Why, when the first went so badly, did I go back for a second kayaking trip? Well, for some reason I decided that after capsizing six times in ten minutes during my only previous kayaking experience, it was time to take on my BCU 1 Star award. I know. It didn’t feel fortunate at the time that the group that made up 99% of that particular booking cancelled and therefore I got cancelled but that’s what happened. They offered to take me out and assess me without doing the training first but even I wasn’t stupid enough to think that was possible, so I joined another half-day trip. At the time I noted that I’d looked at the syllabus and could do all the things required of me. Excuse me, self. Was there a successful trip in between that first disaster and this day, which made me think there was any possibility I had these various skills?
Anyway, off we went. This time I wasn’t paired with one-third of a stag do and – spoiler! – we didn’t capsize. We started with building up our skills, so each of us in the double kayak had a go at squeezing our boats in between two protruding rocks. We paddled into a miniature cave and then reversed out. We manoeuvred with our eyes closed. By now, I probably did have the 1 Star skills. We made our way across the bay to Old Harry again. I thought our boat pulled to the right and that was frustrating but from six and half years later, there was nothing wrong with the kayak, or probably with our paddling, it’s just the sea and the wind and the current.
We crossed the border and went out into the open sea again. I don’t think I’d learned not to lean away from the waves but I was terrified and the sea was extremely bouncy and I think it was down to nothing but luck that we stayed upright. We had a trip into a full-size cave and that wasn’t particularly helpful. I have a caver’s instinct to stay out of caves that are actively being battered by the water but in we went. Somehow, we managed to run aground while also hitting our heads on the ceiling. I was glad to be out but on the other hand, out meant being thrown around again on the open sea and that wasn’t much better.
By the time we’d finished playing around the cliffs and caves and pinnacles, I was ready to land on Old Harry and have a rest but it wasn’t to be. We were just going to paddle back across Studland Bay – or rather, we were going to handrail along the cliffs and beaches. Even exhausted, inexperienced and scared, I managed to note that we were doing better than the teenagers in the other boat, who apparently were missing the water with their paddles as often as they hit it. But we still had the sea working against us, we still pulled constantly in the wrong direction and by the time we got back to the slipway, I pretty much had to roll out of the kayak rather than step out of it.
I still had plans to do my 1 Star but a second paddle had convinced me that although I’m a better kayaker than sailor, going out all over again was going to be an ordeal. And – spoiler – I never did and never will do my 1 Star, after all.
Bumblebee Paddles 