Technique

ConnYak the local paddling club is having their annual slide show tonight, so I put together a couple videos from last summer's paddling.

The first shows the trip out to Ironbound Island from Gouldsboro, ME and shows the group paddling along Stave Island and Ironbound:

"If you want to turn left, paddle more on the right." This is usually the advice provided to a first time paddler. And often it is all the instructions they will ever receive on the subject of maneuvering a kayak. Next to doing a simple forward stroke, efficient steering strokes are probably the most used skill by any kayaker on the water. It is unfortunate that so little time is spent on the subject. The problem with the "paddle more on the other side" technique is that with a lot of kayaks paddling more will just make you go faster with out actually doing much to turn the boat. In some situations where you want to stop a boat from turning one way, faster boat speed will actually accelerate the unwanted turn instead of stopping it. So, people try harder, making the boat go faster yet, until they get the turn they want, but instead of merely correcting the first turn, the over shoot and now have to stop from turning too far the other direction. More paddling on one side, more speed, another over shot, and eventual frustration.

Most of time in small boat like a kayak navigation is done by sight. In other words, you see where you want to go, point the boat that direction and go. This is not to down play the need for a good chart and a compass. These are critical tools on any small boat, but much of the time you don't need to be steering a compass course and once you are familiar with an area you don't need to consult a chart before every decision.

The first, but often ignored, aspect of navigation is just choosing where you are going. Making good decisions based on the weather and conditions is the foundation of safe boating. Determining in advance where is going to be safe and the places to avoid will go a long way toward ensuring a safe and fun boat trip.

Relative to many boats a kayak is small, unstable, and rather slow. In a lot of ways these attributes can make kayaks unsafe. To a larger degree than most boats the safety of the person on the boat is dependent on the skill and judgement of the paddler. Where some boats will keep their passengers alive despite the errors and faults of the passenger, a kayak does little to overcome the failings of the paddler. While it is possible to design boats that are inherently safer, and there are things that you can do to make a kayak as safe as possible, trying to make a kayak that you would call truly safe would result in a boat that is no longer truly a kayak.