Over the course of a few years of renting kayaks, I have always been
instructed that the best way to enter and launch is by way using my
paddle as an outrigger, across the back of the cockpit. I've accepted
this as gospel. Now I've come across a very informative website that
takes a contrary view.

========================
At http://www.seapaddler.co.uk/Launchin...%20Landing.htm

One of the most common sights is of sea kayakers using their paddles as
outriggers, across the back of the cockpit, to steady their entry into
the kayak. The process is often reversed at the end of the day. This
is a practice, which should be avoided if at all possible. Sea kayak
paddles are not generally constructed to withstand the same pressures
as white water blades and it is possible therefore for the junction
between the blade and the shaft to be weakened and eventually break.
If this is during the course of a multi-day trip then the expression
"inconvenient" is somewhat of an understatement.
====================

What are the opinions of the experts here?

On 15-Jun-2005, "BCITORGB" wrote:

Over the course of a few years of renting kayaks, I have always been
instructed that the best way to enter and launch is by way using my
paddle as an outrigger, across the back of the cockpit. I've accepted
this as gospel. Now I've come across a very informative website that
takes a contrary view.

If you have a keyhole cockpit, then by all means, sit in it with
your butt first and then pull your legs in. Do not use your paddle
to get in.

However, if you have an ocean cockpit or your legs are too long
to allow you to enter butt first, then use your paddle to brace.
Do not sit on the paddle shaft, though. Some folks will sit on
the paddle shaft, swing their legs in and then swing their butt
in. This puts a lot of unnecessary stress on the paddle. Instead,
straddle the kayak (one foot on either side) and sit on the rear
deck behind the cockpit with the paddle out to one side. Then
get your feet inside while balancing with your body and follow
this by sliding your butt into the kayak.

If you are in the water when you do this, you don't need to brace
the paddle on a solid object. Just let the outboard blade of the
paddle stabilize the kayak by water resistance and use your balance
to keep on an even keel while you get in. This is easier to do
with an unfeathered paddle, since it's easier to keep the outboard
blade flat and _just_below_the_surface_ of the water if the inboard
blade is flat on the kayak deck. This is a _lot_ easier than trying
to get in while sculling (as the web site suggests) and puts no
significant stress on the paddle - certainly no more stress than
ordinary forward strokes.

With practice, you can get into a kayak in deep water doing this
without a paddle float. However, you won't succeed often in deep
water unless the water is fairly calm.

Mike

There is nothing hard and fast, No always, lots of opinions.
The paddle is just a ballancing tool It should never take your weight.
Most good paddles are pretty tough but where lendal boast their shaft
can support 6 men , most manufacturers don't make that claim and have
no real need to..
There are a dozen ways to enter and exit a boat, nothiing hard and fast
about that.
I have done some real cool entries , rollin intop the water from an FRC
( fast rescue craft ) seal entries, dropt the boat off a wharf and
climb down into it. then the normal stuff front . back , side entries.
There is no gospel.
I have always found in all things the more I know the less i know.

Over the course of a few years of renting kayaks, I have always been
instructed that the best way to enter and launch is by way using my
paddle as an outrigger, across the back of the cockpit. I've accepted
this as gospel. Now I've come across a very informative website that
takes a contrary view.


There seems to be a trend in sea kayaking these days to try to make it
appear to be much more difficult and dangerous then it really is. I suspect
a lot of this is the result of so many people these days trying to make a
living off this sport. The method you describe for entering (as well as
exiting) a kayak has pretty much been a standard for a great many years.
While in theory using the paddle to stabilize the boat can put stress on the
paddle, I have been teaching this method for close to fifteen years now and
have yet to have one single student manage to damage a paddle with it,
regardless of how clumsy or overweight they may be.

The BCU and the ACA need to have strict curriculums which accentuate
specific techniques in order to justify their existence. They are both fine
programs, but I wouldn't take anything that either one of them says as "the
gospel." A large part of sea kayaking is having the ability to think on your
feet (or on your butt, as the case may be) and figure out an appropriate
solution for your own particular problem. Everything we learn about this
sport is just more building blocks to help enable us to make a more informed
decision - NOT a hard and fast rule.



Scott

So.Cal.

in article , BCITORGB
at wrote on 6/15/05 1:07 PM:

Over the course of a few years of renting kayaks, I have always been
instructed that the best way to enter and launch is by way using my
paddle as an outrigger, across the back of the cockpit. I've accepted
this as gospel. Now I've come across a very informative website that
takes a contrary view.

========================
At http://www.seapaddler.co.uk/Launchin...%20Landing.htm

One of the most common sights is of sea kayakers using their paddles as
outriggers, across the back of the cockpit, to steady their entry into
the kayak. The process is often reversed at the end of the day. This
is a practice, which should be avoided if at all possible. Sea kayak
paddles are not generally constructed to withstand the same pressures
as white water blades and it is possible therefore for the junction
between the blade and the shaft to be weakened and eventually break.
If this is during the course of a multi-day trip then the expression
"inconvenient" is somewhat of an understatement.
====================

What are the opinions of the experts here?

Expert shmeckshpert. How many people have you ever heard of breaking a
paddle in this way? There are obviously lots of different methods for entry
and exit, but I don't think paddle damage is a very legit reason for
abandoning this particular method.

Keenan

On 17-Jun-2005, Keenan & Julie wrote:

How many people have you ever heard of breaking a
paddle in this way?

The person I know who is most vocal about using the "butt first"
entry sells paddle for a living. He's tired of explaining to
folks that this sort of breakage is not covered under warranty.

The only paddle I've ever repaired was broken on such an entry.
It had a composite blade and the end snapped. She couldn't
afford another paddle, so I patched it for her with 'glass.

Paddles do break and sitting on the back deck makes you less
stable than entering butt first. Why make things difficult
when an easy solution is at hand?

Mike

in article , Michael Daly at
wrote on 6/20/05 1:38 PM:


On 17-Jun-2005, Keenan & Julie wrote:

How many people have you ever heard of breaking a
paddle in this way?

The person I know who is most vocal about using the "butt first"
entry sells paddle for a living. He's tired of explaining to
folks that this sort of breakage is not covered under warranty.

The only paddle I've ever repaired was broken on such an entry.
It had a composite blade and the end snapped. She couldn't
afford another paddle, so I patched it for her with 'glass.

Paddles do break and sitting on the back deck makes you less
stable than entering butt first. Why make things difficult
when an easy solution is at hand?

Mike

So, in your case the answer would be "one."

In my case it is "none."

The massive numbers of people who do enter this way seem to find it stable
enough, and if their paddles were all snapping, I think it's safe to say
they'd be adopting another method.

Keenan

On 21-Jun-2005, Keenan & Julie wrote:

So, in your case the answer would be "one."

Re-read the first paragraph.

Mike

in article , Michael Daly at
wrote on 6/21/05 11:29 AM:

On 21-Jun-2005, Keenan & Julie wrote:

So, in your case the answer would be "one."

Re-read the first paragraph.

Mike

Ahh, yes. "This person I know."

But in your own case, the answer is "one."

Maybe the person you know sells crappy paddles. I don't think I could break
mine if I tried. Forget using it as a brace for entry, I've put it through
much worse than that, like prying my combined body and kayak weight.

BCITORGB wrote:
Over the course of a few years of renting kayaks, I have always been
instructed that the best way to enter and launch is by way using my
paddle as an outrigger, across the back of the cockpit. I've accepted
this as gospel. Now I've come across a very informative website that
takes a contrary view.

========================
At http://www.seapaddler.co.uk/Launchin...%20Landing.htm

One of the most common sights is of sea kayakers using their paddles as
outriggers, across the back of the cockpit, to steady their entry into
the kayak. The process is often reversed at the end of the day. This
is a practice, which should be avoided if at all possible. Sea kayak
paddles are not generally constructed to withstand the same pressures
as white water blades and it is possible therefore for the junction
between the blade and the shaft to be weakened and eventually break.
If this is during the course of a multi-day trip then the expression
"inconvenient" is somewhat of an understatement.
====================


As Mike pointed out, the cockpit design, paddler size, surf conditions
and even the stability of the boat are factors for the type of entrance
possible. I noticed that the web site stated that it is preferable to
have the boat floating parallel to shore (bad idea in surf, though it
can be done) and to paddle out backward to protect skegs, rudders, etc.
(yet, none of the photos show this).

If you brace across the back of the boat with your paddle, and, as
someone said, lean on it as little as possible, the paddle should serve
quite effectively. I've done this on my existing paddles for about 17
years now and they are still tight at the joints (sigh - I almost want
one to die on me so that I can buy a better blade, but I'm too cheap to
do so if the paddle isn't broken).


Warning: Personal Story follows:
As for their recommendations on paddling through the surf:

There are times when none of the available options seem possible and you
need to improvise. For example, I was launching at Pt. Lobos (Monterey).
This is a small, narrow beach that is sheltered behind a significant set
of rocks that go from the point to a good 50 feet out to sea. From the
road, you have an excellent survey of the conditions, but on the beach,
the rocks block the view of the oncoming waves. These rocks, during
storm, are swept by the surf, but unexpected waves of significant size
can sweep them on even the mildest days (these are BIG rocks, by the
way, 10 to 15 feet out at the point, 6 to 8 feet above the shoreline at
the launch. The conditions after several minutes of watching from the
road, seemed on the mild side for the point, so we unloaded the boats
and prepared to go (whale watching in February and conditions in
Monterey can be very unpredictable at any time of year). The beach is
crowned north-to-south and the high point, right behind the rocks, keeps
the southern exposure protected from all but the largest waves.

Once on the beach, I launched my friend and then tried to get into the
sea lion and button up. As sometimes happens, a large set of waves came
in, swept the outside rocks, and the swell swept the beach, coming over
the crown and down on me from behind. The back of the boat rose, the
nose perled into the bottom and stuck. I spun in place, bracing against
the water as the stern was pushed by the current. I had my legs in, or
it would have been a fairly unrecoverable situation. I had the paddle
across my lap as the stern lifted, so it was pretty easy to give up on
the spray skirt and brace. The nose of my boat was pushed toward shore
and the stern (more or less) out toward sea.

I ended up broached, in a rip current, in a 17' boat trying to exit
between rocks that were less than 10' apart. The bow of the boat came
loose as the rising water finally caught up with that section of the
beach, and since the stern was pointing closer to the direction I wanted
to go, I continued the brace until the stern was pointed out to sea. I
went out backward as the waves continued to come. Fortunately, they were
not as large as the initial one that swept the beach, but they were
still pretty convincing. As I paddled out over them, backward, the boat
had a tendency to fall down into the troughs from a rather unsettling
height. I took some water over the combing, but mostly, the boat handled
reasonably well.

Once away from the rocks, I was able to bring the boat about and catch
up with Max who, by now, was laughing at me. Not exactly a textbook
entry, but any lauch you paddle away from must be ok, right? I had to
raft up with Max to pump water and button up the boat.

Kind of funny, now, but at the time, it was more than a bit disconcerting.

Rick