The Paddler ezine Issue 49 Late Summer 2019 | Page 102

ThePADDLER 102 DAY TWO After some theoretics in the classroom during the morning we got back on the water. Day two’s menu; consisted of the self-rescue. Every kayaker should be able to perform a swift rescue in the conditions he/she paddles in. Even a so called bomb-proof can fail if all the conditions are right (or wrong), and then it’s up to you to get back in your boat. I still hate the word ‘bomb-proof-roll’ even if my own last failed rolling attempt dates back from many years ago. I’m convinced that one day I will find myself back in the water after a failed roll, and then I’m well prepared. That’s also the mindset that we want to create among the participants. Everybody spent plenty of time in the water, but we kept things fun and the learning curve was good. If I was paid with smiles, I would have been a very rich man! DAY THREE Best way to describe that day is a mix between boat control, with many varying strokes and different rescues along the way. When paddling around the small rocky islands we can teach a lot of steering and manoeuvring strokes. With the rocks close by everybody got to see how the boat reacts and it allowed me to give feedback on the spot. We put in some minor incidents where the whole group aided a capsized and injured paddler. It brought up both the tension and the way the group was becoming a team. ‘bomb-proof-roll’ I still hate the word even if my own last failed rolling attempt dates back from many years ago DAY FOUR Day four was for mixing all the previously learned techniques! We created unexpected incidents where we pointed out a few team members to solve a certain problem. This started with a simple assisted rescue to a more complicated rescue of an injured paddler. We were a bit sneaky, from time to time as we pointed out a volunteer to do some unexpected things where the team needed to react in a safe and fast way. For example, we created a totally freaked out and panicking victim that had lost his boat, and paddle. It was great to see how the other team members