The balance exercises are great for increasing confidence and stability in the boat and as a useful aid to moving onto self rescue techniques with beginners. Done with a group they are superb fun and always good for a laugh and some interesting photos. Underlying this, however, they provide a nice route into getting students comfortable with the concept of climbing around on the boat and develop key balance skills which are important when using a straddle self rescue.

The video only shows a couple of balance exercises before showing a couple of self rescues, however there a numerous different balance exercises that you could try. Ideally, build some form of progression of difficulty into the different tasks you set yourself or others as well as move from calm water to rougher conditions. A few possibilities could be:

1. Sit On Back Deck – feet in boat
2. Sit on back deck – feet in water (keep legs stretched out like ‘outriggers’)
3. Do a seated 360 spin on back deck (in video)
4. Lie on front of boat and ‘kiss’ the bow
5. Stand up on seat and back to seated position (on video)
6. Standing 360 on seat
7. Lie across back deck and roll away from cockpit and return

As you can see from the couple of efforts in my footage I’m still quite tentative with some of the exercises and need more work to become smooth with the drills. If you want to see a master at work it is worth checking out the Balance Exercises section of the new Gordon Brown DVD – Sea Kayak With Gordon Brown Vol 2 to see a master at work. Gordon has phenomenal balance, particularly in rough water!

NB: A buoyancy aid is not worn in these videos to aid clear visualisation of the stroke.

Front/Rear View

Side View

A large number of sea kayaks come with a recess for mounting a deck compass. For most paddlers they remain empty and hand held compasses or the removable deck/hatch mount versions are used. Having a deck mounted compass installed during construction is usually an optional extra and you pay for the convinience. The typical price for a Silva deck compass is around £70. To have one pre-installed when you purchase a new Sea kayak means adding around £120-£150. Therefore, many paddlers choose to self install.

Tools & Parts

Tools & Parts

1. Drill & Drill Bit
2. Sikaflex
3. Stainless Yachting Nuts & Bolts x 4 (optional)
4. Template
5. Silva Compass
6. Kayak Stand (optional)
7. string line

Template

Step 1:

Clean the compass mounting area thoroughly.

Step 2:

Ignore the template! Well, not quite, but I used the template initially but also relied on the compass mounting itself which was slightly different. The template is stuck to the deck (easy peel to remove) and I used this to mark the holes, then utilised the actual compass itself to double check to position of the holes.

Drilling Holes

Step 3:

Drill slowly each of the 4 holes. I used a larger bolt size than the supplied self-tapping screws as I wanted to more secure fitting. Due to this I also had to drill out the compass housing and the brass insert that comes with it to the correct size.

Step 4:

Apply a very small amount of Sikaflex or similar to the holes. Drop in compass and feed bolt through holes.

Inserting Bolts

Step 5:

Apply more generous helping of skiaflex to the underside of the deck around the bolt before attaching the nuts and tighten to hand tight. This should allow the actual compass the be rotated in its housing to align it.

This may prove to be tricky – I used a small adjustable spanner held ‘upright’ to the nut to hold it in place as I screwed the bolt in. Screwing the compass down would have proved simple but not, I fear, as secure.

Aligning Compass

Step 6:

Aligning the compass: It is vital that the compass is set so the lubber lines are in line with the longitudinal axis. The best way to achieve this is to run string from the bow to stern centre points and use this to rotate the compass in it’s housing until the lubber lines are in line with your string.

Step 7:

Tighten the bolts. This will seal the holes fully and also now prevent the compass from being turned in it’s housing.

Finished Installation

Care & Maintenance:

To keep the compass in tip top condition, there are a few things you should do. Firstly take care carrying the kayak – catching the compass on a roof rack bar or wall edge (as I nearly did) could cause terminal damage. The glass needs regular cleaning with a lint free cloth to keep it readable. Finally, you should recheck the alignment on a regular basis.

I’m lucky enough to teach an A Level student, Sam, who is a keen photographer. He’s been giving me some advice on various manual settings on my DSLR, in particular night scene photography for which I am extremely grateful.

Thought I would share my first efforts. Pretty pleased yet so, so much to learn! Click either photos to see a larger version.

Star Filled Sky

Looking Towards The Isle of Wight

Two videos deal with Sea Kayak maintenance and safe loading of boats. The remainder look at some of the P&H range and take a close look at the new Corded Skeg System fitted to newer P&H Sea Kayaks.

Here, we see Doug introduce himself:

Dorset paddler Mark Rainsley completed his attempt to paddle the entire West & North coast whilst Simon and Liz Willis completed their fact finding mission prior to writing the Scottish Sea Kayak Trail Guidebook.

Mark’s solo trip was hampered by poor wind conditions but despite a few shore-bound days and a flying visit back to Dorset for 1 day of work, he managed to complete more miles than hoped.

Mark made frequent posts on the UKRGB forum allowing people to track his progress and has a short write up on his blog.

My eventual progess was 557 miles over 25 days of paddling, with day paddles ranging from 8 to 35 miles. I’ve covered all of Scotland’s west and north coasts, which without a doubt offers some of the finest sea paddling to be had anywhere.

Meanwhile, Simon and Liz Willis finished their fact finding mission for the forthcoming Scottish Sea Kayak Trail Guidebook. They paddled a linear route along Scotland’s west coast, from the Isle of Gigha off the Kintyre peninsular, to the Summer Isles near Ullapool.

Simon made regular posts on his blog and is now busy working on the guidebook due to be published by Pesda Press in May 2009.

Congratulations to all involved and thanks for the inspirational, if envy-inducing, updates over the summer period.

I would be grateful if you could take the time to tick the features relevant to you and hit the ‘vote’ button!