way back "up stream".
Robyn also wanted to work on her edging in combination with her bow rudder turns so we spent a lot of time navigating through the exposed rocks and again every once and a while a darn rock would swim up under my kayak. :-)
Heading back to our launch point we came across these little critters. A family of river otters wondering what the heck we were doing making all the noise in the rock gardens. Sorry guys!
It was a great day of skills practice that ended in Robyn working on her roll. She is so close to nailing them down 100% of the time and I'm so proud of her determination to make it happen. 2015 should be an exciting year of training, big trips, assessments and most of all ..... doing it with my paddling buddy. I'm thankful for her experiencing this pastime with me! I love you Robyn!
2014 Paddle # 50 - Friday Relaxed Paddle
Distance: 6.31 nm ( 11.68 km)
YTD: 261.08 nm (483.82 km)
YTD: 261.08 nm (483.82 km)
Distance: 5.97 nm (11.05 km)
YTD: 267.05 nm (494.57 km)
Thank you for sharing your thanks giving kayak adventure! It's inspiring for all paddlers! I never counted the strokes / minute, but I am curious how many do?
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