sea kayak tips for beginners | don't use rudders
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- čas přidán 14. 07. 2024
- sea kayak tips for beginners | rudders
Move with your sea kayak course: www.dancingwiththesea.com/fun...
This video will show you an often ignored but critical detail of turning your sea kayak with ease when the wind is blowing hard.
If your sea kayak has a rudder, don’t use it…
At least not until you first master what you’re about to learn here.
The fact is that sometimes your rudder will help you, and sometimes it will force you to go the wrong way. And if you’re not comfortable putting your sea kayak on edge in the waves, and feel secure that you won’t capsize, you could find yourself in serious trouble.
You need to know when to put your rudder up. And have the skills to turn yourself without the rudder when you need to.
A second reason to not use the rudder is
I think many of us long to relearn how to move in nature with ease and harmony. And kayaking can be a great practice for that.
It requires awareness...It’s a practice of mindfulness actually. At least it can be if you want kayaking to feel like a good contrast from your everyday life.
I see a lot of people deploy their rudder as soon as the wind comes up. And they may not pay any attention to the direction of the wind, and how it’s pushing and turning their sea kayak.
Using the rudder can be more about forcing the sea kayak to move no matter which way the wind is blowing. And yes the rudder is there to help you control your sea kayak in the wind.
But it won’t always work.
Think of paying attention to the wind and waves. And how they impact your sea kayak. Are you trying to turn into the wind, or downwind?
When you understand how the wind impacts your kayak, you can move with more ease. Instead of following rules like wind equals ruder down, pay attention...notice how the wind is trying to turn you. And think about the most efficient way to move in that environment.
Many years ago I was paddling with a novice, on a very windy day. Probably too windy for him to be out there, but I wanted him to get some practice in the wind before a multiday trip.
And along the shoreline the water was actually pretty calm. I thought as long as we avoid getting sucked into the real nasty looking water offshore, he should be fine.
So we’re paddling along the shoreline, and decide to turn around when the wind is blowing about 25 knots in our face. Just slightly away from the shoreline.
He got his kayak turned around mostly. But in the process got a little further from shore. And as he tried to get the kayak to point towards the shoreline to come back, the wind kept pushing the bow of the kayak offshore, right into the big steep waves that he was not ready to handle.
On a very windy day, the rudder will act like an anchor. And keep the stern of the kayak towards the wind. And push the bow downwind.
The rudder works by moving the stern. And if the bow isn't moving the kayak turns. But if the wind is pushing the bow quicker than the stern can move, you’re just fighting with the wind... and you might lose.
What you want is the ability to turn in rough windy conditions. That means you can edge without the risk of capsizing. You can do a sweep stroke, either at the front or the back. You will use one or the other depending on the conditions. If you are paying attention.
You need to learn to keep your paddle in a position that gives you support as you turn. So you don’t have to worry about capsizing.
If you don’t learn to do this, turning in the waves will be scarry. And unsafe.
Maybe it sounds hard but it's easy after you know how to move with your kayak.
That’s why I created a video to show you how to move your whole body to edge securely and make a powerful turn. click the link in the description below to sign up for the free video I made for you. It’s part of a paid course but you can get this lesson free for now.
So to summarize. Having the rudder down is not always helpful. If you don’t learn to control your kayak without the rudder you could find yourself getting pushed into conditions you desperately want to avoid.
As you start to see how the wind tries to move you, it becomes easier. For example you may notice that without the rudder your kayak wants to go into the wind. That’s fine if it happens to be where you want to go. If not putting the rudder down will help you keep on course most of the time.
In higher wind you might find that having the rudder down causes your kayak to go downwind too much. You need to pay attention to know when to bring it up.
As you develop the skill of paying attention, and your ability to turn your kayak securely without the rudder, you notice that controlling your kayak becomes a lot easier. You’re not worried about the wind pushing you out of control. You have confidence that you can handle yourself. And kayaking is much more enjoyable.
Thanks for watching
This might be one of your most important videos! Thank you very much for the advice! I've never used a kayak with rudder, but my new one will have this, so I'll try to be wise and not use it if there's waves that's a bit higher than I'm used to. I have very limited kayaking experience, but I've learned a lot from videos, so I'm better prepared during the upcoming summer.
Good stuff here. Once you learn to edge---that you can get pretty tilted over without capsizing--you can make the boat go wherever you want without the rudder. It took me a while to feel confident enough to edge aggressively. It was about the time I realized I wasn't sitting in the boat, so much as wearing it, as you mention in another video. Good work.
Good job mate.
Easier to counter weather cocking with the skeg partially or fully down and, when necessary, raise it to make fast edging turns. Edging is far better as your hull shape is shorter on the rocker when you do edge. Rudders will maintain the same waterline length and cause drag from both ends.
Ive never, ever tried a rudder, and never, ever wished I had one.
Hi, great films and full of details, where can one buy those paddles.? Thanks
Im in the middle of a 378 km trip Both my rudder and skeg got broken I will continue ty for the video
Just gonna kayak close to the shoreline
awesome vids,where is this filmed?
Another Great Video........
Over 30knots side wind my rudder broke on a nearly 5 m kayak. The only way to go forward was to paddle on one side only. It was hard, lucky I only had one kilometer to go. Long distance kayakers use wing paddles most the time as Olympians. Just learn to use your favourite paddle.
Thanks, that’s great. How to learn edging the kayak more confidently?
I'll make a video on that next week.
This case occurred to me exactly as described here. I am a first level kayak practitioner and it was very windy with big waves. I used my rudder thinking it would help me but on the contrary it forced my kayak to turn downwind. even though I tried to stay facing the waves and the wind.....as my Kayak was turning downward the next wave pushed me up and I capsized. I went back in my kayak and decided to go to the shore. Again, another wave took the whole kayak and pushed me again under the water. Not a funny situation.
As I am diabetic, I also was on hypoglycemia.......Lucky, I had my lifeJ acket (Of course)......I would have drown because I was loosing my strength rapidly. Since then, every time I go Kayaking, I am anxious of capsizing......I force myself to go but I lost my confidence because of that
It's the first time someone explains to me what happened. Now I understand.....at that time I thought it was because I was not strong enough or did a bad maneuver with the rudder....I could not explain clearly the cause.
Thank you !
Be extra cautious every time you go out! Anything can happen when you are out there on a boat like that.
You are very welcome. Thanks for sharing, I always wondered why I never hear anyone talking about this. Your experience confirms my suspicion that a lot of people are probably having that happen but don't know why.
@@DancingWithTheSea The others were having kayaks without rudders...but they were also more experimented than me...level 2 and 3. Because of me and the wind that was very strong they decided to not trying to cross the cape from were the wing was coming (St-Lawrence river in Quebec - Near Montreal). So I was feeling bad because of that....
I capsized on my 2nd waves last Saturday n swam to shore. Once kayak came to share I was trying to pull it away and out of surf but it was so strong n I went under and over it many times, kayak hit my head and I’m still bruised up from it. So weak and exhausted very much a nightmare. Kayak eventually filled with water and got beached until my hubby and friend came to share and helped me. Very scary. Still having mixed feelings about kayaking. Got a trip planned Sunday. Will be avoiding waves. I’m in nsw Australia. Thank you for sharing.
I like this video but the title is dangerous. From your direct words, I can share a video with you, while relying on my paddle the first time out in these conditions (beginner too) this video got me in a lot of trouble. I understand from your view-point as a professional. looking back. But as a beginner who can self-rescue, I can say your video forced me to quickly learn the self-rescue using my knowledge of instructional self-rescue videos. A beginner in the kind of swell you're in, I was in, for a beginner to attempt without a rudder is giving them hope before they've learned to master evrything without a rudder, before even attempting a small swell with wind. You have to be at a much higher level, when you're one with your kayak and every action is a reaction by using your body, paddle and kayak that only has come with time, practice, experience. Not for a beginner. But I'm subscribed, thank you for teaching me so much, especially the culture and the Greenland Paddle. I DO understand the feelings, style etc you describe kayaking to be, rather than the action packed "modern is the best way" approach. Holding a Euro feels like I'm holding a tin broomstick.
You do seem to know everything about kayaking; are you out there, on the water, every day? If so, do you take hourly or daily paddling rounds or longer ones every time you go out?
I wouldn't say I know everything. I'm still discovering new helpful ways to be more competent even after doing this for 20 years. I prefer to stay open and try things out, and when I find something that works well I share it.
I try to get out paddling for a few hours a few times a week on average. Plus some overnight trips.
@@DancingWithTheSea, thank you for sharing your findings!
You are most fortunate to be able to go out like that! I can only hope I will be able to do that one day myself!
Keep up the good work!