bashed

yomchi

Well there's no other word for it. Mentally battered I was today.

I went on my first river trip, it was down the Boyne. Up to today I was making great progress, except today I switched from a creeker to a playboat and it gave me no lee-way whatsoever, I got flipped on every weir. I was the only one to swim at Stackallen and simple breaking in and out was a nightmare. I was flipped at the big A, flipped at the Animal, flipped ferrie gliding, flipped sitting there, flipped flipped flipped!

Halfway down the river I wanted to break the boat into little bits and walk home Only for some of the instructors I probably would have!

All jokes aside I got an ego bashing today, through and through! My only success was making the S bends and catching the eddy nicely, and while I only swam the once I spent most of my time upside down.

Other than that, it was a beautiful day and the scenery was lovely... kinda brown river bubbles - if I can remember the scenery properly:rolleyes:

River - 1
Me - 0

Back to basics!

adrianshanahan

Hi,

What size / weight are you?

What boat have you been paddling up to now?

What creek boat were you in today?


A

yomchi

adrianshanahan wrote: »

Hi,

What size / weight are you?

What boat have you been paddling up to now?

What creek boat were you in today?


A

Hi Adrian,
I'm 6'2 and 95kgs. I did all my practice work for the past six or seven weeks in a habitat. The habitat was loaned to another lad hoping to buy it so I borrowed a playboat from a mate of mine to go on the river trip. I think it was called a wave master. The guy who's been teaching me told me to expect a lot more capsizes in it and on one attempt to calm me down even showed me how low the edges of the boat were down in the water compared to his due to my weight. The bloomin thing was very unforgiving, but I was warned! It really did bust my confidence though as I watched very beginners make it over waves I didn't.

stapeler

I share your pain. Hang in there. It's embarrassing when my 12yr old has to keep rescuing me.

KenHy

Only remedy here is to get back on the river as soon as possible! Next time you get a chance make sure to go out agaij. Bring a larger boat of you have one and you will enjoy it much more!

wobbles

A nice edgy playboat is always a bit more of a challenge to paddle. But stick with it. If you can handle your edges while ferry gliding etc in a playboat, you should be able to do it in any boat. And im sure you learned a lot more yesterday in in that boat than you would of had in a larger boat.

Truley

Don't let a few swims get you down, there is a huge difference between paddling a creeker and a playboat. Creekers are far more forgiving, sometimes a little too forgiving for a learner. In a playboat you need to be more proactive or 'on the ball' with your movements. You will be surprised how quickly you sharpen up your skills though, as in a playboat you can see exactly where you are going wrong and where you need to improve. At least now when you do start making it down features you will know its through skill and not just good luck. I think paddling a creeker on small rivers can make you a bit lazy in that sense.

The last thing you should think is that swimming is something to be embarrassed about. I would bet money that every single person on this thread has swam on the Boyne at least once. I swam at every single feature my first time, in a Gforce if I remember correctly :P I wouldn't think twice about paddling it now. One thing I will say though is make sure the playboat fits you properly, maybe look into getting a bigger playboat.

adrianshanahan

Hey Man,

Just to pretty much echo what every one else has said to date, don't stress too much on the issue. Your not a small guy in even in the biggest of playboats your going to notice a massive difference in the performance of say a creekboat and a freestyle kayak.

Its kinda poor form who ever just landed you in it with all but the briefest of warnings. Stick with it and all will be good, even consider getting your own boat so you can prevent these things happening in the future and you will also be able to outfit it to suit yourself.

Best of luck dude.


Adrian

multisport

River paddling ..... the great ego thief

yomchi

Hey guys thanks for all the advice it all makes good sense to me now after spending the day analysing it to beat the band. After a good yarn today with the guy teaching me we're going to go up to Sluice next week (a wee bit down from it there is nice flow with a nice big eddy to work out of) and we're going to spend an hour or so there working on them edges. I have my eye on a boat for myself that he recommended, possibly a Pyranah Burn or a Karnali.

He said the day was a positive one because I got to experience all the features head on :P and he noticed that on some of the stoppers I missed a forward stroke which meant the wave took over. He said I had the frustrating end of Kayaking compressed into one day and that no other trip would ever be as frustrating now.. I hope!

So I'll put it down to an experience, I won't be so cocky next time - I was a tad cocky if I'm honest thinking after watching Dave Carroll on a few DVD's that I'd be flaring and boofing off the Big A with no hassle :pac:

Thanks all for the advice, appreciate it!

ozt9vdujny3srf

Hehe every so often you'll get your ass handed to ye. Nature of the sport!