Would you believe me if I said learning to Kayak is easier than learning to ride a bicycle, yet it is always amazes me how many people learn to ride a bike yet worry about learning to paddle a kayak?
If you think back to the days you learnt to ride a bike, first time you gave it a go you lost control and tumbled to the ground, next stage was to get some stabilisers and the final stage was the reluctance to dispense with the stabilisers.
In Kayaking we don’t give you stabilisers but instead ask you to sit in the kayak and try and avoid wobbling about too much, but unlike a bike you can sit in a kayak without falling over, mind you, there are narrow kayaks that are as unstable as a bicycle, but we won’t be starting you off in one of those.
Even just sitting there in your kayak what can go wrong? The trouble begins the moment we give you a paddle which is why sometimes it is easier not to start you with a paddle but start you off just using your hands.
Have you ever sat in the bath and swirled the water about you, do this in a kayak and the boat will spin, paddle with both hands in the same direction and the kayak will go forwards or backwards, put both hands in the water on the same side and the chances are you will capsize, so don’t do that!
Next, we try you with a kayak paddle, though unlike your hands, you can only put one end of the paddle in the water at a time, so you need to alternate your strokes putting the paddle in the water down by your feet and taking it out at your hip and then repeating on the other side.
Well done, you have now mastered the art of forward paddling which is more than 99% of the population have ever achieved. You could now call yourself a kayaker, though there is still much more for you to learn.
Now was that not easier that learning to ride a bike.
