Boating and Sailing.pdf - Moja ladja

Chapter 10: Paddle Power: Canoes, Kayaks, and Rowboats
as you can reach and bringing it all the way to the hull behind you, followed by a second
stroke on the opposite side that reverses the stroke direction, starting aft and sweeping forward.
This pushes on one side and pulls on the other and causes the boat to spin in its own
length, much like putting one motor in forward and the other in reverse on a twin-engined
powerboat.
The boat can be stopped by simply reversing with the alternating strokes, pushing forward
instead of pulling backward.
Skirting a Spill: Recovery Strokes
In both canoes and kayaks, it’s possible to turn the agony of defeat into the joy of victory
with recovery strokes designed to pull a tipping boat back from the edge of disaster. The idea
is to stop the tipping action by bracing the boat against the paddle blade on the surface of
the water.
As the boat tips, you reach far out to the side with the blade held flat to the surface and
push down, very hard, to bring the hull back upright. This pushes the blade into the water,
so you have to turn it at 90 degrees to bring
it back to the surface without counteracting
your push.
Boater-ese
In kayaks, you can help the recovery by swiveling
your hips to bring the boat back under you.
This is commonly known as a “hip flick” in
kayaking—not nearly as sexy as it sounds, but
very useful.
These steps are also part of a remarkable maneuver known as the “Eskimo roll,” in which a
kayak turned completely upside down pops back upright. Because your legs are enclosed in
“manhole”-type kayaks, you don’t fall out when the boat rolls over, but you’re suspended
upside down. If you don’t do something quick, you’re going to be breathing water!
The Eskimo roll is not a skill learned easily from a book—you’ll probably want local
hands-on instruction and a helper to stand by while you learn how to handle being upside
down under water. With practice, it does get easier.
One big advantage of the open kayaks is that they don’t require learning the Eskimo roll.
You just climb back on after a capsize.
Kayak paddles usually have their blades set at an angle to each other on the common shaft.
This is so that when one blade is in the water during the power stroke, the other blade is
“feathered” into the wind for less resistance. It may seem like a small amount of drag to
worry about, but remember that the blade in the air is moving forward at more then twice
the boat speed, and if there’s any headwind at all you will feel the difference.
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A recovery stroke is a
stroke made to prevent the kayak
from overturning, or to right it
once it has turned over.