Hi eebowler,
I have been paddling for years on various
surf skis which are a type of open deck kayak. I am self taught and don't doubt I have taught myself some really bad habits! :green: I appreciated your link on the stroke and I even printed it out.
There is nothing better than water time to get comfortable and competent on the craft. I don't believe kayaking is hard but like many activities in the ocean, you can waste precious energy trying to fight forces that you can't really hope to win against. You need to learn to move with these forces and "flow" with them. If you are in a strong rip current, you can spend your time and energy holding yourself stationary or with little progress into the current or you can move perpendicular to the current and get out of it.
The ability to stay afloat and move around in the water is not the same as being a strong and efficient swimmer. I assume that you will either be in warm and bouyant water or wearing a wetsuit which provides floatation if you are in cold water? In either case keep close to the boat!
I highly recommend you get a leash for your paddle that keeps it attached to the boat!! If you are in breaking waves, the leash might present itself as a hazard and keep a knife attached to your body. Otherwise, even if you do capsize or end up in the water, if you are holding on to the paddle, you are connected to the boat.
I met a guy out surfing the other day and when he told me what he did for a living, I realized I had heard of
him. We are going to meet for dinner this weekend and I look forward to some of his stories!!
Familarity is the key to enjoyment and success out on the water in a kayak, IMHO. Walking is hard for all of us initially but it becomes natural to the point of being taken completely for granted.
The only thing I consider hard and certainly intimidating on a kayak is the eskimo roll required on closed deck boats!! :green: I found the concept so intimidating that even though an eskimo roll is not something you do on an open deck boat, I wanted to see if I could master the technique. I made a seat belt that would hold me strapped onto the deck of my first surfski and with the cheating aid of a small scuba bottle with regulator also strapped to the deck, I taught myself how to roll. With the small scuba bottle, I probably had 20 minutes of air time inverted on the surfski. This seemed like a great way to visit the kelp forests off Monterey. I could paddle around and if I saw something interesting, I could just roll upside down, stick the regulator in my mouth, a mask over my face and clear the mask of water and hang suspended. The down side was that other kayakers and anyone watching from the beach thought a serious accident was in progress when they would not see me come to the surface!! I was always by myself and on one roll over to watch a bunch of jelly fish swimming, I stayed inverted for about 5 minutes. When I rolled back up, I was surrounded by a half dozen kayakers who were all totally freaked out! Duh! One day getting the small scuba bottle filled at a dive shop the owner asked me what I was doing with the small tank and when I told him he said oh, so you're the guy!! I asked him what he was talking about. It seems that on one of my excursions a number of people on land had seen me flip over and then no activity on the boat or no sign of me surfacing prompted a panic and the Coast Guard was sent out for the rescue! I guess I rolled back up and paddled away prior to the coast guard arriving at the scene. Bummer! I gave up my new found "sport" after hearing this. I had great plans of using this technique on Maui during whale season but I realized that no matter what I did interms of flags or some type of writing on the bottom of the boat, an inverted kayak was just a bad picture from afar!
Sorry to digress with the story above but I wanted to point out that the ocean and a kayak is not inherently dangerous but the comfort and skill level of the kayaker makes all the difference. You can actually have some great fun and experiences!!