Paddling tips, tricks, news and gear reviews from an Unsponsored point of view

Tag: Fear

Break Down Paddle Guide

People typically think of needing a break down paddle (splits) when someone in the group breaks his or her paddle, but what if somebody just loses a paddle? We have all been on the river and seen someone swim. People are going all different ways chasing the swimmer, the boat, the dry bag that came out, but what about the paddle? The paddle is one of the hardest things to spot floating through a rapid and can be easily lost. Suppose it was you that lost or broke your paddle. “My friend has a break down,” you think to yourself feeling relieved. Then your friend hands you a paddle with a blade twice the size of what you normally use and it’s 10 cm longer with a 60 degree offset. Now what?

What Kind of Break Down Paddle Should You Get?

What kind of paddle do you normally use? Your break down paddle should be a 4 piece version of that same paddle.

For example if you use a Werner Shogun that’s 200 cm long with a 30 degree offset, your break down paddle should be a Powerhouse that’s 200 cm long with a 30 degree offset. (The Shogun is the foam core version of the Powerhouse and the Stikine is a foam core version of the Sherpa).

Break Down Paddle
Break Down Paddle Guide
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Some Thoughts On Fear

I have been asked many times about the notion of fear and how to push the doors open and walk in a pasture free from fear. Below are some thoughts, these thoughts are a work in progress.

Many say that they feel fear when on the water. They feel scared, nervous of the rapids they are set to descend. How we deal with this fear is important, for it is the only guidance that we shall ever need.

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In order to discuss the fear, first off we need to examine what is fear, or more precisely where it is manifest. Only then can we aim to control this. Fear of things we have control over is ludicrous. This is like saying ‘I am scared of cancer’ whilst puffing on 40 cigs a day. Whist fear of things we cannot control is posited with anxiety. If we cannot influence events, it is this lack of control that we fear, so to say, we fear been out of control. Although again this is looking awry. We let our children stumble from all fours to two, wobbling with each step of exploration. We allow the hooded darkness of inner city streets to grow with crime. We vote for a political system that will fail and yet we bypass this fear. We allow it to hold our hands through our daily lives. We accept this fear. Our true fear is a fear of our own making, not the making of a collected consciousness. When we allow fear to form from a collected ideal, we can no longer accept responsibility for it, its something else, somebody else – will take responsibility for it.

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Transferable Passion

Liz Forshaw wrote the following piece for her blogThe Lizard. Liz has kindly agreed to have her words shared on Unsponsored.

I have been labelling myself as a kayaker ‘paddler’ ‘boater’ since University, an easy set of tags that allow you to be more than just yourself, giving you access into a whole new family, club, whatever you want to call it. Anyone who is a kayaker will understand, this is one of the best groups to be in – full of loyal, passionate, mentally and physically strong people, the sort you want to have with you in a crisis, and in the grand scheme of things, it’s a pretty little place, so you feel like one of the special ones. Your ‘other’ friends marvel at tales of raging whitewater, far flung adventures around the world and of course, the best parties you have ever been to. But what happens when you fall out of love with it or physically can’t do it anymore?…

It can happen for many reasons, for me it was a combination of things. Working in the industry where you spend your spare time has certain drawbacks, the feeling of constantly being at work, needing to keep a professional face at a party, or not appear weak on a river takes away from having fun after a while. Continue reading

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