My wife and I bought our Kayaks on Memorial Day weekend. We have been spending a fair amount of time on the water - but this past weekend we took the basic techniques and safety course. Practiced both Saturday and Sunday maintaining the "Paddler's Box" and not "Chicken Winging". In a nutshell, this involves a lot of core rotation to make use of more than just your arms in paddleing. Also in a nutshell, I can barely move today without lots and lots of pain.
Also - in the course, I was the only one that volunteered to go into the water and be rescued. We did both and assisted "T" rescue and an unassisted "rescue yourself" recovery. I was able to accomplish both - but what really got me was that no one else wanted to get wet? My thought is that I did not want the first time I went swimming unintentionally to be without the direction and oversight of a qualifed instructor??? The rescue part was the last part of a 4 hour course. There was one guy there - maybe 8-10 years younger than me. His wife did not participate staying on shore. As the class was breaking up, he paddled on off to the landing area. A few minutes later, he shows back up, sheepishly, and says he was "told" he had to get wet. I laughed inside while I stayed and watched the proceedings. He only did an assisted rescue though.....
