Isaac's Journey Home Page

 Kayak Pool Session  at Bremerton YMCA - Skill Practice (9-11-11)

For the PWC Kayakers and their friends, what an amazing opportunity to practice sea kayak paddling, self/assisted-rescuing, edging, tilting, sculling, rolling, etc at a local pool!  As part of the PWC events, the PWC president, Paul Dutky organized 11 YMCA pool sessions through the Winter to early Spring.  Last Sunday was the first of 11 sessions.  It costs a bare minimal of $12 per person (max 12 boats in the pool) for renting a YMCA pool ($100 for 2 hrs) in Bremerton, WA.   To just swim in the YMCA pool, it cost more than $12 !  One day guest pass is $15.

It was excellent timing for me since I did not have any dayhiking or backpacking scheduled for the last Sunday.  Since I started Kayaking in April this year,  I set a goal of doing the roll by this Summer or prior to the rainy season but probably I will not able to make it since my primary objectives have been hiking/backpacking while the weather is nice.  After a few roll practices at the local lakes since April,  I realized that I needed to spend some time to be able to roll and to concentrate more on paddling skill (edging, tilting, rolling, etc).  I also need to develop/memorize some muscles and technique used for rolling: stronger abdomen muscle, upper shoulder, knee action, body motion, etc.

Well, it was a great opportunity in practicing a roll with a white-water Kayak.  A white-water kayak is a lot smaller and easier to roll than my sea kayak.  I could not quite do it but was able to hand-roll for a couple of times.  I was able to consistently roll with the paddle float that is used for self-rescuing, but I was not able to do it with a bigger boat.  So, I definitely need to work harder to be able to roll.

Paul and Les Moore gave me some lessons and tips.  I really appreciated their time and efforts.  I hope that I can remember those lessons and do it right next time.  I will definitely try to make all the pool sessions scheduled.

My notes for the things-to-work-on to be able to roll:
a. Remember the roll position for the paddle and the body
b. Work on abdomen muscle
c. Work on balance using a bouncing ball
d. Work on upper shoulder
e. Work on knee action (entire right knee to roll left)
f. Work on body motion (head down, finish in pull-up position with the paddle, & do it smooth)

 

Isaac's Journey Home Page