11 Year Old Rolling Her Kayak

This video is from the fellow Paddle Canada sea kayak instructors at SKILS, Sea Kayak Leadership Instruction, a great company out of BC (Michael of SKILS was my co-instructor-trainer for my instructor course). Since the kid in the video is nearly the same age as my older daughter, I find this video pretty awesome. Time to rent some pool time for the family!

Out Practising What I Preach

Last Saturday we had gorgeous weather for the last day of March. Sunny, calm and warm with a high of 14°C. It was a great day for a paddle and with the kids at the grandparents my wife & I donned our paddling gear and got out in the kayaks for a couple of hours on the South Saskatchewan River. The river is still mostly frozen, but through the city it is open and most of it is available to paddlers.

I mention that we donned our paddling gear and that is a large aspect of what I wanted to write about. We dressed not just for the weather conditions, but for the water conditions. We dressed for immersion.

I was wearing my dry suit (Barrier suit from Level 6) with long underwear (wool top, polypro bottoms) and a fleece vest underneath. On my hands I wore neoprene gloves (2mm), and on my head I wore a thin neoprene (1mm?) cap. On my feet I wore my new (used) Chota mukluks for the second time but the first time where I was in the water.

K wore a wetsuit with long underwear underneath, and a fleece sweater and softshell jacket over top. Although K declined to test her immersion gear, if she had ended up in the water she would absolutely have been cold, but likely would have been able to function well for a period of time. She had neoprene paddling gloves at hand, but chose not to wear them.

I'll add my observations and lessons learned at the end. In the meantime here are some pictures from the outing, and a couple of videos of me in action (and getting rather wet).

Us.

Me.

K paddling the cedarstrip guillemot I built for her (and documented in detail in this blog).

Heading south, away from the boathouse and downtown Saskatoon.

The west side of the river was clear of ice but a strip ranging from a few feet wide to half the width of the river was present on the east side. 

Some of the marathon paddlers from the Saskatoon Canoe Club were also out taking advantage of the fine weather. 

We saw their sterns mostly. 

They are building a new freeway bridge south of the city. 

The geese don't mind the ice. 

Heading back toward the boathouse. 

Paddling among the drifting ice.

With the neoprene cap on, I'm ready to practice my rolls and rescues. 

A video of one of my rolls in this ccccooooolllllddd water. I only did a few! (Note that at 5 seconds in my head is high, my head reaching away from the water. That is why I needed to finish the roll with a forward scull to get a little extra lift.)


A short segment of me practising my scramble rescue in conditions that were less ideal than the pool I had practised in a few weeks earlier. Things were much harder this time.


So, after getting into that cold water and practising, I can say I learned a few things (good, because that was the whole point).

• Things are harder in cold water.
• Things are harder when you are wearing a bunch of stuff.
• Water that is at or just above freezing is really, really cold. (Shocking news, I know.)
• The dry suit works well. I was mostly comfortable in the water except for those parts not inside the suit (hands and head). 
• There was a cold spot at my lower back and that would quickly sap heat if you were in the water for a prolonged period. Perhaps my vest & long underwear top rode up?
• A one-piece insulation suit (such as this or this) would prevent that from happening. 
• 2mm neoprene gloves make it very difficult to grab deck lines even if they are not overly tight. The bulk of the neoprene made grabbing a 4mm rope from the smooth surface of the hull very difficult.
• My fingertips quickly became numb when I was in the water.This made the dexterity issue mentioned above worse and it happened in only a couple of minutes. Had I been in the water for more than a few minutes, my hands would have been like using 2x4s.
• The thin neoprene cap did not help much. Rather, it seemed to trap and hold the cold water against my skull and after rolling I had to loosen the strap to drain the water away. I think in a real world situation where the head is mostly out of the water (though with waves crashing over) it would be a net benefit.
• Holy hell that water was cold.
• The bulk of the suit and what I was wearing under it made the scramble rescue much more difficult. 
• I need to calm down and slow down my roll. Also need to calm down and think about what I am doing for the rescues. This may have been the real reason my scramble rescue failed, it wasn't only the bulk of the suit. 
• My new Chota Mukluks do not stay on when swimming. Anyone want to buy a pair of gently used paddling muks? I think they are a little large for me, which can't help. 
• The filtrate discharged from the water treatment plant just upriver of the boathouse is a muck that looks like and has the consistency of baby sh!t. 

So, in conclusion I need to:

• Keep practising.
• Consider a different neoprene cap (like this or these).
• Get pogies.
• Calm down in the water.
• Add beads to the deck lines to make them easier to grab. 
• Sell the Chota Mukluks and go back to something that I'm sure will stay on when swimming.
• Ask my wife to stop laughing at me on video.

The take home lesson of the day: Find a safe way to practice your rescues in less optimal conditions because that's where you'll need them. 

Sage in 50 Words

In order to keep track of my business expenses for Coldspring Paddling Instruction, last fall I started using Sage Simply Accounting. I am not an accountant, and using the software has proved to be anything but simple for me. Sage does have some basic tutorials online, but they only get you so far. They have lots of advanced courses on offer, but it's hundreds of dollars for those courses and the software, and my wife, tell me that I don't have hundreds of dollars to spend on becoming my own accountant (rock and a hard place, I don't have hundreds of dollars to hire one either).

This week I received a newsletter from Sage. In it, they called for users to describe what the new name they are releasing for the software this year, Sage 50, means to them. Well, I was feeling a bit grumpy and felt I needed to respond. Here is that response.

My submission for Sage in 50 words:

The name Sage 50 means to me and my business that I am not nearly old enough to use or understand Sage 50. Or perhaps, that Sage 50 is only 50% value for my company, or that I’ll only make 50% use of it, or understand 50% of it.

Perhaps not quite what you were looking for, but it honestly reflects my impression of the new name. After spending last weekend working on my taxes and bookkeeping, I realize that Simply Accounting was not really designed for the home-based business that is too small to hire an accountant and where there is no background in accounting. Yes, it's more powerful, but at this point I'd prefer user friendliness. I'm a smart guy and I am not afraid to learn, but the training that Sage University offers is well out of my price range and I cannot consider it at this point (I cannot fork over hundreds of dollars of the money I'm not making this year to learn to keep better track of the money I'm losing as a start up). The free training included gave me a start, but really was too basic to be very much help. I should add that it's not [necessarily] the software that I need training in so much as accounting. Software I can figure out.

Regards,
Bryan Sarauer

Coldspring Paddling Instruction

Think I'll win their contest? I'm not holding my breath.

On that note, I'm going to spend this morning going over the stuff I entered for 2011 and see how much was lost when I restored from a backup that wasn't as recent as it should have been (that was a computer failure, not a Sage software issue). 

Derek Hutchinson on Modern Sea Kayaking

This video recently turned up on westcoastpaddler.com or via Twitter. It's Derek Hutchinson being interviewed on the beach during the 2007 West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium. He provides some pretty interesting perspectives on a variety of aspects of sea kayaking in Britain versus North America, and the 40 years ago versus now. Arrogant and out to lunch, or a genius and visionary pioneer? Some of each, I suppose.



Not coincidentally, here is an article from Adventure Kayak Magazine from 2008 that was posted today on the Adventure Kayak blog.

Radiant Rivers Photo Contest and World Rivers Day

Coldspring Paddling Instruction is helping the Saskatchewan Environmental Society to celebrate World Rivers Day by contributing a gift certificate for an Introduction to Sea Kayaking lesson as a first prize for their Radiant Rivers Photography contest.  The following is information from the Saskatchewan Environmental Society about the day and the contest.

World Rivers Day – September 25, 2011
For more information about any of these events, contact water@environmentalsociety.ca, call 306.665.1915 or visit environmentalsociety.ca.


Radiant River Photography Contest – rivers all over Saskatchewan
In celebration of World Rivers Day September 25^th, the Saskatchewan Environmental Society presents the Radiant Rivers Photography Contest to highlight the beauty of Saskatchewan’s rivers.  The photos must fit one of the three categories (action, tranquil, and sustainable).  Participants must name the river featured in their photo and describe why water is valuable to them and what they do to protect water.  All winning entries will be displayed as a travelling photo exhibit at locations around the province and will win fabulous prizes, including three outdoor adventure packages as first place prizes.  Entries can be emailed to water@environmentalsociety.ca on or before September 26^th at midnight and winners will be announced the following week.  For rules and regulations, please visit our website by clicking here.  A big thanks to our sponsors: Sturgeon River Ranch, Coldspring Paddling, Phase 2 Foto source, Outter Limits, and Mister Print.


The following are Saskatoon-based events:


Park Clean Up – 9am Rotary Park
SES is joining Trash Dashers Saskatoon and the Great Canadian Shoreline Clean-Up to pick up trash at Rotary Park in Saskatoon in celebration of World Rivers Day. Bags and gloves will be provided, so all you have to do is show up to help us keep our river valley clean and healthy.  We will meet at the peace torch in Rotary Park at 9am, September 25th. See you there!


Nature Walk and Photo Walk – 1pm Peturrson’s Ravine
SES is hosting a nature walk with the Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan along Peturrson's Ravine in Saskatoon. This river-side location was chosen to celebrate World River Day on September 25th.  If you are a photo-enthusiast, we also encourage you to bring your camera along to capture some of our river valley's natural beauty.
We will meet in the parking lot, just north of the Regional Psychiatric Centre on Central Avenue at 1pm, Sept 25th.


Blue Drinks – 6pm Winston’s
Blue Drinks is like Green Drinks, in that it is an opportunity for environmentalists to meet up, make connections, and talk about environmental issues, but on September 25th, the discussion will be all about water in celebration of World Rivers Day.  This pub-based discussion group is an informal, relaxed atmosphere, so come on out and talk about your local water issues!
We will be meeting at Winston’s Pub at 6pm in Saskatoon.

My Kayak Is Defective, It Won't Go Straight!

This is a funny animated video about two ladies discussing why the one can't paddle her kayak straight.

Defective Kayak
by: Firstfoundation


Having similar problems? Contact Coldspring Paddling Instruction and we can help!

Improve Your Kayaking the Hansel Way

Bryan Hansel posted on PaddlingLight.com his list of 22 Ways to Improve Your Kayaking Skills Forever. It's a great list and I highly recommend checking it out for yourself here at http://www.paddlinglight.com/articles/22-ways-to-improve-your-kayaking-skills-forever.

I was going to repost an edited version of the list here to show which of the points I'm already doing or working on, or which I haven't done, but I'll let you head back to the original posting to cross-reference my checkboxes below. Note that just because I've checked the box it doesn't mean I'm done working on that item. Most of the list (all of the list?) are items that we need to work on throughout our paddling lifetime. Go ahead and see how many of the points below you can check off the list. What points would you add to your own version of the list?

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In order to check #3 off of the list and avoid the Dunning-Kruger effect, visit ColdspringPaddling.com and give me a shout for some lessons!

Coldspring Paddling on Shaw TV

Cool! Thanks to my neighbour, Kevin (who sells collapsible fishing boats - called Porta-Botes - through his company Adventure Portable Boats), Coldspring Paddling is being featured in an upcoming edition of Shaw Cable's t.v. show Big Summer.

A reporter and cameraman are coming to my course on Thursday to film a bit of us out on the water and to conduct the interview. Assuming that they decide to use the piece and that it goes to air, I'll let you all know where and when you can see it. (It's going to be hard to tune in over our rabbit ears but I'm going to try.)

Trailer Design IRL

Last month I posted about the design for modifying my utility trailer and turning it into a kayak and canoe trailer.

I was trying to avoid having to shuttle kayaks in two loads for my lessons (I need 7 kayaks for a set of lessons) and also avoid having to overload the roof racks on my CRV.

CRV with a couple too many kayaks on one roof. The Thule racks are really good but still, I'd rather avoid this.

I took the trailer along with my sketches and required dimensions to a local welder (CJ's Welding near Clavet) and he went to work. About $1200 later (including the replacement of the trailer's leaf springs, which were apparently broken), and I have a trailer that will serve to haul up to 12 kayaks at a time on their sides, or 4 canoes sitting flat.

Room for 4 canoes or kayaks sitting flat. Or, with kayaks leaning toward the pillars there should be room for up to 12 assuming their decks are not too tall. The bars are 78" wide, the same as the Thule load bars on my vehicle. The welder added a plethora of  loops for tie-down points, on the bar ends and at various points on the racks. The racks and the extra tongue bracing are all removable so that the trailer can serve for hauling stuff to the dump and similar mundane tasks. 

My canoe & kayak at 17.5' and 18' respectively are among the longest loads this trailer is likely to see. The rack spacing allows the canoe to fit on the lower rack as well.

Close up of extended tongue with removable brace in place. The pin near the receiver pulls out in order to remove the barce. Note that the re-wiring was not complete at this point. I also want to add a jack to the tongue. In it's previous state the old trailer didn't need a jack because it was quite light. All the extra steel adds a lot of weight and the trailer is now fairly heavy. Plus, I might have occasion to unhook the trailer with a load of kayaks and that will be easier with the jack.

Close up of the trailer end of the tongue. The original tongue bracing is seen on top, and the original tongue was removed and a larger square tubing welded in it's place in order to act as socket for the telescoping tongue. When in short mode, the pins at the corners pull out as well as one near the receiver and the outside brace lifts off. The extended tongue can then slide back into the socket and pinned short.

A much nicer load distribution. My two kayaks on the CRV roof (with Thule racks), plus another 6 kayaks on the trailer (4 on the bottom, two sitting flat on the top bars). The two kayaks on the top of the trailer are relatively short. If I wasn't careful, I could run into a problem with the kayaks on the car hitting the kayaks on the top tier of the trailer.

I still need to figure out the perfect arrangement for ropes or straps for easily securing the load.

The center pillars have been padded with sections of rug to protect the kayaks and the kayaks are resting on foam blocks on the load bars. 

So, let me know what you think of the end product!

Coldspring Paddling Instruction

I think paddling season is officially here so it seems like a great time to announce the launch of my new kayak paddling instruction company, Coldspring Paddling Instruction. Check out the new website, created with help from paddler and kayaking instructor David Johnston of Swim River Design.