Better for a Straits tour: Seda Glider or Valley Pintail? : )
PS: I just tested the Glider for the first time in a long time. Man,
is it FAST! I just love that speed. It feels like real boat speed!
That's why I've always liked it---you can tell you can actually get
places in it! With a boat like the Pintail you just have to trust,
have patience, relax and you'll get there. It doesn't seem like you
will from appearances, though.
I also did my first rolls with my Glider---I did fine on both sides.
Then I tried some "eskimo sculling" it might be called---where you lay
on back in water and scull to keep face up. It didn't work. Not very
well anyway---I could get a breath with each scull, then I'd submerge.
Ugh. Do you need a Greenland skin jacket to do it? I saw it in one of
the seakayak classic books.
I did a self-rescue paddlefloat re-entry also, no prob.
But after awhile of fooling around I tried a roll after floundering
with the back-sculling---and I MISSED THE ROLL! Then I did a few good
rolls then missed another! I can't figure out what I was doing wrong.
Maybe I was fatiguing. But it didn't seem hard when I made 'em. It was
something about the Glider, though---it has a keyhole cockpit. I was
failing to do something those times...
Well, I still need to take it out in the big wind and waves! I hope it
does good there, too---I just like that boat---and love that speed!
--JP
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