We went north from 56th street to about 86th street, stopping twice to rest and drink water. To give you an idea of how strong the current was, it took over an hour and a half to get up there, and about twenty-five minutes to get back down.
When you go out with the public, you never know what you're going to get. Most people have been out at least once or twice before. For them, the challenge is maintaining their efforts over time. They usually respond well to instruction. There are usually a few people who have never gone out, and for them the challenge is just paddling efficiently.
A lot of people waste effort when then paddle. They use their arms, instead of their core body strength. They put the paddle in partway, and they put it out too far from the boat, leading them to skew their direction. We usually coach them the whole way up, doing what we can to not sound like nags. It's more important when the current is a problem, as it was today.
Kayak instruction is instruction at it's most precise: you can show them what to do and how to do it, but you can't do it for them. It's amazing to me how people muddle through, and then for some, things suddenly click, and they get it. For others. . . .not so much.
Kayaking is a zen art for me. It's something to practice and continually improve upon. Even the basic stroke is difficult to master in a consistent way. What's telling is that for most people, kayaking is like everything else they do in life: they want to just do it, hop in and go. But like so many practices, it isn't something one can simply go do. You have to do it over and over and over again. You have to swing and miss and swing again. It's art art, not a microwave burrito.
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