Well today was my BCU 3 star assessment. We met down at Mariner's Point under beautiful clear skies. It was nice and warm, so the wet portions of the assessment would be welcomed. The only real concern was there was already a bit of wind, which would make some of the skills a bit more challenging.
So we unloaded our boats and went through safety checks and some Q&A from Jeff about our boats and what to do before you launch. I was feeling pretty good -- my arm hurt a touch from Tuesday's practice. We had a bit of a warm up before we started our on-water portion. I really tried to focus on rotation with my strokes and taking my time with each. There were a few surprises for me. The first was the bow rudder had to be 180 degrees. Yikes. In practice we had been only focusing on 90. My bow rudders were not the best today. I was focused on piecing several of these together. My first set was pretty weak since I was not giving myself enough forward speed. Once I corrected this, the stroke worked better. Jeff gave me some feedback later that I should work on connecting all the parts (edge, sweep and bow rudder) together in a more fluid fashion.
The wind was a factor here, as it would tend to lock our boats down some. I might have the sequence of the assessment wrong, so if Jeff or Jane want to correct me, let me know and I’ll make the edits. We turned toward some of our sideways strokes. The sculling draw felt really good. Jeff later commented the boat moved just as it should. Yeah.
For our turning strokes, we snaked out toward a nearby sailboat. Stern rudders, sweeps and more bow rudders. These all went fine. I remembered to keep my arms in the box during my stern rudders. This was something we focused on a few weeks ago.
We then performed our draws on the move and hanging draws. Jeff was very pleased that my boat moved perpendicular. It is one set of strokes that I know how they are linked with the boat.
Now it was time to play with our tow ropes. When towing Jane, the only real issue I ran into was the rope did not extend out of the bag as expected. I had to pull it a bit to get the rubber element free of the bag. It went just fine. I haven't towed anyone in a while. I do need to position the clip in a better spot to access it faster. For fun, Jeff had us paddle backwards, then tow each other. Jane chose to tow me backwards, while I opted to tow from the bow. We also had to demonstrate the quick release of the tow belt. Jeff did quiz us a bit further on the use of the tow ropes, when we would use them, alternate methods of towing etc. We also discussed why each of us picked where to tow from.
We also did some low brace turning. I have always like the stroke. I don't know why. Maybe because it sets me up to trust the blade on the water.
There were two basic recovery strokes, the low brace and the high brace, to demonstrate. These had to be performed both in a static position and on the move. The low brace went fine. Jeff later gave me some pointers on how to extend the paddle and the hands to gain even more leverage in the low brace.
Them came my nemesis, the high brace. The set up was fine, I just wasn't willing to go over and commit. So we moved on from there...
Another surprise was having to do two types of rescues on a paddler in their boat. I knew of the bow rescue, but we had to do a paddle rescue as well. Jane gave me a brief rundown of it, so I had some hope of performing it. We had to be about 5 meters away. One difficultly was that Jane has a short breath holding time limit. That made it tough on me, I had to nail each of the two rescues. The bow rescue went fine. I came in a slight angle, and Jane was able to hoist herself up. The paddle rescue had a little trouble, I over shot by a few inches, but Jane was a little nervous and tried to come up. I was able to take hold of the situation, talk her through it and get her up right. Not too bad for never having done it. As the rescuee, Jeff spotted that I was only moving one hand. Funny, I thought I was moving both and keeping my fingers closed.
The final rescue was with the paddler out of their boat. Before we each became the rescuee, Jeff had us try our high braces again, and if that failed, perform a roll. If that failed, go swimming for the rescue. I went first. I actually nailed a high brace on my right side. Surprised the s--t out of me. So I had to try again to exit my boat, so I went for the left side. Almost got it, but Jeff thought I did not get enough hip snap. So I then went and performed my roll. I slid into an extended paddle position, and snapped right up. So I tried again on the high brace on the left, and this time performed my wet exit. Jane successfully got me back into my boat. I disagreed with where I as a swimmer should be located. Jane had me at the stern of my boat, while I thought I should be next to hers. Nevertheless, I was soon back in my boat, pumping water out.
Jane unfortunately missed her high brace and her roll, so we started in pulling her back in her boat. She is so thin, she just slides right back in with no effort.
Jeff had us do a few more bow rudders, and this time we were using the wind and current for a little assistance. I worked my way north a bit, while Jane stayed more southward. I am starting to turn around, Jeff whistles. Jane apparently had got too aggressive with her bow rudder and was swimming. I paddled over. Jane was almost back in her boat by herself. I told her to wait as I had to paddle to the other side from where she was reentering from. She almost made it in, but went plunk into the water. So a quick rescue was in order as the wind and currents were moving us toward the rocks. I got her in her boat and then moved northward. I then stabilized her boat and we then used the bilge pump to empty the boat.
One of the last tasks was to attempt high braces on the move as we headed back to the beach for the debrief and the oral portion. Jane went swimming again. I offered to help, but we were close enough that she opted to swim her boat in. I knew that it could have been me. I never actually did attempt this stroke, but I knew the missed static high brace would to be repeated, and I would probably have to do the whole set of high braces anyway.
Once we landed, we carried our boats back to the cars and rinsed off and changed into some dry clothes. I was ready first. The oral portion went just fine, except I almost blanked on British builders.
The end result was I passed everything expect the high brace. Jeff was very pleased with my growth as a paddler since I start working with him. I am going to take a brief break from focusing on skills for a little bit (and let my right arm have a chance to recover) and just do some fun kayaking. I'll refocus on the high brace in August. I am sure falling into the cool water will be enough to get me working on it again with the heat we have been having.
