Kayaking - The taster.

It could have started better.  It could’ve ended better too, if I’m honest.  The morning of my first foray into Olympic greatness brought with it a grumbling sense of dread.  Not fear exactly, nor really apprehension – just a sort of ‘oh, do I have to’ reluctance to commit an entire evening to anything other than sofa warming.  Two days later and I’m crippled with a man-size cold, am full of achy, snotty yuckiness and have just eaten three chocolate éclairs to try and make myself feel better.  However, the in-between bit – the actual kayaking – was surprisingly good!

We met on a pretty stretch of the River Rother near Northiam, East Sussex on a warmish late summer’s evening.  Joining me were two young girls – Alice, 14 and Lily, 12 – who had been so inspired by their visit to the Lee Valley White Water Centre to watch Tim Bailie & Etienne Stott paddle their way to Olympic gold in the Canoe Slalom, that their parents had agreed to wander up and down a river bank for two hours while the girls had their first taste of the sport.  To see actual evidence that ‘Inspire a Generation’ translated into reality, was a genuine joy and I expect Seb Coe would’ve been relieved that London 2012 had whetted the appetites of youngsters with a hope, rather than just delusional 30-somethings with none. 

I must give full disclosure here:  I have in fact been kayaking before.  A good friend of mine, Cliff Meaden, runs a watersports company (www.epiclife.co.uk) and is a kayak/canoe coach (NOT instructor – “I don’t instruct people, I coach them”) and I have been lucky enough to have been out on his kayaks, messing around on the sea or on lakes whilst on holiday.   However I haven’t yet got to grips with anything other than basic forward propulsion, a feat which is fairly simple, even for me.  What Cliff was charged with was teaching me to take control of the 10 feet of polyethylene on which I was perched, and try to move it forward, not only at pace, but in a straight line – a feat I struggle with from time to time on dry land. 

The first task I had to overcome was that of getting the wetsuit on.  It took about 10 minutes during which there was much swearing from me and much giggling from Alice, Lily and their parents, but finally, red-faced and already breathing like I’d completed a triathlon, I was ready to don my life-preserver and attempt to bend my limbs enough to get into my kayak. 

Once on the water, Cliff sent us paddling off up river so as to gauge our abilities, then called us back for an assessment and some coaching.  The main thing, he said, was not to try to pull the paddles through the water but rather to use them as a kind of lever from which you move the boat along.  The arms, contrary to what one may assume, do only a small percentage of the muscle work – the legs and, crucially, the stomach muscles are the main performers.  As with many sports, a strong core is key to kayaking as most of the movement comes from and is centred around the core.  Cliff compared the paddle stroke to a golfer’s swing or a tennis shot; sure there is power and momentum in the arms, but the movement and the balance around which the stroke is centred comes from your core.  Also integral are the legs which, when going forward at least, should push forwards on the same side of the boat as that on which the paddle enters the water.  This, in theory at least, helps you to maintain a straight line.  Cliff demonstrated the importance of legs and core by twirling his paddle above his head and, using just stomach and legs & feet, rotated the kayak 360 degrees.

Basics mastered, he allowed us to stretch our paddles and power down the river as fast as we could, the exhilaration of which was overshadowed by the fact that I was being comfortably out-stripped by a 12 year old.  Cliff’s session was, as he had claimed, not two hours of being barked at and instructed, but a fun, interactive experience during which he offered coaching tips based on relative abilities.  Friend he may be, but he has an excellent temperament for teaching and was clearly on the same wavelength as the girls who, towards the end of the session, displayed their appreciation by engaging in a splash fight with him, from which I kept a relatively safe, dry distance.  Not that it mattered as, minutes later, he had us rolling out of our kayaks into the river and attempting to get back on.  Cue yet more giggles from Alice, Lily, mum & dad as I hauled myself over and onto my kayak with all the grace of a tranquilised whale.

This, according to Cliff, is what is great about kayaking - it genuinely does appeal to everyone.  From families with young children to thrill-seekers to top-level athletes – there’s a stretch of water and a kayak for you.  There isn’t the intimidatingly superior glow of exclusivity associated with some trendy watersports and nor is it as financially prohibitive as others.  Kayaks can be bought second hand for a couple of hundred pounds and as long as you’ve learned the basics from a qualified instructor such as Cliff and checked to see where your nearest accessible waterway is (http://www.bcu.org.uk/our-sport/getting-started/where-to-paddle/), you can jump in, do your own thing and have fun.

“Kayaking is whatever you want it to be”, says Cliff.  What about a ticket to Rio 2016, I wonder?  “Ha ha!  We’ll see!”.  Well, it wasn’t a “no”.  Not yet, anyway. 

So, I’ve sampled a bit of what kayaking has to offer but more importantly, what do I have to offer kayaking?  Well I’ve had the taster session but an Olympian needs a challenge.  This is what I shall be undertaking every month; a taster session followed by a challenge, which will enable my coach or instructor to assess my chances of making it on that plane to Rio.  My challenge from Cliff is to paddle 3 miles in less than one hour.  This doesn’t sound like very much but I’ll be in a longer, slimmer, trickier handling kayak than the one we were messing about with on the river.  We’ll also be in the open water of the English Channel which is, quite clearly, choppier than inland waterways.  Finally, when you consider that pros like him can generally only get 6mph out of their kayaks, it’s a pretty stern challenge.  Still, I shan’t be intimidated by the magnitude of the task ahead.  I am an Olympian (in mind if not in body) and must glory in these challenges and own them.  Cliff tells me I must work on my core and remember to “lock and load before firing” which means that I’m often too quick to pull through the stroke so must wait until the paddle is fully IN the water before commencing the stroke. 

I’ll be heading out into the Channel for my challenge, with Cliff and some other experienced kayakers in a few days time, so please expect my moment of judgment to appear around this time next week.  In the meantime - Core.  Lock and load.  Yeah, I’m ready. 

MOPPING UP

The space for all the stuff I couldn’t crow-bar into the main text.

First of all, the difference between a canoe and a kayak.  Well I did ask Cliff and it’s something to do with the paddle and the seating position but frankly I’ve forgotten the bulk of what he told me on the water, and most of what he said in the pub afterwards onto my dictaphone was drowned out by the noise of someone murdering the piano, so please check out this link which should clarify things - http://www.wikihow.com/Tell-the-Difference-Between-a-Kayak-and-Canoe

Secondly, if you’d like to take up kanoeing or cayaking* then your very first port of call should be Cliff’s website www.epiclife.co.uk.  After that, head over to the British Canoe Union’s site if you’re in the UK http://www.bcu.org.uk/ or that of the International Canoe Federation if you’re not http://www.canoeicf.com/icf/.  Paddle on . . .

*  Yes – I know.

Oh, don't forget to follow me on Twitter - @Bekush2016 . . . thanks!