My First Whitewater Kayaking, Violette's Lock-Pennyfield Lock, Maryland

Honestly, I don't know where to start writing about the lesson I took today, an EZ whitewater class with CKAPCO. There were so many things to talk about from this 5-hour class. I could possibly write 3 blogs out of it.

The class took place at Violette's Lock and ended at Pennyfield Lock, Maryland. This water trail is quite pretty and unique. You can also find a flatwater and a whitewater on the same trail. Hard to believe it is so close to the city. We got 3 students today. The other two students were a couple from Richmond and wanted to take this class specifically with Mike. (And I decided to take it partly just because it's a Friday 13.) 

After getting all dressed up and drilling some essential skills on a fairly flatwater area which I totally enjoyed, the real moving water was right in front of me.

Umm...it's really moving.

New vocabulary and important skills I learnt

Ferry -  Basically you can't paddle straight against the stream. You need to angle your boat while paddling and edging otherwise you will end up paddling like a hamster on a wheel and going nowhere...the same way I paddled to Chain Bridge for the first time. (Looks like I need to give Chain Bridge another try.)

Eddy - It's the reverse current formed behind an obstacle which is basically your rest area during whitewater paddling. And you need it.

Eddy Turn - An important skill to get to an eddy. I ended up paddling upstream a lot because I didn't make a turn in time. You need to know where is the eddy line, when to initiate the turn, when to change your edging and when to apply the counter-turn.

Umm...who says it's easy ?


Experience to share

I like when the boat is passing through the rapids (...well...as long as I don't capsize I guess. : P). It's like driving on a hilly road.

Every student capsized. I capsized once when I was about to finish one of my eddy turns. It was at the most unexpected moment in my opinion. I was almost there to stop...then I flipped. Just like that. So I had to pull my boat up to a rock which was slightly steep to drain the water and launch it back to the water from there. So I was on a kayak on a rock. And, of course, it was photographed as a record.

Oh, don't forget to put a skeg up before dragging the boat on a hard surface.

Image from My 365 Day 195

I managed to surf a kayak on a rapid once after failing to do so about half dozen times. It's a part of the lesson. Basically you paddle upstream toward a small rapid and try to stay on it by using forward and rudder strokes to keep the boat straight against the stream. It's pretty much like playing a game with the water.

Always have a spare paddle in your group. Another student lost her paddle when she capsized in the middle of rapids. We're glad she's ok. After searching for the paddle for a while Mike decided to tow her boat which we shouldn't do on a whitewater but we had no choice.  Half way into the towing he decided to tow my boat instead since it had a skeg so I got a free ride. Yeah~. (Please note this is not included in the package or the lesson.)

My free ride. 

(^_______^)

Ok...I promise I stop babbling soon. At this point I think I prefer paddling on a flatwater...or probably until I master my eddy turn. :)

If you want to know what it's like, just give it a try. (Umm...not by yourself.) The most important part is that make sure you know your real paddling skill and your limit. Mike told me stories of his students and it's amazed how many people think paddling on whitewater is something to fool around. Ignorance doesn't do any good when you paddle especially on a whitewater. (Actually it doesn't do any good anywhere.)

Once you get the feel of the moving water, how to handle your boat, your paddle, your body, and how they all work together, all these will come to you naturally. Some of you might get these faster than others. I am physically slow by nature. I failed my eddy turn about a dozen times before I could relate it to the practice at the beginning of the class. I still hear "No wimpy stroke!" and "Good forward stroke!" in my head pretty clearly which is very helpful actually. Sometimes it is much easier to have somebody tell me what to do when I can't think straight. (Good job, Mike.)

Photo of "Kayak Master"
taken by me, the baby grasshopper.

Anyway, until next paddling. Stay tuned on the photos from Great Falls Race 2012 where wimpy strokes only mean troubles.

Have a great weekend!

Check out some more photos from here.