By Vladimir Brezina
When traveling by kayak, putting the boat on edge is an essential skill…
A contribution to Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge, Edge. Another contribution is here.
Copyright
Wind Against Current by Vladimir Brezina and Johna Till Johnson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.Authors
Vladimir Brezina (RIP)
... kayaked the waters around New York for more than 15 years in his red Feathercraft folding kayak. He was originally from (the former) Czechoslovakia and lived in the U.K. and California before settling down in New York. He was a neuroscientist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. He died in 2016.Johna Till Johnson
... is a kayaker and technology researcher at Nemertes Research. She's an erstwhile engineer, particle physicist, and science fiction writer. She was born in California and has lived in Italy, Norway, Hawaii, and a few other places. She currently resides in New York City.Recent Comments
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Wind Against Current 
that looks like a very skillful move, to tilt and retain balance and the same time :)
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It’s one of the fundamental skills they teach kayakers. Technically, what I’m doing in the first and third pictures is an edge–what you said, tilting and retaining balance. In the middle picture, though, I’m doing a brace–which means I’m actually leaning out over the water, rather than staying upright. Probably TMI… thanks for reading, and posting!
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Great take on the theme!
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Thanks! He’s creative, our Vlad!
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You know this is new to me but besides turning sharp (I’m guessing?), when is this essential?
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As in the first photo, to quickly get out of the way of an overtaking vessel… -chuckle-
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ha! Thank you!
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The other possibility; judging by Johna’s apparent draw stroke (pulling the paddle to broadside) is that she’s trying to snuggle up to the overtaking boat…
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I am very new to kayaking so this blog is just wonderful….even if I don’t quite understand the terms. Thanks so much for the help. Much appreciated.
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Some of the longer boats that track very straight can hardly be turned unless you put the boat on edge, shortening the immersed length and also making the underwater profile asymmetrical.
Edging also helps in many other situations: to counteract the effect of weathercocking wind, to counter waves that come from the side, in surf, when crossing current shear lines…
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Thanks so much, Vlad. I am learning so much from you and Johna.
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Love that second photo!
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That one’s on our calendar. Only for a day or two more, alas—it’s the August photo!
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“Wow!” to those skillful moves on the water!
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Thanks! Actually I was mostly playing around (and practicing), but I’m glad Vlad was there with a camera.
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Fun series of photos and a good take on the theme! Agreed, a necessary skill that adds a lot of fun to tossing water.
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One of the three fundamentals: Forward, sweep and edge. If you can do those three things well, in the right context, you can do pretty much anything (draw strokes come in handy, too, I must say!). Thanks for reading, and commenting!
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lol i put wing on edge u put kayak on edge,,, as long as we don’t go over that edge thats there were ok :) yep yep :) hey get outa day way there! …lol.. kewl pic..
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You’re quite right… it’s all about not going over the edge… unless, of course, you want to roll :-). thanks for reading and posting!
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Oh, I’ve been on the edge many times. It seems more of a kayaker’s skill to not keep going past the edge! :-)
Thanks for the wonderful photos and blog.
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Unless, at Johna says just above, you want to roll over the edge and come up the other side ;-)
So glad you like our blog—thanks for following!!
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Great take on the theme! Beautiful shots! The second photo is picture perfect! :)
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Yes, that one made it into our 2014 calendar—for August, now unfortunately almost over…
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You mean you want it to do that? Looks like on the EDGE of tipping over and out!
(You can tell this is the comment of someone who has never actually been in a kayak.)
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You most definitely want it to do that! Very often, trying to keep your boat flat to the water is not the best policy… :-)
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Good Morning: The middle shot is an excellent composition. The flash of red amongst the greens and blues is just what the picture needs, and at just the right place. Did you crop the picture or perform any other edits? Vonn Scott Bair
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No doubt cropped a bit, and with the horizon straightened, as with many of my kayaking photos :-)
Thanks!!
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