Snarf77
06-26-2006, 12:32 PM
Alright, I'll try to keep this short, sweet, and not cry too much about how sore i am. :)
Starting now.
Four buddies and I drove about 5.5 hours down from DC to take a beginner kayaking course in the New River. We drove down Friday in the storm from hell and crashed in a powerless hotel and woke up via cell phone alarm.
Rain had ceased by the morning and we drove to the outfitter and got sized up for our kayaks. First, they didn't have many to choose from. Two, the foot pads wouldn't move far enough forward! I'm 6 feet, 200 lbs, with a 33 inch inseam.
The instructor was a 5 foot 4 girl of MAYBE 120 pounds..and she could have kicked all of our butts at one time. She strapped all 4 of our kayaks to her corolla, which was a sight to see. We even had to drive over a 5-6 inch downed tree getting to the river! Sweet right!?
I'll start with the ending. I'm nearly dead and I have a new respect for whitewater kayakers. Now..the beginning; I mastered the art of getting into the kayak in about 10 minutes. My skirt was a little too small and required mega force to fit the coqpit. After chickening out a couple of times, i mastered the wet exit in about 15 minutes and 5 or 6 trys. Its a bit intimidating at first considering how hard it is to get in and out of one of those.
Anyway, My kayak didn't fit quite right and I moved a bit left to right in the water, which was moving. I had to correct my forward motion about every 3 or 4 strokes. That lead to me being dead tired by lunch and frustrated about my near-inability to track strait ahead.
After lunch, I worked on my hip flick. I say worked on it, because you'd have to work miracles to get an eskimo roll down in a single day. I managed to get up on my own only once, and couldn't do it at all when holding the paddle. UGH!
I worked on my going in a strait line for a few more hours and paddled upstream maybe a 1/4 mile. We never hit the rapids for fear of death but we did get near some bad undercuts that began to suck our boats towards them..slightly scary on Day 1. I only swam about 5 times during the day, but each time wasn't very fun. Those boats hold a LOT of water. I was beat. We ended up a a joint called Dirty Earnie's Rib Pit which was overpriced but good. I'm so sore today that walking is a chore, and i never did actually go strait for more than 30 yards..oh well
SO, now I want to go again, but I want to stay closer to home. Any VA/DC/MD folks know of a good local place that gives lessons affordably with rental gear? If I want to buy a plastic boat to save on rental fees, what is a good one for bigger folks..6 ft, 200..? I don't want one of the flat odd shaped trick boats, but more of the oblong rounded boats. A very technical description, I know.
Starting now.
Four buddies and I drove about 5.5 hours down from DC to take a beginner kayaking course in the New River. We drove down Friday in the storm from hell and crashed in a powerless hotel and woke up via cell phone alarm.
Rain had ceased by the morning and we drove to the outfitter and got sized up for our kayaks. First, they didn't have many to choose from. Two, the foot pads wouldn't move far enough forward! I'm 6 feet, 200 lbs, with a 33 inch inseam.
The instructor was a 5 foot 4 girl of MAYBE 120 pounds..and she could have kicked all of our butts at one time. She strapped all 4 of our kayaks to her corolla, which was a sight to see. We even had to drive over a 5-6 inch downed tree getting to the river! Sweet right!?
I'll start with the ending. I'm nearly dead and I have a new respect for whitewater kayakers. Now..the beginning; I mastered the art of getting into the kayak in about 10 minutes. My skirt was a little too small and required mega force to fit the coqpit. After chickening out a couple of times, i mastered the wet exit in about 15 minutes and 5 or 6 trys. Its a bit intimidating at first considering how hard it is to get in and out of one of those.
Anyway, My kayak didn't fit quite right and I moved a bit left to right in the water, which was moving. I had to correct my forward motion about every 3 or 4 strokes. That lead to me being dead tired by lunch and frustrated about my near-inability to track strait ahead.
After lunch, I worked on my hip flick. I say worked on it, because you'd have to work miracles to get an eskimo roll down in a single day. I managed to get up on my own only once, and couldn't do it at all when holding the paddle. UGH!
I worked on my going in a strait line for a few more hours and paddled upstream maybe a 1/4 mile. We never hit the rapids for fear of death but we did get near some bad undercuts that began to suck our boats towards them..slightly scary on Day 1. I only swam about 5 times during the day, but each time wasn't very fun. Those boats hold a LOT of water. I was beat. We ended up a a joint called Dirty Earnie's Rib Pit which was overpriced but good. I'm so sore today that walking is a chore, and i never did actually go strait for more than 30 yards..oh well
SO, now I want to go again, but I want to stay closer to home. Any VA/DC/MD folks know of a good local place that gives lessons affordably with rental gear? If I want to buy a plastic boat to save on rental fees, what is a good one for bigger folks..6 ft, 200..? I don't want one of the flat odd shaped trick boats, but more of the oblong rounded boats. A very technical description, I know.