The (colorful) Kayak Lesson
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| entertainment factor We rafted the Shoshone River 12 miles with our inflatable kayaks and canoe in two and a quarter hours on Friday - and came back smiling, so decided to do the North Fork on Saturday. |
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| Putting on the "skirt". |
I don't think humans are meant to be looked at when we're buying pants.
Ricky Gervais
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| discomfort and a jerry-rigged camera |
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| Snugging it up - Check. |
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| Handle out for wet exit - Check. |
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| quick lesson, quick learner
The sun appeared and disappeared by turns. It got hot. I took my jacket off. It started to sprinkle so I put it back on with my hood up. The reservoir water was surprisingly warm - good thing, because thanks to pulling in the kayak and emptying it, I was soaked right through my yoga pants and tights up to my waist. Mostly I watched. Although I remembered clearly the one important instruction that the head comes up last, I made few suggestions since I hadn't actually done this before. We had all watched the videos more than once.
"Your head came up first". Heads, it seems are heavy and throw us off balance. They also prefer to be out of the water, preferably immediately. This doesn't help.
After a lot of very "wet exits", and several attempts to roll - hip flip practice, hands and arms method sans paddle, Jerry went to the pickup to warm up. They had tried rolling with helmets and without helmets, using arms and hands, thinking through it step by step. It all appears simple until you are upside down making a wet exit after flailing and failing.
Insisting I didn't need to wade into the water to assist as his dad had done, Duane instructed me on how to use turn on the Go-Pro, rowed out to deeper water, took his paddle and with my limited knowledge, followed my paddle instructions to execute his first three or four C to C rolls.
Jerry, shivering in the heated vehicle, missed seeing the first successful barrel roll, but he did see our hands in the air as we shouted in celebration. Not to be outdone, Jerry came out, switched boats with Duane and tried the paddle method, too. Success! Exciting!
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The best advice I've ever received is,
"No one else knows what they're doing either."
Ricky Gervais
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Fun times! Can't imagine doing the barrel roll! My head doesn't like to be in the water either!
ReplyDeleteOh my! What an account you've put down here. Way to go, all of you. You are a spirited bunch and unafraid. I'm so impressed and just really enjoying finding out about this. Love your photo additions too. The Jerry rigged cameras are great. Like the grimace. Real life!
ReplyDeleteNext time take videoa and post here.
ReplyDeleteDuane's video clips are now posted!
DeleteDuane posted the video clip he made on facebook. Even has his war-whoop recorded. I didn't take time to see if I could share it here because I am multi-task challenged these days. We spent Monday and Tues evening working on rentals. I have pictures of the awesome new doors Jerry made for the sheds, but didn't take pictures of my projects - lawn-mowing, raking, miniblind cleaning and repairs, furnace vent cleaning, screen cleaning, and as a result now a tub to clean - the detail work. We have been working night and day - it's a little much for me, but trying to keep up with the Mr. Do-it-yourself Universe! I would complain if I thought it would do me any good. Next post will undoubtedly be about attitude adjustment!
ReplyDeleteSo excited to see this! What fun. :)
ReplyDeleteI was trying to imagine "head-up-last" and was unable to successfully picture myself doing such a harebrained thing. For one thing, I'm a mom, my kids need me right?!?! Besides that, I HATE getting water up my nose and I don't see how you could avoid it when upside down in a barrel roll. When we were with you I was telling Mindy how a week or so before I did my best to drown in our 2.5-foot deep backyard pool. The 4 of us were clowning around and I STILL don't know how it happened, but all of a sudden I couldn't breathe right. Only out, not in, which was quite panic-inducing. Although, since I did recover, it didn't put me off water or anything, just made me more aware that if something like that could happen to me, what about the little ones?
As usual I think some of my favorite parts are the quotes - "The best advice I've ever received is, "No one else knows what they're doing either.""
Love LW in SE WA