Are you Paddling the Most Suitable Kayak for your Ability?
The Australian Marathon Championships are here in WA in 5 months’ time. WA has a good chance to break the record for the most paddlers in one state to paddle at a National Championship. So if you currently race there is no reason why you shouldn’t take part in this event. So why not get to it and give it a go even if you know you have no chance of winning.
It’s the participation the counts.
Although it is a kayak/canoe championship and most paddlers paddle kayaks, ski paddlers can still take part.
If you are a ski paddler or you have just started to paddle and want to give kayaks a go its’ important to choose the right kayak suited to your ability and balance. If you are not young or if your balance is not crash hot there is no point in getting one of the most recent Olympic type K1s as you will spend more time swimming and bracing than
paddling.
I can paddle one of these very unstable K1s in a flat water situation but when paddling with a group of paddlers, where the water is churned up with their wash I lose speed because I’m trying to keep my balance. Luckily I have a pretty good brace stroke to avoid capsizing. So in a situation where I am racing I have chosen a kayak that is slightly wider than the
more unstable K1s that appear at the Olympics. Many K1s bear a similar width on the specification pages but it’s the hull shape that can vary and make one more stable over another.
Stability can be lost through age or if you haven’t been paddling for long. Even Ramon Andersson, an Olympian, a World Champion, a coach said he didn’t have the same balance as he used to have. So if you are over 50 years old or you haven’t been paddling long you wouldn’t expect to be able to paddle an Olympic K1 comfortably, however if you are a 15
year old it wouldn’t take too long at all to adapt.
So if you are at an age where learning new tricks takes longer to achieve, don’t go out and buy an Olympic style K1. It might look flash but it could take you years to get used to its stability and in the meantime you will probably spend more time out or keeping the kayak upright than paddling it. It will be impossible to get fit and you will probably lose hope,
lose enthusiasm for paddling and give up.
So get a kayak that is still a challenge but has the stability for you to feel fairly comfortable in the wash of other kayaks. Because you are not spending all your effort keeping it upright you will get fitter, faster and have so much more fun. Then when the time is right and you have acquired better balance, then it might be time to upgrade to a more unstable
kayak.
When I had the shop some customers would come in for advice but instead of taking my advice with over 40 years of experience they took the advice of another customer in the shop who had just started paddling. Who knows why! When buying on Gumtree the seller is not always honest so many paddlers have consequently bought the wrong boat. So be careful who you take
advice from and don't be pressed into buying a flash kayak because the Olympians paddle them.
I've seen paddlers try a kayak out which has the perfect stability for them but then they buy a very expensive kayak that is so unstable they can’t paddle it when they get it and so they have to sell it or flounder around for years and still not get used to it.
Some paddlers expect to get faster without doing the training so they will often blame the kayak and keep wanting to change rather than stepping up their training.
Look at Mark Lawson who is 61 and paddling like a rocket. He is not paddling the latest flash unstable kayak from one of the big companies. He is paddling an Australian made kayak that is more stable so he can use his power to get it moving rather than using his skills to keep it upright.
This is not just a problem with kayaks on flat water, the same issues happen in Ocean Racing or Whitewater. Buying the fastest boat is never the right boat if you don’t have the skills and the balance. In theory it is good to have a few boats in your fleet to choose from but you will probably need an understanding partner.
So buy the right boat, do the training, have fun and you will get so much enjoyment and satisfaction from paddling.
