This weekend was our whitewater kayaking trip on the Lehigh River, hosted by KCCNY, the Kayak & Canoe Club of NY.
Oh my gosh.
It was SO fun!
On Saturday we had theory and drills for river safety- defensive swimming, wet exits, boat-dancing to practice hip snaps, crossing eddies, ferrying, learning about reading the river.
It RAINED ALL DAY.
Seriously, it was so, so cold. Aside from the cold rain, the day was awesome.
We had a good campfire back at camp with everyone.
Camp pics & boat fitting:
My tent.... i did miss my hammock but the tent was fine.
My tent was mostly water-proof, except around one edge.
We all thought the dry spot underneath was funny.
Aimee did bring her hammock.
On Sunday we did a for-reals river trip. It was all Class 1, with 1 bit of Class 2 rapids at the end... they call it "graduation rapids". In the morning before lunch we practiced ferrying, high bracing, and low bracing.
We learned the pry stroke, which is used to move sideways.
I have a particular bad habit to use a reverse stroke to turn sharply, which isn't good because you do lose all your speed momentum.
That's not good on the river!
So I need to really get in the mindset of doing a forward sweep instead- which of course is more difficult. I can do a good sweep stroke, but I need to practice. It's like we learned this whole vocabulary of strokes and maneuvers- but practice is what brings the fluency and proper use.
So I need to really get in the mindset of doing a forward sweep instead- which of course is more difficult. I can do a good sweep stroke, but I need to practice. It's like we learned this whole vocabulary of strokes and maneuvers- but practice is what brings the fluency and proper use.
But I'm a rank beginner, so it's ok.
However- I BOOFED A ROCK!
I was SO EXCITED about this!
And Jason- one of the instructors- said my eddy crossing was "sick"... I know it was good, but also I think I had some beginners' luck!
We divided into 2 teams after lunch.
At lunch there were meat sticks for the meat-inclined people- and there was much talk about the love of meat sticks from the people who... love them.
One of our instructors is named John.
And I guess earlier there was a joke where someone said "Do you need a hand, John?" but it was..... mis-heard, to much laughter.
And that's how we got to be Team Meat Stick and Team Hand John.
Despite being veg, I was proud to be on Team Meat Stick!
Team Meat Stick:
Team Hand John:
The class picture:
Whitewater kayaking is very, very different than the sea kayaking I am used to.
Some of the skills are transferrable though, and I was glad to have previous kayaking experience... otherwise I think I would have been overwhelmed.
There were people in the class who were brand new to kayaking, and they did well, which was impressive. It's not easy and there is a very high level of physical stamina.
This is something I definitely want to do again.
It really was awesome.
