Practice at the Lake

On Sunday, Dale and I went down to a local lake (Taku) to practice skills. He took the Pygmy he built last fall and I brought my shiny Remix 79.

The Pygmy is just a beautiful boat and Dale has an incredible sense of balance in it already. We went over wet exits, self rescue with a paddle float, practiced a standard T-rescue, a scoop re-entry, a "yank" rescue, and a lie-back re-entry rescue. We worked on some forward paddling techniques, sweep stroke, low bracing and sculling. I can't wait to see that boat out on the ocean.

So many of the techniques I learned from Tom, I had to hear a thousand times before what he said and what I did physically "clicked". I'm sure Dale will have a fun future meditating on the subtle forms of good paddling technique. Heck, it's a constant opportunity for improvement for me. I remember Tom saying once that before you can roll, you need to be comfortable being upside down underwater. Heh.

Talk about times I'm glad I wear a drysuit - check out this video of the long leech on the bottom of the boat:



Wikipedia says "[they] will nurture their young, providing food, transport, and protection, which is unusual behavior in an invertebrate."