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Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board
Re: Bad weather comes with clouds attached to it .
Posted By: Karl In Response To: Bad weather comes with clouds attached to it ... (Pamela)
Date: Thursday, 3 March 2005, at 12:28 p.m.
: I'd include weather skills right up there with other safety concerns.
: Pamela
Oh, yeah, I will vote early and often on that idea!
Interesting, after years of paddling rough conditions, surf, rock gardens,etc, in the Pacific, I thought I was a decent paddler. But then, a few years back, I discovered "seamanship" (forgive the use of gender in the term, but it is a legal definition), and that put the "sea" back into my seakayaking.
Things like navigation, dead reckoning through night and fog, recognizing light signatures of other ships, and above all, learning weather patterns.
And not just listening to a forecast, either. I have been kayak surfing for 10 years, and I don't think I am much better now than I was 4 years ago, and I don't think I will be much better 4 years hence... but the ability to look up into the sky, observe the angle between wind aloft and winds at ground level, to monitor a barometer, change in wind direction, wow, what a difference that has made in my capabilities as a paddler. And unlike paddling skill, there is still much to learn.As an observation, it is noted by my friends in the BCU that American paddlers that take the notorious 5* assessment often do exceedingly well in their personal paddling skill in the gnarly stuff. What makes so many fail is their lack of seamanship.
karl
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