bb wrote in news:b4ji80pg1b3i5iavc5hmgja6etd3moqrcu@
4ax.com:

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 16:32:10 -0000, Bill Tuthill
wrote:

I'm self-taught, which explains why I'm so bad. William Nealy's cartoon
book "Kayak" helped me, but not enough to make me good.

I can see struggling with poor technique if one is completely self
taught. There appears to be some very good instructional books
available. When I was into road bikes (bicycles) I learned a lot from
books.

I think there are a lot of things that you can learn from books and just
getting out and paddling a lot but I also firmly believe in formal
instruction.

When learning skills from a book you don't have someone watching to see how
well you've put what you've read in practice. One can develope bad habits
and through trial and error learn to compensate for them. It's easy to
paddle forward in a fairly straight line just using your arms, and as long
as you're going straight and forward it probably "feels" right. Having an
instructor watch and note that you're not using torso rotation, suggesting
some exercises to use your whole body when paddling, and then provide
immediate feedback, will not only make your forward stroke effective, but
also efficient.

While I imagine some people have learned to roll from a book, it is much,
much easier to have someone that knows what they're doing teach you.

River kayaking, or sea and lake kayaking? The answers are probably
very different depending. It's hard to roll a sea kayak.

Not really. It's just that there is a much stronger emphasis on learning to
roll in white water boats than in a sea kayak so fewer sea kayakers learn to
roll right away. I think it may be easier to learn to roll in many
whitewater kayaks but once you've got the technique down rolling a sea kayak
is just as easy. Unfortunately, sea kayaks have a bit of an identity crisis
these days because a lot of retailers are selling wide flat bottomed
recreational kayaks as "beginner" sea kayaks. They typically have cockpits
so big that one can't the body to boat contact necessariy to roll
effectively. Rolling a good fitting narrow touring kayak is not difficult
at all.

On rivers
inflatable kayakers seldom can roll, but enjoy themselves anyway.

I'd say sea and coastal kayaking, mostly.

My suggestion would be to take a beginners class to learn the basics and
then get out and paddle as much as you can and practice what you've learned.
Then take an intermediate class after a couple of months or so. That should
give you most of the skills you'll need. Generally rolling classes are
dedicated to teaching how to roll so that may require an additional class.
After that available instruction is usually more focuses (forward stroke
refinement, surf zone, navigation, etc). Over the course of a few years
formal instruction isn't going to cost much but while most likely help you
develope skills faster.

Going to kayaking symposium is also a good option. The Swee****er sea
kayaking symposium in Florida every year (usually in February) is a skill
oriented symposium that will provide instruction in a lot of areas by some
of the most accomplished kayakers in the world. It's sort of like spending
several hours getting bicycle instruction from Lance Armstrong.