The following is offered for discussion and reflection on defining the adequacy of our paddling skills and abilities. The Intermediate Rough Water Symposium’s Fishers Race Team has taken a few early beads on this definition. Your thoughts, ideas, critique would be appreciated. FYI you may want to review MIKCo’s 10 plus year old paper, Proposed Goals for Coaches and Guides for a discussion on leadership levels of performance. Also you may want to review the new BCU 4 Star Sea Leader award for its latest overview of beginning sea leaders which most of us act us when paddling with our friends.
----- Original Message -----
Tom Bergh
Subject: The Intermediate Paddler
“Race Team,
“Paula gave us all a good shot here (below). Please review, refine and return so we
can move this whole descriptive level thing forward. Its easy to be
hard-core, its hard to be honest and firm. Paula's got some great concepts
here.
“This is a real deal, challenging exercise. Boys... I believe The Race Team
Blonde Wonder (Paula Riegel) has thrown down the gauntlet here. You got anything to say or
you just leaving it to The Gal - who some of us might think has a clearer
image of other paddlers than some newer 5 Stars I've heard about????
TRB
----- Original Message -----
Paula Reigel
Subject: Re: Who is an intermediate, novice or ???
“Hiya Tom
“Here's some thoughts regarding skill level of an intemediate. Kind of random
as was just brain-storming....
· Comfortable edging their boat well off balance while using support strokes.
· Sweeps, draws, ruddering (bow & stern), bracing unconsciously competent
· Knows what to do when hit on the beam by a moderate breaking wave
· Land forwards, backward and sideways in moderate surf.
· Comfortably handles their sea kayak in Force 4 winds, and is able to proceed up, down and across such wind.
· Able to take advantage of following seas by using the slopes and speed
· Has performed rescues in moderate sea conditions (winds Force 4, swells 4-6 ft)
· Has multiple methods for both self and assisted rescues and knows when to use which one. Rescues are quick and effective.
· Is ready, willing and able to tow others in moderate conditions, towing techniques are in their “tool box”. Knows there isn't a "one size fits all" tow line length
· Constant rocking/bouncing of boat doesn’t make you think “I shouldn’t have had those beers last night.”
· Dependable roll in moderate conditions
· Able to kick forward stroke into high gear on demand for powering through surf or getting on a wave
· Knows what torso rotation is and incorporates it into strokes
· Kit is just right. Not too much, not too little. Knows the importance of keeping a clean deck.
· Considers boat a tool not a jewel
· When group paddling, able to look out for others if conditions start to deteriorate.
· Isn’t in a self imposed“danger zone”
· OK being upside down for 15-20 seconds while waiting for wave to release boat.
· Can paddle at a constant 3 knots and can sprint to 5 kn
· On a beach launch, knows how to read waves to determine most opportune time for punching through the surf break
· By looking at a chart and knowing tide times and marine forecast, is developing knowledge of where are danger zones and safety spots
· Comfortable doing longer crossings in fog
· Developing ability to read water to find eddies
· Has been thrown about in surf before and not afraid to get thrashed again
· Has swam through a rough surf break
· Shoulder to over-head high waves brings smile to face
Trip Level Ratings
The following definitions are the product of the NSPN, North Shore Paddlers Network, www.nspn.org.
Level 1: Paddling will be on very sheltered water with easy access to the shore.
Level 2: Paddling will be on lakes, sheltered rivers, harbors, tidal estuaries, etc.
Level 3: Paddling may involve limited exposure to open ocean with access to sheltered water or landing near at hand (less than one mile).
Level 4: Paddling may involve significant exposure to open ocean with limited access to shelter. May require paddling in open ocean for several miles to reach shelter.
Maximum Conditions
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4
Wind Some 10 kts 15kts 25kts
Waves/Chop Minimal 1 ft 2 ft 4 ft
Surf Minimal 1 ft 2 ft 4 ft
Current Minimal 1 kts 2kts 4 kts
Distance 2 miles 10 miles 15 miles 20+ miles
Skills
Level 1: Paddle: None. Rescue: None. Pace: None. Other: None Desirable Exp: None.
Level 2 Paddle: Forward, reverse sweep. Rescue: Wet exit. Pace: None. Desirable Experience: Basic class in kayak safety and paddle strokes.
Level 3 Paddle: Level 2 skills. Correcting and boat handling strokes, solid bracing. Rescue: Wet exit, paddle float self rescue, patrner rescue. Pace: 2-3 knots. Other: Basic trip safety, basic navigation. trip planning, environmental conditions. Desirable experience: Level 2 trips or equivalent, class in rescues and tows.
Level 4 Paddle: Level 3 skills, strong bracing skills, surf skills, tidal current skills. Rescue: Level 3 skills, rescues and tows, reliable roll or very strong bracing. Pace: 4 knots. Other: Charts, navigation, VHF, environmental conditions, trip planning and emergency procedures. Desirable experience: Level 3 trips or equivalent.
----- Original Message -----
Nick Schade
Subject: Re: Who is an intermediate, novice or ???
“People are very good at overestimating wave height. The typical error factor in my experience is 3. I.e. if the waves are 6" they say 18", and if the waves are 3' they say 9'. I think this is because people judge by the length of the wave face, instead of the vertical distance from peak to trough, but regardless the error is pretty common.
“Instead of talking about wave height in terms of feet and inches I would put it in terms of "elbow high", "shoulder height", "head high", "over head", "double overhead" and "oh my God". I think you will find a lot of people who will think they have paddled in 4' surf, but far fewer who will admit to surfing in "overhead" surf - i.e. 4 foot. Eight foot surf looks like you are being swallowed by a box car, but many people will mistake waves under 3' as being 8 footers.
In other words, asking a question like "have you ever had a wave break on top of your head" will provide more accurate information than "have you ever surfed in 4 foot waves"
Also questions like "What is the hardest upwind trip you have ever done, how far did you go and how long did it take you and how did you feel when you finished?" can reveal a lot. Someone who says "a five mile slog that took 2 hours and required two days to recover" will probably be less experienced than someone who say "one mile in 2 hours, but the run back was awesome"
Nick Schade
Guillemot Kayaks
http://www.guillemot-kayaks.com/
----- Original Message -----
Richard Stoehrer
Subject: Re: Who is an intermediate, novice or ???
“if we're the ones defining it then yup, that all sounds about right - maybe a skosh on the plus side (4-8 ft breaking seas...closer to the 4 than the 8...i think it might be ambitious to say that intermed are comfortable on long fog crossings and i think that the reading water / eddy skill are still developing.)
“i might tone down the 8 foot thing and then say that they understand the forces at work in a long fog crossing (and maybe even have sense to use a shore handrail or aim off to a LARGE target as opposed to something specific) and then depending on whether or not they have a ww background may have less of a competency in reading water/eddy's.
“On the other hand if you take the sampling of who attended last year and were to try to sort out the mean, i think it falls short of that definition.”
