I relaunched the new (second hand) “Custom Kayaks – Horizon” surf ski in the river Saturday afternoon (cold, dark, drizzly) to try and get some practice / balance under my belt before attempting the harbor again. It’s a temperamental cow, so tippy that the first priority of every stroke seems simply to stabilize the boat and keep from rolling over (quite unsuccessfully).
I paddled the 3km from the Rowing Club up to the M4 bridge, but I was so shaky that anyone strolling along the bank may well have felt their heart warmed - seeing someone attempt to paddle a kayak with such a debilitating affliction. I couldn’t even turn my head to the side to see how far from the bank I was, else I lost balance and went into a series of mad paniced movements – throwing my feet outside the ski for stability, and rushing a clipped set of staccato paddle strokes simply to try and remain upright. To the river fouls perched on the overhanging branches, it must have been like watching a fireworks display - erratic and mildy amusing, but you're never 100% sure someone isn't going to get hurt.
When I got home I extrapolated my time for the 3km distance (assuming no fatigue at all) to the full 12k that the Go Natural Akuna Bay Multisport will be raced over, then compared it to the prior year results to see how I would have gone. Ouch! Turns out I’m f%$#king hopeless – hardly a shock, but the disappointment was still hard to hide.
12 weeks to develop sufficient balance to at least not unduly burden the race organiser’s safety crew – will worry about speed later.
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