Kayak Addiction

I think I have a problem.  Yesterday I left a works’ Xmas dinner and leaving do to go and play canoe polo.  I did finish my dinner first though!

The Orkney A Team have their second round of Division 1 matches this weekend and a few of the team made it along for one final practice.  We are also trying to put together the Orkney B Team so it was good for us to practice before Xmas is upon us.

I arrived and was told that because I now could handroll, it was fine to push me in.  I protested that I couldn’t hand roll at all, but apparently I had been seen!  That’ll teach me to post videos on my blog…..

We had a fun practice tonight.  We practiced some skills and then played a game.  I got rather passionate and swore at Peter but only because I thought it was a red ball and he was cheekily trying to steal it for the whites.  Sorry Peter! Warming up  Captain Hairyaker is proud of his fibreglass repairs  NK has the ball Reds v. Whites

More winter and more handrolling

Yesterday morning brought another deluge of snow, just when we thought the first lot was going to melt.  Schools were shut, buses cancelled and roads treacherous.  However it was rather beautiful out in my street.

Laverock Road in the snow

Because most of Orkney had ground to a halt due to the weather, there wasn't much going on when we arrived at work so we decided to make a welcoming snowman for any subsequent visitors.

The snowman and his snow makers

After spending far too long in the office in the evening, preparing a poster for the NSGG Conference in London next week, it was time for the KKC pool session. 

It was interesting to watch different coaching techniques, some coaches are confident, others quiet and unassuming.  Some have been doing this for donkeys years.  Observing others made me think about what happens once you have your coaching award.  Getting the award in the first place is hard enough but it seems that once you have the 'ticket' it's really important to maintain a paddling CPD to ensure that you continue to develop as both a paddler and a coach, even if you never do another formal coaching or paddling award.  As we found when we travelled to Inverness a few weeks ago, a little bit of outside input makes loads of difference to your own approach.

I put lots of effort into thinking about and planning my Sunday night OSKA sessions, thinking carefully how things are done and how best to pass that information on.  I probably look a bit hesitant coaching with my notes, but by using them, I know I don't miss anything out.  By the time it comes to the Tuesday night KKC session, I am determined to take time working on my own skills.  This week, I roped Christina in to look again at handrolling.  I was in an easier boat, but I think there is a bit of an improvement.  Christina decided to 'pimp my kayak'.  See if you can spot it in the video!

I also had a go at the butterfly roll, unfortunately, although YouTube illustrates nicely the start and finish positions, I'm not very sure what happens under the water!  Mackayak's assistance is required!

It was still cold outside at the end of the session - Christina was very impressed with Adam's barefoot bravery!

 Brrrrr.....

One Hundred (Unsuccessful) Handrolls

Today Mackayak booked the pool for a sea boat session.  Before we could get in the warm water, there was a small ice issue to deal with.  I didn’t fancy sitting on that in my pool clothes!

 

For some reason I decided that I was going to spend my time in the pool trying to hand roll my Avocet.  I must have tried at least 50 times, each of them unsuccessful.  That’s about 28p per attempt.  I tried to use video analysis on myself but didn’t really get the camera in a good place.  It would be good to have some in water coaches or helpers next time.

Everyone seems to have gone a bit hand roll mad round here.  I think it’s partly because we need to use handrolls in polo but also it presents a new skill and new challenge to master.  The others master much quicker than me and sometimes I wonder if there is any point continuing.  I’m definitely a theorist and although I have taken in and understood what I am supposed to do, I seem to find it very hard to translate that into body actions.  More than once recently I have considered giving up and going back to knitting.

Mackayak, as ever, was demonstrating to us how things can be done with grace and not force.  I will have to get her to teach me the butterfly roll soon, maybe in the pool after Xmas when we are participants and not coaches.  She does a lovely static brace in her boat and I was trying to claim this was because she has an Isel with chines as opposed to my Avocet with a round hull but then I found this video of a lovely static brace in an Avocet LV.  Another skill to master then…..  

Later on in the day we were coaching the new paddlers in the pool again.  Tonight we recapped sweep strokes and talked about moving sideways and backwards.  As ever there are lots of different things to think about when doing each stroke.

 

In the deep end, lots of different rolls and handrolls were being tried.  The sight of Hairyaker paddling a polo boat with a Greenland paddle illustrates just how many aspects of kayaking there are.  Even more to master!

 

Now, where did I put all my knitting needles?  Anyone want to buy a boat?

A winter’s blast

This afternoon a few of us had a short paddle in Scapa Bay.  One of our party is recovering from a broken collarbone and four ribs so we just wanted to do something gentle.  I haven’t broken anything but am so out of condition, a short paddle sounded just right to me.

Peter and Johnny set out

The weather in the morning had been sunny and very calm.  Although winds were forecast, they had no materialised.  We set forth at about 1pm, in calm, if a little grey, conditions, with the rain stopping almost immediately.

Hemp Stack 

We decided to head as far as Hemp Stack where we played around taking pictures and video of forward and reverse sweeps to use on the website.

 The cameraman

Emerging from behind the shelter of the rocks we found ourselves with an irritating northerly headwind to contend with.  This increased in ferocity as we headed home.  By the time we landed it was a F5 gusting F7.  It had been F3 at most when we left.

Wind after the calm

Although the strong winds were expected, it was an interesting reminder of how quickly conditions can change and how important it is to check the forecast!  By the time we landed it was both windy and very wet so I ran away to the warmth of the fire ASAP. 

Good to get out and blow off some cobwebs and excellent to see Peter back on the water. 

More Polo

Tonight was another round of polo training.  The Div 1 team, the Orkney Orcas have their second round of matches in a couple of weeks and the B team, (who are not called the Orkney Voles, Peter!) play our first matches in January.

’A’ team captain Hairyaker in a newly repaired polo boat

There were only 8 of us at training tonight but we still made good use of the time, finishing up with an enjoyable game. 

I’m not very good at polo but really enjoy playing and am looking forward to the league matches in January.  I have offered to take on B team organisation – this of course is a rouse to pick myself!!!

Polo can be dangerous – look what happened to Torquil’s paddle!