Hello

I'm new to newsgroups (so hopefully haven't made a pig's ear of it!)
and new to kayaking. What I'd like to know is as a 35 year old
beginner, are my chances of becoming a great paddler less now than if
I'd started as a child or does age not enter the equation? I know I'm
not old but I seem to be the eldest novice in my local club, lol.

Also, as a complete "Humbug" I was wondering if any instructors out
there would be willing to give me lessons over the Christmas break. I
live in Southampton, and am yearning to get out of the pool and onto a
river. I'm trying to boycott Xmas this year and can't think of a
better way to spend it : )

TIA

Liz.

"Liz" wrote in message
om...
Hello

I'm new to newsgroups (so hopefully haven't made a pig's ear of it!)
and new to kayaking. What I'd like to know is as a 35 year old
beginner, are my chances of becoming a great paddler less now than if
I'd started as a child or does age not enter the equation? I know I'm
not old but I seem to be the eldest novice in my local club, lol.

Also, as a complete "Humbug" I was wondering if any instructors out
there would be willing to give me lessons over the Christmas break. I
live in Southampton, and am yearning to get out of the pool and onto a
river. I'm trying to boycott Xmas this year and can't think of a
better way to spend it : )



Age does come into it, as it does for any sport... As my doctor put it, "As
you grow older you have to train for your sport, rather than using your
sport to train". I am similar aged to you, and now I find I need to do some
work in the gym to keep up paddling fitness. But there is no reason not to
start now. I regularly coach people older than myself. We get the right
results. Just go for it! I think the oldest person I have taught was 65, and
we got him rolling.

Southampton... sorry... too far away :-(
A friendly word of advice... at this time of year... get some decent
paddling wear... (shiver)

Happy paddling!


Peter



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"Liz" wrote in message
om...
Hello

I'm new to newsgroups (so hopefully haven't made a pig's ear of it!)
and new to kayaking. What I'd like to know is as a 35 year old
beginner, are my chances of becoming a great paddler less now than if
I'd started as a child or does age not enter the equation? I know I'm
not old but I seem to be the eldest novice in my local club, lol.

Also, as a complete "Humbug" I was wondering if any instructors out
there would be willing to give me lessons over the Christmas break. I
live in Southampton, and am yearning to get out of the pool and onto a
river. I'm trying to boycott Xmas this year and can't think of a
better way to spend it : )

TIA

Liz.

Hi Liz yes age does make a difference I started at 36 3 years ago and still
having problems
with thinks like rolling

The club that I go to has a 15 year old female how has been Kayaking for 2
years and last month she rolled
115 time non stop in fact she could of done more but the water was getting
to shallow

Neil



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The club that I go to has a 15 year old female how has been Kayaking for
2
years and last month she rolled
115 time non stop in fact she could of done more but the water was getting
to shallow

Why? was she drinking it?

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Hi Liz yes age does make a difference I started at 36 3 years ago and
still
having problems
with thinks like rolling

You thinks too much.... rolling is feeling not thinking ;-)

I don't think this is totally an age issue... we have people who can roll at
36+ and find it easy, and we have younger people who find it impossible.

Age comes in because people get stiffer, but if you are taught good
technique, you should be able to roll. I have seen a paraplegic lady being
taught to roll... a hipflick free roll. It's interesting to see how she does
it.

Peter

Peter wrote:

Age comes in because people get stiffer, but if you are taught good
technique, you should be able to roll. I have seen a paraplegic lady being
taught to roll... a hipflick free roll. It's interesting to see how she does
it.

A pawlata roll is quite easy to do without a hip-flick. In fact that's
one of the nice things about it: less co-ordination required and you're
using leverage rather than brute power so are less likely to do a
naughty to a shoulder too. Not great if you're in a Big Hurry, but more
likely to work if you're not.

Our club starts folk off on pawlatas and then progresses to screws after
that's fairly bombproof. Must say I'm not getting very far with reverse
screws at the moment: back to that "which way is up? what do I do now?
what am I doing here?" feeling I had first time I was trying pawlatas
unassisted!

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"Peter Clinch" wrote in message
...
Peter wrote:

A pawlata roll is quite easy to do without a hip-flick. In fact that's
one of the nice things about it: less co-ordination required and you're
using leverage rather than brute power so are less likely to do a
naughty to a shoulder too. Not great if you're in a Big Hurry, but more
likely to work if you're not.

Our club starts folk off on pawlatas and then progresses to screws after
that's fairly bombproof. Must say I'm not getting very far with reverse
screws at the moment: back to that "which way is up? what do I do now?
what am I doing here?" feeling I had first time I was trying pawlatas
unassisted!


It is interesting that you teach pawlata first.... I don't anymore for the
reason that people seem to rely on the leverage, and that turns into brute
force with the screw roll. I prefer to teach a non-brute force method of
doing the screw roll, which protects the shoulders etc.

Since I changed to this way of teaching, my success at getting people to
roll has rocketed... the most impressive "victim" went from not started
rolling to rolling in 15 minutes. She of course was an exception, but we
seem to get most people going in a few pool sessions.

Reverse Screw: the thing I did wrong for ages is I was pulling the blade
down in the water, rather than sweeping it out. This gave me a reverse roll,
but quite a weak one. Sweeping it round, and bingo... a much better, safer
roll. I still don't like back deck types of rolls, but they definitely have
their uses.

Peter

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Peter wrote:

It is interesting that you teach pawlata first.... I don't anymore for the
reason that people seem to rely on the leverage, and that turns into brute
force with the screw roll.

Makes sense, as that's what I did... Some people have learned starting
with a float assisted hand roll, which really helps tune the hip flick
first thing. OTOH it can be a bit dispiriting at first as it's harder,
and in my case the last time I tried I put my back out and needed two
visits to the osteopath so I'm not personally that keen on practising that!

OTOH I'm not really clued enough to teach anything else, and will
usually only try to teach when I'm all that's available there and then.
Will try an emphasize a good pawlata with prominent hip flick before
moving onto screws in future though!

Reverse Screw: the thing I did wrong for ages is I was pulling the blade
down in the water, rather than sweeping it out.

Having set up and flipped the boat I just couldn't decide what I was
meant to be doing *at all*. It wasn't doing the wrong thing, just going
"errrrrrrrrr?", resetting for a P and coming up that way instead! Down
rather than Out seems to be a common problem for a lot of people doing
any sweeping roll though, AFAICT from our pool sessions.

roll. I still don't like back deck types of rolls, but they definitely have
their uses.

I was just curious really. Main project now is getting screws on my
"bad side" just as good as the other and at a point where "default roll"
is the best side in any given situation, rather than current right
shoulder forwards side. Also working so that any degree of feather or
different control hands aren't a problem (often paddle unfeathered on
the sea if there's no headwind, if there is I sometimes swap control
side thanks to a variable joint shaft and blades that plug into either
end). Slowly getting there...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Kayaking is great for paraplegics but a word of caution. We had a lass at
the club - game as anything. We weren't at the rolling stage but we went
paddling on the local canal with her in a Kiwi. Had great fun on the weir
- it is safe to shoot at the right levels. We improvised a block and
tackle with safety lines so that she could shoot it four or five times.
Great fun had by all.

The following week she broke her thigh bone when rolling over sunbathing
in her back garden........ Lots of blood lost, ambulances, transfusions
etc. Gave me a pause for thought. They get very osteoporotic because of
not weight bearing on the limbs.

David

Liz wrote:

Hello

I'm new to newsgroups (so hopefully haven't made a pig's ear of it!)
and new to kayaking. What I'd like to know is as a 35 year old
beginner, are my chances of becoming a great paddler less now than if
I'd started as a child or does age not enter the equation? I know I'm
not old but I seem to be the eldest novice in my local club, lol.

Also, as a complete "Humbug" I was wondering if any instructors out
there would be willing to give me lessons over the Christmas break. I
live in Southampton, and am yearning to get out of the pool and onto a
river. I'm trying to boycott Xmas this year and can't think of a
better way to spend it : )

TIA

Liz.

Hi Liz,

Well its unlikely you're going to make a world class freestyle paddler...
but it doesn't mean you won't be running grade 4 in 2 years.

In our club, we've got a few members who started paddling around the
40ish mark. I would say that all who started within the last 3 years
(with the exception of one or two maybe) have developed a good roll on
one side and paddled grade 2 with confidence within 6 months of joining.
One or two have even managed a trip to the alps in their first year.

At your age, you should be able to achieve what you want... just don't
let the speed that the little buggers in your club pick things up. Kids
learn really fast and almost effortlessly..., whereas we've got to keep
plugging away.

If you want to travel to south Wales, e.mail me and I'll arrange for a
few of us (adults only) to go out for the day.

Have fun,
Steve (Amman Valley Paddlers)