Whats with his paddle? It looks like he got some old tree and fashioned a paddle out of it, hardly the ultra lightweight carbon stuff i'm used to seeing...?
Looks like he can paddle and certainly eskimo role - he is good - but like most all kayaks you catch anything small and (if you have one,) the rudder is dangling in the breeze - you have to paddle like buggery to try and stop the nose digging and slowing down then it is nigh on impossible to stop going side-on and trying to stop rolling is - like leaving that first beer 1/2 drunk - impossible. So he is a dork looking for excercise. If he comes out of that thing or can't roll and has to get out - he is far ked -- following that freighter down stream - no choice.
So can be great fun but high risk - He could try a surf-ski - built for the job.
Select to expand quoteAquaPlow said...
Looks like he can paddle and certainly eskimo role - he is good - but like most all kayaks you catch anything small and (if you have one,) the rudder is dangling in the breeze
Have a closer look this guy is just damn good. There is no rudder. I would say he is the traditionalist type sea kayaker who doesn't believe in rudders and as for the paddle that is also the traditionalist approach.
Very impressive watching him control the kayak in those conditions.
This guy is a traditionalist seakayaker using a modern version of a greenlander
inuit kayak with the traditional inuit style paddle Rudders are not part of this
traditional style He is very skilled The rolls he is doing he is doing for fun and practise
Great footage it is unusual to get a vantage point like that to get film of action like that
looks like a fair volume of water moving through there. A bit OT, but the Eskimo roll is not that hard once you understand how it works. You dont use the paddle to pull yourself up (unless you have been taught a dodgy lever technique). The paddle just gets in the way... the trick is to flick the boat up by slowly arching your body to one side (toward the surface) about the hips, then rapidly flicking the other way (head into the water). Body inertia is more than that of the boat so the boat rotates faster than the body. Then there is some natural stability in the boat which helps to keep it upright. The paddle can then be used at the end to get some support. This guy's paddle has a low surface area so he needs to feather it pretty fast to get any useful lift out of it. But it would make a nice efficient rudder in moving water.
Heres another example of a tidal race, but this one is popular with the freestyle kayakers since it is very stable
