I moved to Marlow in 2006 and being 2 minutes walk from the river it seemed a good idea to get myself a Canoe to keep fit and see some of the most beautiful scenery in the Thames valley.
If you want to get the "latest cool boat" then you are expected to buy what I would call a floating water butt with the hydrodynamics to match. These are in fact "playboats" and it is awfully cool to play in the weir, slide off the river bank and do lots of rolls and generally immerse yourself in dirty river water at every opportunity. This is all great to show how much testosterone you have. You can buy lots of manly kit to complete the image and if you want to travel even short distances you will need biceps like Arnie as you leave a wake like a laden coal barge.
So a "Playboat" was not for me. I wanted something fast to cover distances at speed. The first thing I learn't was that the generic term "Canoe" that I had used all my life was incorrect in this day and age. A "Canoe" is the open top version that the Canadians use in the films (beaver tail hats and all that) with single paddles. What I wanted was a "Kayak" where you sit in an enclosed cockpit with a double paddle.
I bought a Carolina 14. An inexpensive plastic Kayak that is stable and runs well in the water. It has hatches front and back that are large enough to put in camping gear, clothes, your lunch etc.
Stability is very important for a middle aged paddler. You can buy all manner of fast kayaks that will tip you out in seconds. Its not funny and its very hard to stay upright. If you want to paddle unstable kayaks then you should have started to learn from about age 8.
Fast is a relative term with all displacement boats. You can only drive them so fast and then all your energy goes into producing a wake. When you start to exceed the hull speed you hear the noise of the wake behind you. For the Carolina 14 you can put in maximum paddling effort and move through the water at 5.5mph or paddle along with minimum effort at 5mph through the water. In terms of power you are probably expending 500 watts at 5.5mph and 200 watts at 5mph.
When training with the Carolina I wanted to know how quick I was going so I bought a Garmin 301 gps that goes on your wrist. I could see instantly how fast I was going but this bore no relation to effort. If I paddled upstream close to the bank I did 5mph and then if I moved to the centre of the river I slowed to 3mph for the same effort because of the increase in river flow midstream.
To measure effort I needed to know how fast I was moving through the water so I bought a SpeedCoach. Using a tiny impeller stuck to the bottom of the hull with a magnetic pickup inside the hull you get a digital read out of speed through the water, average speed etc.
Now I paddle upstream to Temple Lock at 5.5mph through the water and back to Marlow again at 5.5mph through the water but my speed over the ground may be 3.5mph upstream and 7.5mph downstream. You never know quite what the speed over the ground will be because the flow of the river changes markedly day to day and depending on the season. That is why a gps is of limited value to measure effort.
Staying fit is good but being fit does not make you a good paddler. You use an unusual set of muscles paddling and they need to be developed. Paddling for the first time your muscles will fag out before you reach 30% of your aerobic capacity. An Olympic paddler has muscles that can use 90% of his aerobic capacity. The long and short of it is there is no substitute for paddling to develop the right muscles.
I had heard about the DW from my business partner who has done it twice to varying degrees of success. The first time he borrowed an old, blunt and heavy two man kayak (K2) from a scout group having done no training. He got as far as Marlow (non-stop) with his race partner which was a massive achievement with no food and drink. His support crew got bored at the first meeting point and went down the pub.
The second time he did DW was with his boss over four days and it was all highly organised.
I wanted to do the DW non-stop event as a personal challenge and to raise money for a Charity close to my heart. He was keen to do it with me but I wanted to make sure we were well organised, prepared, fit and with the proper kit. The DW non-stop event is for two man boats only (for safety), non-stop, 125 miles through the night. There are 77 locks where you have to pick up your boat and run to the next bit of water.
It seemed to me that getting the right boat was very important. The boat needs to be fast, stable and lightweight. There was a lot of pressure to get a racing K2 so we went to our local club and tried them out. The racing K2 boats are rated for stability from 1 to 10. We tried a Condor and at stability 8 it is one of the more stable boats. Every time we moved away from the waters edge we were tipped in. So we tried every other K2 in the club and concluded it had to be a light, stable boat with a rudder.
I studied sea kayaks as they have to be much more stable but they are heavy and slower because they get a pounding on the sea and need to be tough to run up beaches etc. I did find a solution though. Nelo made a lightweight Waterman of carbon kevlar that came out at 20KG. Most other sea kayaks are 30KG plus. I called the UK distributor and he was reluctant saying the cockpit openings were small. He called me back saying the factory would build us one in our colours specially for DW with: large cockpits, no front storage hatch or deck lines for lightness, carrying handles, comfortable seats with back straps and an under stern rudder with spare. It would take 6 weeks and sure enough we had it delivered within that time.
Yesterday was our first outing to complete one of the sections of DW. Marlow to Teddington.
If you want to get the "latest cool boat" then you are expected to buy what I would call a floating water butt with the hydrodynamics to match. These are in fact "playboats" and it is awfully cool to play in the weir, slide off the river bank and do lots of rolls and generally immerse yourself in dirty river water at every opportunity. This is all great to show how much testosterone you have. You can buy lots of manly kit to complete the image and if you want to travel even short distances you will need biceps like Arnie as you leave a wake like a laden coal barge.
So a "Playboat" was not for me. I wanted something fast to cover distances at speed. The first thing I learn't was that the generic term "Canoe" that I had used all my life was incorrect in this day and age. A "Canoe" is the open top version that the Canadians use in the films (beaver tail hats and all that) with single paddles. What I wanted was a "Kayak" where you sit in an enclosed cockpit with a double paddle.
I bought a Carolina 14. An inexpensive plastic Kayak that is stable and runs well in the water. It has hatches front and back that are large enough to put in camping gear, clothes, your lunch etc.
Stability is very important for a middle aged paddler. You can buy all manner of fast kayaks that will tip you out in seconds. Its not funny and its very hard to stay upright. If you want to paddle unstable kayaks then you should have started to learn from about age 8.
Fast is a relative term with all displacement boats. You can only drive them so fast and then all your energy goes into producing a wake. When you start to exceed the hull speed you hear the noise of the wake behind you. For the Carolina 14 you can put in maximum paddling effort and move through the water at 5.5mph or paddle along with minimum effort at 5mph through the water. In terms of power you are probably expending 500 watts at 5.5mph and 200 watts at 5mph.
When training with the Carolina I wanted to know how quick I was going so I bought a Garmin 301 gps that goes on your wrist. I could see instantly how fast I was going but this bore no relation to effort. If I paddled upstream close to the bank I did 5mph and then if I moved to the centre of the river I slowed to 3mph for the same effort because of the increase in river flow midstream.
To measure effort I needed to know how fast I was moving through the water so I bought a SpeedCoach. Using a tiny impeller stuck to the bottom of the hull with a magnetic pickup inside the hull you get a digital read out of speed through the water, average speed etc.
Now I paddle upstream to Temple Lock at 5.5mph through the water and back to Marlow again at 5.5mph through the water but my speed over the ground may be 3.5mph upstream and 7.5mph downstream. You never know quite what the speed over the ground will be because the flow of the river changes markedly day to day and depending on the season. That is why a gps is of limited value to measure effort.
Staying fit is good but being fit does not make you a good paddler. You use an unusual set of muscles paddling and they need to be developed. Paddling for the first time your muscles will fag out before you reach 30% of your aerobic capacity. An Olympic paddler has muscles that can use 90% of his aerobic capacity. The long and short of it is there is no substitute for paddling to develop the right muscles.
I had heard about the DW from my business partner who has done it twice to varying degrees of success. The first time he borrowed an old, blunt and heavy two man kayak (K2) from a scout group having done no training. He got as far as Marlow (non-stop) with his race partner which was a massive achievement with no food and drink. His support crew got bored at the first meeting point and went down the pub.
The second time he did DW was with his boss over four days and it was all highly organised.
I wanted to do the DW non-stop event as a personal challenge and to raise money for a Charity close to my heart. He was keen to do it with me but I wanted to make sure we were well organised, prepared, fit and with the proper kit. The DW non-stop event is for two man boats only (for safety), non-stop, 125 miles through the night. There are 77 locks where you have to pick up your boat and run to the next bit of water.
It seemed to me that getting the right boat was very important. The boat needs to be fast, stable and lightweight. There was a lot of pressure to get a racing K2 so we went to our local club and tried them out. The racing K2 boats are rated for stability from 1 to 10. We tried a Condor and at stability 8 it is one of the more stable boats. Every time we moved away from the waters edge we were tipped in. So we tried every other K2 in the club and concluded it had to be a light, stable boat with a rudder.
I studied sea kayaks as they have to be much more stable but they are heavy and slower because they get a pounding on the sea and need to be tough to run up beaches etc. I did find a solution though. Nelo made a lightweight Waterman of carbon kevlar that came out at 20KG. Most other sea kayaks are 30KG plus. I called the UK distributor and he was reluctant saying the cockpit openings were small. He called me back saying the factory would build us one in our colours specially for DW with: large cockpits, no front storage hatch or deck lines for lightness, carrying handles, comfortable seats with back straps and an under stern rudder with spare. It would take 6 weeks and sure enough we had it delivered within that time.
Yesterday was our first outing to complete one of the sections of DW. Marlow to Teddington.
1 comment:
Good luck for the weekend guys :)
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