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

Wednesday 22 June 2011

ENTRY 31

Ive finally got my self into my new boat the VAJDA Supersonic 02, I put it off for a while whilst I got used to a slightly more stable boat, if Im honest I was also putting myself off a little as well, not long ago I was in a stability 6 boat from Marsport the epsilon and struggling in rough water.


With the winter timing I ended up spending a bit longer in the stable Marsport cirrus, when the warmer waters finally came I was still a little reluctant to go the next boat up, but after the mileage put into throughout the winter series it was straight off,
the blue boat came next, officially more wobbly but to me it felt more stable, does have quite a large forgiving tilt and the whole boat felt like it fitted compared to epsilon, its quite a bit faster too and an ideal marathon boat. 
Finally quite quickly into the Supersonic, I had put it off for a while, finally realised the waters weren't ever going to get above arctic tempuatures,  but I had also been determined not to get to it too quick and constantly spending my time being thrown out and knocking my confidence.
Nearly chickened out from the first launch, John held the stern to steady me whilst I sat in it with the paddles, 2 minuets later I was still upright, gave her a couple of strokes and away I went, stability really changed with some speed, she was a lot more stable than I thought it would be, wooops now its time to do a slow tight turn, nope still quite stable, back to the jetty still dry I was really pleased with it, far more stable and forgiving than I ever thought it would be, the whole boat is so comfortable and fits me and the seat is comfy too.
Just to prove it wasnt a fluke I did the run again and no problems, next day I did an 8 mile run in her and 8 portages, still dry and really happy with her, the only problem was the sprint rudder, it picked up every weed and Lilly pad going, feels like someones got hold of the back of your boat, so a new marathon rudder is on order to overcome the weeds, the nose being a sprint shape too picks up nearly everything, where the nose is deep its hard to shake of anything caught, again really surprising what a difference it can make in speed, with no weeds you really feel the boat glide through the water.
Overall Im very pleased with the boat and would definatly recommend a VAJDA, Ive heard from a few people now that they are a surprisingly stable and forgiving boat.
Its taken a few miles and a few steps to get in the wobblier boat, most of all its surprising how much its a mind over matter with stability.


12108_supersonic02


Ive got 3 weeks to get used to her before the next race, Im expecting its going to take a couple of races plus quite a few miles training to get used to her before I can really push her and myself, for the moment staying dry's been a good result :-)

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