Tranquil Churchill Woods

http://caskaorg.typepad.com/caska/2010/06/tranquil-churchill-woods.html

“RULES OF THE ROAD” and Signaling Devices for Sea Kayakers

Outline for a clinic at WMCKA 2010 symposium

www.navcen.uscg.gov.mwv.navrules.rotr_online.htm

1. YOU are the Captain of your Ship—CONGRATULATIONS! "With great power comes great responsibility!"
   
2. Where do Navigation Rules Apply? International --> Inland --> State --> Municipal
   
3. What is a kayak under Navigation Rules? Where does it fit among others?
   
   1. Certainly a Vessel (any means of transportation), not excluded from being subject to the Rules
      
   2. Power Driven > Sailing > Fishing > Restricted in the Ability to Maneuver > Not Under Command
      
   3. Limited Maneuverability (speed) status is not explicitly granted to kayaks in the Rules; other vessels are required under law to consider kayak's limited speed when assessing risk of collision, but SO ARE YOU!
      
   4. Suggestion: Operate as if you are a Power Driven Vessel (any vessel propelled by machinery—paddle)
      
   5. Kayak is a Sailing Vessel when under sail
      
   6. Always remember that you are difficult to see and other vessels are not on the look-out for small craft when under way
      
4. Rules Abridged: Rights and Obligations = Good Seamanship
   1. Maintain proper look-out with eyes and ears and by any other available means
      
   2. Maintain safe distance and speed at all times
      
   3. Avoid collision with others. Other vessels need to avoid collision with you WHEN and IF they see you (limited visibility) and when and if they can (limited turning and stopping ability of big ships + shallow water)
      1. Take timely action
         
      2. Use decisive maneuvers—avoid small changes to speed and/or course
         
5. Right of the way (ROW) = the only time a kayak has the right of the way is when it is being passed by another vessel. Maintain course and speed—the other vessel has no right to cut you off. You should avoid collision if in danger when being passed and have the right to ignore the rule to maintain speed/course. Vessels limited by channels have the right of the way in areas of limited operational space
   
6. Interactions with Other Vessels—"stand-on"=vessel that will maintain course vs. "give-way"=vessel that should not cross in front of the other vessel by stopping, slowing, and/or turning:
   1. Open water=unlimited navigability:
      1. Overtaking: vessel being passed has ROW, overtaking vessel can pass on either side—keep course and speed unless in danger
         
      2. Head-on: neither of two power vessels has ROW, both turn to starboard/right to avoid collision. Sailing vessel has the ROW over power-driven, power-driven needs to turn to starboard/right
         
      3. Crossing: vessel on starboard/right has ROW if two power vessels; sailing has ROW over power
         
   2. Narrow channels=sides defined by sea walls or banks:
      1. Stay as far to starboard/right as safely possible—can use middle of channel if sides are not safe (rebounding waves)
         
      2. Do not impede vessels that can only navigate in the channel (sailboats only have ROW if limited by keel)
         
      3. Avoid crossing and cross fast, at right angles, and as a single group if many kayaks
         
   3. Fairways=shipping lanes and open water channels: treat as narrow channels with an additional challenge of knowing where they are (need current charts), cross fast in a group and with plenty of safety cushion. Safe distance in front of ship—need to get out of the way even if paddle gets broken, capsize, dislocate shoulder, etc.
      
7. Darkness: powerful white light exhibited in sufficient time to prevent collision course; single constant white light will signify a sailing vessel or a stationary small boat to others
   
8. Limited visibility: generate a sound warning every two minutes with at least 0.5 mile audible range
   
   
9. Signaling devices—devices to attract attention:
   1. Hand and paddle signals
      
   2. Sound signals: Whistle, Air Horn, or Fog Horn for warning and communication
      
      1. One short blast = right/starboard (two long one short if passing on starboard)
         
      2. Two blasts = left/port (two long two short if passing on port)
         
      3. Three short blasts = backing/stern
         
      4. One long blast = warning/announcing location
         
      5. Five short blasts = imminent danger
         
      6. One long + one short blast = passing on starboard/right
         
      7. One long + two short blasts = passing on port/left
         
   3. Navigational Lights: required to display in order to alert other vessels
      
   4. Strobes: recognized call for help on inland waters; widely used in international waters but not technically legal there
      
   5. Flares—3 required at night
      
      1. Aerial
         
      2. Hand-held
         
      3. Light, smoke, dye
         
   6. Brightly-Colored Rescue Bag—when inflated can be used to increase visibility and aid in search and rescue
      
   7. VHF Radio—"Mayday", "Pan-Pan", "Securité"; distress, help, warning. Also to communicate to other vessels and Coast Guard
      
      1. Channel 9 = recreational boat hailing
         
      2. Channel 13/14 (listening only) = bridge-to-bridge, port operations, visibility reports
         
      3. Channel 16 = emergency hailing
         
      4. Channel 22a = Coast Guard
         
      5. Channels 68/69/71/72/78 = recreational boat-to-boat
         
   8. Family Two-Way Radio (FSR)
      
   9. Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB)/Personal Location Beacon (PLB) —to initiate rescue—Satellite Personal Tracker (SPOT)—alert Coast Guard or communicate with shore
      
   10. Cell Phone (dial *CG to reach Coast Guard within range of antennas)/Satellite Phone
       

Comments emphatically solicited.

SAFETY EQUIPMENT for Sea Kayakers

Outline of a clinic at WMCKA 2010 kayak symposium:

1. What is Safety?:
   1. "Getting out is optional, coming back mandatory!"
      
   2. #1 killer of sea kayakers = exposure to elements: cold, lightning, heat
      
   3. Avoid collision with other vessels, people, and property
      
2. Before paddling:
   1. Body:
      1. General conditioning and flexibility
         
      2. Safe application of paddling skills
         
      3. Know your personal limits—endurance, power, medical conditions
         
      4. Stretching for warm-up and cool-down
         
   2. Head/Knowledge:
      1. Skills—technique, group dynamics, navigation, rules of the road, signaling, and rescue
         
      2. Risk assessment/Prevention—people, equipment, environment
         
      3. Practice what you know—intentions mediate between knowledge and action
         
      4. Leave a Float Plan behind (http://www.seakayakermag.com/PDFs/Float_Plan_cs3_0909.pdf)
         
   3. Equipment:
      1. Serviceable functional condition
         
      2. Match for environmental challenges at hand
         
      3. Know what to bring or leave behind—use a checklist (http://www.seakayakermag.com/PDFs/Gear_List_cs3_0909.pdf)
         
3. On the Water:
   1. Flotation:
      1. Boat—bulkheads/hatches (spare) or float bags, sprayskirt, sea sock, sea wings, pod cockpits, bailing device (pump)
         
      2. Self—PFD, paddle float, quick-self-inflate deck bag
         
   2. Propulsion: Paddle with spare and paddle leash, sail, diver's fins
      
   3. Fuel (for body): food, snacks, water, warm drink or soup
      
   4. Clothing:
      1. Temperature—dress relative to potential and consequences of immersion (wet/drysuit, layers, head/neck protection, cotton bad in cold climates but great when it's hot, gloves/pogies), storm cag
         
      2. Protection—PDF (body), helmet (head) , footwear (feet), gloves (hands), sun protection (skin)
         
   5. Communication: learn paddle/hand signals, VHF radio, whistle/fog horn, other signaling devices (mirror, handheld and aerial lights/flares, smoke, dye)
      
   6. Navigation: compass, timer, GPS, pre-marked charts, navigational lights, notebook, kamal
      
   7. Rescue: tow rope, perimeter lines, VHF radio, signaling devices (light, smoke), paddle float, sea anchor/drogue, first aid, repair kit, bail-out survival bag, bright clothing, reflective tape
      
4. After the Paddle:
   1. Shelter/Fire
      
   2. Food/Water
      
   3. Means of summoning help or getting out on your own
      
   4. First aid kit/Boat repair kit
      
   5. Stretch and warm down to prevent injury
      
5. Discussion: "What is the MOST important article of safety equipment?"
   

Comments required!

My Review of REI Hoodoo 3 Tent - '09 Special Buy

Originally submitted at REI

The Hoodoo 3 is a full-featured, lightweight tent that optimizes convenience for 3 persons with ample headroom, 2 doors and generous storage.

REI Hoodoo 3 Tent - '09 Special Buy

Versatile Big Tent

By Haris from Chicago, IL on 5/19/2010

 

4out of 5

Gift: No

Pros: Fly Works Well, Easy To Set Up, Windproof, Waterproof, Comfortable

Best Uses: Backyard, Beach, Car Camping

Describe Yourself: Avid Adventurer

What Is Your Gear Style: Minimalist

I've owned this tent for two seasons. We bought it as a replacement for Alps Mountaineering Orion 3 tent because it shaves off over 4lbs of weight from that, otherwise excellent, tent. An additional benefit is much easier set up. Not having to thread the poles through holes in the fly helps a lot. HooDoo set up is somewhat different from the other tents I used and requires some learning which may intimidate some of the less technically inclined. Once you understand how things go together (and they are color coded) it's quick and painless.

The poles don't fit together very well one folded. There are a couple small sections with breaks on each side I have to guess and try which side to open every time I fold them. Somewhat annoying. I guess I could just mark the right ones once and for all but that would be work :)

Love the horizontal walls--makes the interior feel so much bigger!

HooDoo 3 is a bit smaller than the Orion 3 and has just enough room for 3 20"-wide sleeping pads. With three people, there's very little room left for gear. I miss the overhead mesh storage compartment of Orion 3 but HooDoo has smallish pockets in each corner of the tent.

Vestibules were larger than other tents when I compared them on-line; however, my Orion 3 has substantially more vestibule space.

We used this tent as a shelter on the beach and during our son's outdoor swim meets--set up the ground cloth with the rain fly without the tent. Works very well and is easy to set up.

Although it could be used as such, I would not classify this as a backpacking tent. There are many of the same size that are much lighter but, of course, they normally cost more. I've used this tent for car and kayak camping with great success.

(legalese)

Into the new decade

Last weekend I gathered a bunch of friends from various walks of my life to inaugurate the fifth decade for me.

Before the party I was really eager to show of the standing waves on the mighty DuPage river. It rained the night before so, with the vast basin on this river, I was hopeful. The gauge was not showing much rise. And there wasn't much to show for the rain, as it turned out...

On the positive end, when the water is not high enough to generate the waves, a kayak in capable hands can make it up the stream throught he drop/constriction. And we had six capable hands...

Thanks to Eimly and Pierre for helping me smoothly transition into the new decade. I hope that it will be full of paddling.

Paddle on and paddle hard!

Empirical Feel for the Paddle Length

My first paddle was made by Canon. It had a fiberglass shaft and nylon blades. It's 230cm long. I got it to propel myself in a barge of a kayak: the folding Folbot Greenland II double. That's a beast with 34" of beam and 17" cockpit height. Folbot recommended 260cm for that boat but 230cm worked for me as long as I but a few inches of padding on my seat and was able to clear the coaming.

Since then I slimmed down. First came a single Folbot Cooper with a 24" beam. After that an old Valley Nordkapp HS—my slimmest boat at 20.5". With slimming boats and increasing appetite and skills, my paddles shrunk too. First I got an all-fiberglass 215cm Lendal, then another Lendal shaft to go with the fiberglass blades—a carbon bent-shaft 210cm. For the past 6 months I've been paddling a loaner 210cm all-carbon Werner Ikelos.

All along the way, "shorter is better and more efficient" has been the word.

This past weekend, I went for a paddle on a shallow rocky West Branch of the DuPage river. For the first time in years I've brought out my 230cm fiberglass-plastic Canon weapon. Just wanted to see how it feels and what difference 20cm in length really makes. Did not really want to bang up the primary guns against the bottom either.

First impression—the paddle felt very comfortable and efficient for casual stroking. The weight was not noticeably different from my fiberglass Lendal and the paddling was not any harder due to extra length. Very quickly I noted that the shaft was not as stiff as Lendal or Werner. It felt more like a Greenland stick as it obviously flexed with every stroke. I kinda liked that… I also liked the longer reach at the beginning of the stroke. It seemed like I could put more into each stroke and apply more power if I wanted to. So I decided to want to…

That's where things started to break apart. First, it was hard to maintain a high angle stroke as the blade went too deep under water and was harder to take out of the water. There was also no way I could generate high-frequency cadence with the longer shaft. Even though the blades on this Canon Heritage paddle had much lower surface area than my Lendal Kinetic or Werner Ikelos, the longer shaft increased the arm of the lever to the point where even these smaller blades quickly exceeded my available power. So while a fresh 4.5-knot touring pace with a stroke somewhere between a high and a low-angle felt very relaxed comfortable and efficient, sprinting with this paddle was awkward. Shorter paddle definitely has an advantage here regardless of the blade size.

Then I tried maneuvering strokes. I loved the extra extension on the stern ruddering strokes. Put the paddle parallel to the boat and work the throttle to see-saw from a pry to a draw. The boat responded wonderfully. Longer blade gives greater leverage and since the loads during ruddering are relatively low on intensity, extra length is an advantage. Something makes me think that the speed and power involved in surfing would most likely overwhelm the hands wielding a longer weapon.

Extra length does not work so well on bow rudders either. I immediately got lost with upper hand somewhere in the sky, lower blade deep under water and the amount of strain on the body noticeably greater than with a shorter paddle. Positioning the blade was also more lethargic, fine control more elusive. This could be, in part, due to the fact that I have not used this paddle for a long time but the difference was so stark that I tend to dismiss this argument of disuse.

Sweep strokes with a longer paddle—you guessed it—are more efficient. Here the more power and leverage you have the better. Since the blade is farther away from the boat, both the turning and the supporting momentums benefit.

In summary, longer paddles have come in disrepute lately. After a few hours of paddling a low-tech cheap long paddle, I could see no prohibitive disadvantages to using it for casual paddling. Some maneuvering strokes and bracing may be a bit slower with the longer paddle; however, this lag is more than compensated by the additional leverage that a blade gains when it is used farther away from the hull. As long as the blade is not too big, a longer paddle seems perfectly appropriate for a non-technical paddler. Lower paddling angle is also known as less demanding on the upper body strength and seems more appropriate for people who are less physically fit.

Except for the stern rudder and sweep strokes, a longer paddle will most likely interfere with technical paddling strokes and intermediate-to-advanced maneuvers. Acceleration is sluggish, bow rudder is awkward, braces are slower, draw strokes seemed less efficient due to sinking blade. It also seems like a longer paddle would be more of a hindrance than help when rolling in rough water. Extra leverage will be nullified by the difficultly of maneuvering the blades into proper position.

At the end of the day, I expect that longer paddles will be back in vogue in the next decade or so.

Standing Waves on the Mighty West Branch DuPage River

With the water about a foot above average, there are some surfable standing waves on the normally placid West Branch of DuPage river just north of Butterfield Rd. in Warenville.

About four of them are progressively longer from the first one with all of 2' to the last one that's probably good 6-8' long. They are not steep, hard to get on to, reside in swift current artificially produced by strategically placed boulders that constrict the flow. The water is about a foot deep on either side.

It is a pretty good place to practice surfing as the set-up is completely unforgiving.  I clocked the average drift speed at 5.5 knots with the GPS.

PS Here's a picture of the spot from the other side at an average flow.

When it is that low, I can paddle through the constriction.  GPS speed with average water levels was just a hair over 3 knots.