The beginning



At 47 most would regard you over the hill as an athlete, hopefully I can prove that's not always the case, and Ive got a few more puffs of steam left yet.


Ive chosen the fantastic sport of K1 Kayak marathon racing for my last ditched attempt of a physical endurance sport before I fall the wrong side of the hill.

The last time I did any Kayaking was well over 20 years ago, technology has made vast improvements in construction and weight saving, paddle technology too has gone a long way in deign and efficiency, but the overall concept has changed very little.


I have chosen to enter the Devizes to Westminster race Easter 2011, raced in a solo K1 its a race against the clock over 125miles of the Thames river, with 77 portages (get out of your boat and carry it around locks etc) over a period of 4 days,

if raced in a K2 (2 man) then its a race non stop from start to finish inc. through the night, advertised as one of the worlds toughest Kayaking races it not only tests your fitness and stamina, but your mental endurance as well together with the help of a good ground crew providing support with food and water.

Have a look at the posted YOU TUBE 6 part documentary to get a better idea of how tough this race can be, and for a laugh there's a couple of videos showing how difficult it can be trying out a K1 kayak for the first time.


I'm planning to enter one of the winter 6 race series starting on the 7th November to help towards the Devize race, my general fitness is OK and quite reasonable for endurance, perhaps bordering insane to take this on, got a feeling I'm going to be feeling some pain along the way.

I am smoking but that has another 7 days before I stop, aghhhh I have to :( I'm getting so much grief from my boys so all in all it'll be a good thing and a few more coins in my pocket.

Technique does play a major part in this sport, but fitness and training can't be ignored, so much to achieve in a short time, where to start I haven't a scooby yet or what other training away from Kayaking will help, another whole ball game to look at and plan.


The K1 Kayaks have a stability rating of 1 to 10, 1 being the least stable, the less stable they are the faster they go, that is if youre staying in the boat that is.

I'm comfortable on a 5, but the difference between the 5 and 4 seem a big step, the width (beam) is even narrower, if you can imagine trying to keep upright on a uni cycle for the first time then you're getting near how difficult it can be, once you're moving it's a little more stable, well that is until your co-ordination goes haywire then it seems to remind you you're on a tight rope and the ejection seat is getting ready to dump you overboard,

I keep being told its like learning to ride a bike all over again, mmmmm seems a lot harder than I remembered, so looks like practice and more practice will be the order of the day,

the club have told me as soon as I'm comfortable with the current boat ill be put on the next faster boat, heck the one I'm on is like balancing on an ice skate, the next one was like balancing on a knife blade aaaagghhhh


Im going to use this blog as a diary entry to show how I get on and some useful information about the K1 & K2 kayak marathon and sprint racing as I go, and my preparation for the Devizes to Westminster race, it should be a laugh and hopefully some may find it useful starting the sport themselves, or perhaps what not to do!!.


Feel free to add comments and any advise on any of the subjects I may be failing on, that'll be ALL to start with !!! lol


Tip's and hints will continually be added to entry 18

Thursday 16 September 2010

ENTRY 2

Back down the club and expecting to jump in the K1 for some more practice I was told I have to complete my BCU 2*  which this time involved the open canoe, mmmmm wasn't impressed as I wasn't interested in a David Crocket style boat that resembled a floating bath tub, I wanted practice and a fast boat and a whole paddle instead of half a one.
No getting out of it club rules in completing the 2* in the open canoes, club instructor Roger was very diligent in explaining what to do, seemed straightforward, so with half a paddle and boat launched the simple instruction was to go straight up the river for 100yds, what seemed straightforward in instruction was not in practice, think I spent the first 20 min's going round in circles or in the left hand bank and advanced about 10 yrds further up the river, and then I think the wind contributed to most of that, got to admit David Crocket made it look easy in the films, this was getting frustrating and it was getting tempting to ditch the paddle and use my hands.
When you paddle from one side of the boat the boat wants to go to the opposite side, to counteract this you use what is called a J stroke where the paddle is twisted to an angle at the end of the stroke and creates a countering rudder effect and keeps the boat tracking straight, it just didn't and wouldn't come together no matter how many times Roger explained, 
it took about another 15 min's and the button suddenly clicked, straight line at last, well that was until I was told to paddle on the other side, and doesn't help as the river in Chelmsford pass's through the shopping area and your lack of finesse is viewed by all.
Eventually it all clicked into place and a little bit more respect for the floating bath tub, and with a new partner added to my boat we could manage a fair speed and the seats were far more comfortable than the K1's.
So with our new found skills Roger put us in more streamlined and narrower and a lot faster boat, got to say I was really starting to enjoy the open canoe as we could manage quite a speed with little effort, just like the opening clip from Hawaii 5 O, 
all in all it ended up being an enjoyable evening and it brought home " don't knock it till you've tried it.

Next session but with Mo was to complete the final part for the 2* and be rescued and rescue, yup back in the cold river again, well I'm kinda getting used to it now, it was all pretty straightforward but quite a laugh, its seems customary that if everyone knows you're going n the river is time to watch, more to laugh than provide sympathy, 
getting from the river  and into your rescuers boat is a bit tricky, needless to say there's no real finesse to it, you'll land like a sack of spuds in the bottom of our rescuers boat, It was hysterical, I did my level best not to rock the boat but as soon as I tried to sit up that was it, back in the river including my rescuer, sorry Sam! well at least you didn't much time to think about how cold the water was lol.

All in all I ended up enjoying the open canoe, another new skill and my 2* completed and ready to get on with K1 training.........................



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