First things first I was massively impressed by the paddle skills evident in this video! But....and it's a big but! Do not delude yourself into thinking that a casual sea kayaker will ever be able to do 1/10 th of the things demonstrated in this video. Back when I ran a sea kayak guiding service here in Maine the most often requested skill clients asked me to teach them was the infamous Eskimo Roll. And I always refused to do so. Why? Because unless totally mastered and practiced relentlessly the roll is more of an illusion than a tool. As this video notes the swimming pool roll is cute but there is one hell of a difference between rolling in a swimming pool, or a practice session on the sea, and rolling three miles from shore when an unexpected wave slams you over! So, you may say, what's the harm in trying to learn the roll? Simply put even a so so roll can fill relatively unskilled paddlers with a false sense of confidence, leading them to go where they shouldn't under conditions far above their abilities. Period. Another thing that bothered me about this entire series is the implication that in one of these company's kayaks anything is possible. While it's true that different sea kayak designs do make a difference Greenland style boats like these virtually demand advanced skills. If you think you can just write a check, watch a couple of videos and paddle off to a distant horizon all I can say is don't count on coming back!
a mate and i owned pittaraks for about 10 years, we stopped paddling for many years and gave them away. we used to surf them on Sydneys surf beachs and kayaked thousands of kms in them. stupidly we never learnt to roll despite us regularly going into serious conditions. have recently bought some cheap kayaks and started kayaking with my children. rolling is something that Im definitely learning this time around. hopefully I might pick up some pittaraks again in the future - they were fantastic boats.
There is a huge difference between not been able to proform a skill in a good boat and having a boat that make it very difficult if not impossible to learn or proform that skill. You seem to be saying don't even try to learn what most consider an essential and basic skill.
Hi Barnacle, Thanks for your support. Got more, just gotta dig em out.
Cheers Larry.
hola , gran video
First things first I was massively impressed by the paddle skills evident in this video! But....and it's a big but! Do not delude yourself into thinking that a casual sea kayaker will ever be able to do 1/10 th of the things demonstrated in this video. Back when I ran a sea kayak guiding service here in Maine the most often requested skill clients asked me to teach them was the infamous Eskimo Roll. And I always refused to do so. Why? Because unless totally mastered and practiced relentlessly the roll is more of an illusion than a tool. As this video notes the swimming pool roll is cute but there is one hell of a difference between rolling in a swimming pool, or a practice session on the sea, and rolling three miles from shore when an unexpected wave slams you over! So, you may say, what's the harm in trying to learn the roll? Simply put even a so so roll can fill relatively unskilled paddlers with a false sense of confidence, leading them to go where they shouldn't under conditions far above their abilities. Period. Another thing that bothered me about this entire series is the implication that in one of these company's kayaks anything is possible. While it's true that different sea kayak designs do make a difference Greenland style boats like these virtually demand advanced skills. If you think you can just write a check, watch a couple of videos and paddle off to a distant horizon all I can say is don't count on coming back!
a mate and i owned pittaraks for about 10 years, we stopped paddling for many years and gave them away. we used to surf them on Sydneys surf beachs and kayaked thousands of kms in them. stupidly we never learnt to roll despite us regularly going into serious conditions.
have recently bought some cheap kayaks and started kayaking with my children. rolling is something that Im definitely learning this time around.
hopefully I might pick up some pittaraks again in the future - they were fantastic boats.
There is a huge difference between not been able to proform a skill in a good boat and having a boat that make it very difficult if not impossible to learn or proform that skill. You seem to be saying don't even try to learn what most consider an essential and basic skill.
Phh uuuu. Ccc kkkk that was so use ful... Roll into your cockpit backwards and do up your deck underwater whaaaa!!!