Transcription
[Music] The golden rules of paddling are a set of rules that will let you paddle better and more safely. That's right, better and more safely. And everybody wants to paddle better and more safely, and so let's get right into it.
So the first golden rule is to choose an appropriate paddling location. What is an appropriate paddling location? Well, that depends on a few things. That depends on—well, depends on what type of kayak you're using, but more so it depends on your expertise. How much skill do you have? And your knowledge—how much training do you have? For example, if you're a recreational paddler with no formal training whatsoever, you really have no choice; you need to stay on bodies of water that are protected from strong wind and waves. If you're paddling on rivers, you need to stick to rivers that have at most Class I moving water. And what—what does Class I mean? Well, Class I basically means fast-moving water, no significant waves. As soon as you get into Class II whitewater and above, you're dealing with a paddling scenario that needs formal training because there are a variety of new factors that come into play. And if that's something you want to do, then my recommendation would, hands down, be: go take a two-to-five-day introductory whitewater course. From that course, you'll learn the skills and you'll—you'll gain the knowledge you need to be able to confidently, safely paddle up to Class III whitewater, and it will absolutely open up a whole new world to you.
Now, I'm sure there's some of you watching this thinking to yourself, "I can't learn whitewater paddling." I mean, some of you may be thinking, "I have no desire to learn whitewater paddling," and that's totally cool. But just know that your limitation is Class I fast-moving water. Uh, for those of you who might be thinking, "I'm too old, I'm too out of shape, I'm too whatever" to take a whitewater kayaking course, you're not. I've taught kayaking—whitewater kayaking—for years and years and years and years, and I saw people of all shapes and sizes. I won't say that everybody that took a course continued with whitewater kayaking, but I do feel very confident that the vast majority of people that did take the course are really happy that they did; that—that—that experience has definitely been a highlight of their lives. So go for it, if you're interested.
For sea kayakers, uh, and people who have been trained in open-water and open-water paddling and open-water safety and open-water rescue techniques, well, you have a lot more options when it comes to the appropriate paddling locations. That being said, it's important to recognize that sometimes a little bit of information, a little bit of knowledge, can be one of the most dangerous things. Just because you took a two-day sea kayaking course and learned about a lot of different safety concepts, it does not mean that you're necessarily ready for anything and everything. You have to take a conservative approach to all your decisions when you're on the water, when you're in—especially when you're in open-water situations and far from shore. The reason it's so important to be conservative is because paddling is, generally speaking, a very safe sport, but when you're in those types of environments, when things do go wrong, things can go very, very, very wrong very quickly. And so the prudent thing to do is just be conservative with your decisions.
This leads us into the second golden rule, which is to plan and prepare for a capsize. So how do you plan and prepare for a capsize? Well, one thing you can do with sit-on-top kayaks—one of the big selling features of sit-on-top kayaks—is that they're easy to get back into if you fall out of the kayak; that you can just crawl back onto them. They're like floating docks. Well, when was the last time that you tried to get back onto a dock from the water—or a kayak? If you haven't, then it may have been pretty easy when you're a kid and full of energy, but if you're watching this, you probably aren't a kitten full of energy. You might be full of energy, but you may not be a kid. It can be surprisingly difficult to get back onto a sit-on-top kayak from the water, and you don't want to have to figure that out when you flip for your first time in some uncomfortable situation on the water. Take the time, practice beforehand; learn how to do it before you go out and find yourself in that situation. And if you're not willing to do that, then you really need to paddle in a location that's close enough to shore to swim if you do end up capsizing.
Now, how else do you plan and prepare for a capsize? Well, the other way to do that is to dress for immersion. And what that means is dress in a way that if I end up swimming and I'm immersed for a significant amount of time, that A, I mean absolutely I'm going to survive, but B, I'm not going to be miserable either. So it really depends—what does that mean? Well, it depends on the water temperature, depends on the air temperature. You need to dress in a way where, hey, you're comfortable when you're paddling, but if you do go into the water unexpectedly, that you're also—you're going to be comfortable enough to still have an enjoyable and safe time.
This brings us to Golden Rule number three. So the third golden rule is to use torso rotation for all your strokes. What's torso rotation? Well, torso rotation is the way you get your whole upper body, your core muscles, involved with all the strokes you take, so you're not just relying on your arms, which, even if you've got big old python arms, your arms are relatively weak compared to your—your core muscles. I go into quite a bit of depth about using torso rotation in a previous video that I did called "The Three Essential Strokes," so let's take a quick look at a segment from that. When I reach for the stroke, I'm not just reaching with my arms; I'm reaching with my shoulder by turning at the waist, and when I do that, I've effectively wound up my body, and now I'm—I'm accessing something that's called torso rotation. This is how you get your core muscles—not just your arms—into every stroke you take. It's an absolutely key concept for any kayaking stroke. To see more of that video, I'll put a link in the description box down below, and it goes into how you use torso rotation for the three most important strokes—not just the one.
That brings us to number four. This isn't a very original golden rule, but it's probably the most important golden rule: Always wear your PFD whenever you're on the water. It's important, even if the Coast Guard says you just need to have a PFD in your boat. It's really important to always wear the PFD. Having a PFD in your boat is kind of like saying, "Hey, have a seatbelt available in your vehicle." Well, yeah, that doesn't really help when you need it. Same with the PFD; you got to be wearing it. And you're only going to want to wear a PFD if A, it's comfortable, and B, it looks good. So for—probably the more—most important part, A, being comfortable—that's why you want to choose a paddling-specific PFD. It removes the bulk around your shoulders, around your arms, anywhere you need to move. It lowers it; keeps most of the flotation down around your—around your torso, lower torso. And even the back of the PFDs, they have the flotation in the right place. This particular one has flotation up in the upper back, so that I don't have flotation and padding here between me and the seat back. Makes it much more comfortable. Bottom line is, whatever type of PFD you have, whether it's a paddling-specific PFD, which I'd highly recommend, or a general PFD, wear it.
So there you have it. For me, those four things are the golden rules of paddling. Three of those really relate to staying safe on the water: choosing an appropriate paddling location, planning and preparing ahead of time for capsize, and always wearing your PFD. And one is about paddling better, and that's using torso rotation. Of course, if you're more interested in golden rules or rules that help you paddle better, then check out a few of my other videos on specific paddling techniques. And we'll see you again for another paddling tip. If you like this video, do give it a thumbs up or two. I don't even think you can do that, but we'll see you again for another paddling tip, gear review, or paddling adventure. [Music]