Lodi Lake - LPC Skills Clinic

What an awesome day at Lodi Lake today!  Dan Arbuckle from Headwaters Kayak hosted an intro to kayaking class and skills clinic for the Lodi Paddle Club.   I know he only scratched the surface, but I learned so much and have lots of strokes to practice.  It's amazing how well you can control your boat with the proper stroke technique!  

Today we worked on the forward and reverse sweep, the stern and bow rudder and the sculling side draw.  Learning the bow rudder made an incredible difference, allowing me to turn my boat much easier.  Dan also showed me how to use edging to turn my boat more efficiently.  I was doing great with the edging at first until I leaned a little too far and ended up in the drink.  Boy was that water cold!  Of course I decided to not wear my wetsuit top today.  Bad choice.  I will definitely wear my complete suit when paddling in cold water.

Bill practicing rescue techniques with Ron

 Because of my undesirable swim, I was able to practice my self rescue technique with my Tempo.  After a successful rescue with the help of Dan, we continued to work on our strokes by fetching a bilge and attempting figure eights around some buoys.  We then took a little rest on the beach and decided to do some paddling to warm up.  After a little paddling I realized I wasn't as warm as I would have liked to be so I decided to call it a day.  I had a great workout and got to hang out with some nice people!  All in all, a great day!!