Bored paddlers

Today at the pool, a bunch of us were practicing all kinds of weird tricks. Balancing tricks, bounces, spins, rolls... We practiced with paddles, with Frisbees, with hands only...

One of our new paddlers (he took an intro class just a few weeks ago and already has a pretty reliable Eskimo roll!) watched us and commented, "It's amazing the things paddlers will do when they get bored..."

Kayak sledding

I know I promised I would talk about more boat names next, but I think I'll use that for a filler post some other time. The weather's been getting warmer, and it's supposed to be getting above freezing fairly consistently starting this week (WOOHOO!), so everyone's getting eager to get outside. We're using the last little bit of winter that we have to have all the fun we want to have in the snow without the -30 degree temperatures that usually accompany our winters. In this case, Mike, Tony, and I decided to give kayak sledding a try.

We took our kayaks to the sledding hill on UAF campus. The remains of cheap plastic sleds littered the ground, but we didn't let that deter us. Mike and I each grabbed a Stomper, figuring them to be good, maneuverable choices, Tony grabbed the Mullet, and we started huffing our way to the top of the hill. Turns out that kayaks are a lot heavier than normal sleds, and the climb up the hill was something of a workout. When we finally reached the top, I looked down the hill and noticed it was a lot bumpier than I was expecting. Also, the snow was hard-packed, not powder, and I realized the paddles were probably not going to do us much good. I began to have misgivings.

Mike went first. Tony called for him to drag back on the paddle, but it was pretty ineffective, and he turned sideways and bounced hard on each of the drops near the bottom. I felt sure he was going to flip, but he slid safely into the powder at the foot of the hill.

I went next and tried to follow the back-paddling advice, but there was no grip. I might have had better luck trying to control my speed and direction with a handful of Jell-O. The kayak turned sideways just like Mike’s did, but clearly, his balance was far superior to mine. Slamming back into the ground after each drop was uncomfortable, but not nearly as uncomfortable as when the kayak flipped upside-down and I slid the rest of the way down the hill on my face with a kayak on top of me.

The visor of my helmet was broken, but I was surprisingly undamaged, so we decided to continue. But first, we stuck our paddles into the snow at the base of the hill and decided to control our boats by dragging our gloves on the ground, which worked far better. Tony made sledding look easy, and he always slid the farthest when he reached the foot of the hill. Mike, who loves challenging himself, took the chute that wove through the trees and even took a big jump backwards (though that might have been accidental). Not only did I manage to not flip over again, but on one particularly entertaining trip down the hill, my boat came to a gentle stop right up against the paddles, which I tagged to score a point. (GOAL!!!)

Things we learned: 1) Flat-bottomed boats like the Mullet are a better choice than boats with more rocker. 2) Powder would probably have made this easier. 3) Without powder, don’t try to use a paddle. 4) ALWAYS wear a helmet!!! 5) Unless you're actually injured, don't quit just because your first try didn't work out perfect.

This is definitely something that was worth doing, and while I don't know if it immediately jumped to the top of my List of Favorite Activities, you certainly wouldn't have to twist my arm to convince me to go again.

--Video courtesy of Pirate Cat Studios

Boat names: Pumpkin, Great Pumpkin, Sweet Baby Chico, Demon Splat

Alaska Dream Adventures currently has 91 boats (mostly kayaks, but some canoes) in its fleet. A few of the rental boats have names, and, as we're just about to take steps to catapult Alaska Dream Adventures into a much bigger business, we plan to name the remaining Nameless Ones. Want to know how a few of them got their names?

The first boat I personally named was Pumpkin, my orange XP9. She was named for her color and because I fell in love with her right away, and "Pumpkin" is also a term of endearment. Her big sister, the orange XP10 naturally became the Great Pumpkin. (She's Pumpkin, only bigger, and "Great Pumpkin" is, of course, a reference to the Peanuts comic strip.)

Sweet Baby Chico is a Jefe Chico. The first time we took him down Rock Creek (a shallow, rocky little run with lots of fun and active paddling), he got a hole or five in the bottom of the boat and we kept having to stop and bail. We tried patching it, but we hadn't brought the equipment with us, as the run only takes an hour. Sweet Baby Chico kept sinking and even tried to throw Mike (the paddler using him) out of the boat when we hit the calmer lake water. We ended up having to do some significant repairs, and the bottom of Chico is now a mishmash of plastic-welded colors. According to Mike, "it's a pain in the @#$ to roll, sinks, covered in patches, tried to drown me..." So we called it Poor Baby Chico. But I once called it "Sweet Baby" instead of "Poor Baby," and "Sweet Baby Chico" is what stuck.

Demon Splat is a green XP9. Originally, we named it Green Apple Splatter: "Green Apple" for the color and "Splatter" because of what happens if you eat too many apples... But, being a demo boat, the word "Demo" was already marked on the side, and Gregg pointed out that the boat was named Demo (he pronounced it "dee-moe"). So Mike grabbed a Sharpie and added an "N" after the word "Demo," then added "Splat" as homage to Green Apple Splatter's original name, thus changing the boat's name to Demon Splat.

Coming up later: Explanations for Thwomp, Bruiser, Garuk, BOB, Riffraff (name pending approval), Nightshade, Soggy Smurf, and more. Feel free to share in the comments any fun names you've had for boats (or cars or other meaningful objects) and how those names came to be.

Epic Enthusiasm!

In the summertime, I play Epic Kayak Ultimate. The easiest way to describe this sport is by calling it Ultimate Frisbee from kayaks. But that description doesn't do it justice at all! I like sports okay, in general. I enjoy basketball, volleyball, tennis, and especially racquetball. But Epic is a whole different thing. Your abilities in the game are directly affected by your choice in boats (which, in turn, is affected by your size and build). Some boats are built for speed, some are built for maneuverability, some are built for stability. If you don't yet have solid balance in a boat, you'll have to sacrifice some speed to get a more stable boat. And a Dancer is way faster than a playboat, but it takes significantly longer to turn, which can cause a problem if the disc lands four feet to the right of you.

In the winter, we paddle kayaks in the pool twice a week, but the pools are significantly smaller than an Epic field, so we can't play a proper Epic game. Instead, we use the time to try out different boats, practice other skills, such as rolling, and generally stay in shape. It's a great way to hang with friends and get some exercise to stave off the cabin fever we all tend to get in Alaska, when it's cold and dark too often to do all the outdoorsy things we love to do all summer.

Tony and I teach beginner-level paddling courses in the pools on one of our paddling nights, then practice our own skills on the other paddling night. Today, we didn't have any students (for the first time since we started teaching classes), so we ran a quick practice class for Gregg and Mike (the other two guides at Alaska Dream Adventures), then took advantage of the rest of the time to play around. Since everyone paddling tonight was a relatively skilled paddler, we started a game of... well, disc-passing. There weren't teams or a goal to score on. It was a free-for-all race to the disc, then the winner would pass to the most difficult shot and try and get people to fight over it. We discourage aggression that could result in ramming or other injuries, but today we were definitely all getting really into it.

For my part, I was in a Dancer. The Dancer is one of the fastest Epic boats in our fleet. I own a blue-and-red one I call the Soggy Smurf (Smurf for short). It's a bare-bones boat. No thigh braces, no supports, not even a drain plug! I learned while practicing my rolls that I can't lock into it well enough, thus resulting in my sliding out of the seat. I tried adding hip pads, but they were insufficient, and they kept falling out. I suggested to Tony that I might want to try thigh braces. We found another Dancer in the fleet with thigh braces that I originally intended to yoink and put in the Smurf, then adjust the seat however I needed to and call it good. But the seat of the other Dancer actually had a back support, which would give me a better lock in when I leaned back. And it had a proper drain plug and some supports (which, theoretically, would help with buoyancy). The foot pegs even felt higher quality. So today, I brought the other Dancer to test out. I named her Nightshade.

So, first of all, rolling in Nightshade was AMAZING! I could hang out upside-down, and my hips would say, "Mmmm, well, I would slide out, buuuut... this is nice." No problems at all! Second of all, because I was locked into my boat better, every paddle stroke became more efficient, so I was shooting across the water like lightning! (I felt even faster because I've been playing around in dinky little playboats all winter, which are fun, but not exactly built for speed.) Hands down, I was significantly faster than anyone else in the pool today. Tony might still be able to beat me in a race... IF he were in a Stinger. And I still accelerate faster, so in the pool, I still win!

Shooting across the pool in a fast boat, paddling for speed for the first time all winter, and practicing positioning and blocking and everything else you use in an actual Epic game rebuilt my enthusiasm for the game more than every Epic event we've tried to do all winter long. I can't WAIT to play again and see how much trading in Smurf for Nightshade improves my game!

That's how I roll!

Now that I have my Eskimo roll down, I have rolled at least thirteen different models of kayaks, just for kicks. Here's a run-down of a few of the more notable ones:

My Dancer, which is the longest boat I regularly use, rolls fairly well, but I can't lock into it properly. I'm trying to add hip pads to it so I can lock in better, but so far it hasn't worked. I roll it fine, but if I hang out upside-down for a moment before rolling back up, I fall out of the seat. Then, when I try to roll back up, I twist out of my seat, the sprayskirt pops, and when I do get upright, I've taken on a ton of water. Of the boats I've rolled, it may be my least favorite besides the Braaap and Mullet. This is unfortunate, since the most common use for my roll will likely be while playing in Epic Kayak Ultimate games, for which I use almost exclusively a Dancer.

The Mullet is kind of like a larger version of the Braaap. They both have flat tails and are designed for whitewater fun. Everybody loves the Braaap, and I'm the only person who doesn't seem to find the Braaap the easiest boat to roll. For whatever reason (probably it's just not sized right, I guess), the seat gets in my way, and I can't lean back properly. I haven't tried either of these boats since I first started rolling, though. It may be easier now. I rolled the Mullet once after deciding I didn't enjoy the Braaap (not my idea; I was encouraged by my friends and figured I might as well). I succeeded, but my knee popped painfully, and I decided that was enough for me.

Today I rolled the Flying Squirrel 95, which is a very large creek boat. Since it's designed for larger people, and I weigh only 130 pounds, I sat so high out of the water that when I rolled upright, I had the thrilling feeling of being catapulted up into a sitting position! It's probably the most fun I've had rolling a boat! (Disclaimer: That's not me in the below picture. In fact, it's not even my picture. I Googled it, and this looks awesome!)

I also rolled a Remix 47, which is a child's boat (I borrowed it from my friend's daughter, who is about six years old). Contrary to the Squirrel, I'm far too large for this boat (being 5'10" in addition to 130 pounds), so it was extremely wobbly for me, and I only barely fit. (I certainly couldn't use the footpegs!) However, it rolled so readily that I had WAY more fun playing around in it than I expected I would!

I frequently use Pumpkin, my Remix XP 9, on multi-day kayak trips, due to the amount of gear it can hold, but prior to today, I had never even been in the XP 9's big brother, the XP 10. With 105 gallons of displacement versus my XP 9's 73, this boat was such a big boy that it didn't want to roll upside-down for me in the first place. In fact, I found rolling the XP 10 back up to be far easier than flipping it upside-down! (Picture note: The picture below is why we love this boat for multi-day trips. ALL of this gear fits comfortably into a Remix XP 10!)

While Mike really loves his Jefe Chico, Tony loves his Stomper, and Erik adores the Mullet, I can't say that I have yet chosen a favorite boat to roll. I suppose I enjoy my new Dagger ID 7.0, Jamal, although it's kind of a short, stubby little potato chip. I'm told it's resistant to rolling, though I don't have much trouble. Once I get it past a certain point, it really wants to right itself the rest of the way. It's also small, so not much mass to move. I plan to eventually use this boat to learn how to do cartwheels and other tricks.

There's so much to discuss regarding what I learned about rolling! I may have to put up a post about what I've learned some other day, after I have plenty of pictures to accompany it.

If you have a favorite boat for rolls and other tricks, let me know in the comments!

-O. Ocelot