Freestyle Kayaking: How to Loop in Shallow Holes from James Bebbington on Vimeo.
Tag: Loop
A prusik loop is a length of 5 or 6mm cord tied into a loop using a double fisherman’s knot. Prusik loops can be any length but using a length of rope between 120cm and 160cm will give a pretty flexible system.
The knot must be tied with a rope of diameter less than the main rope. So if you are using an 8mm or 9mm throw line you need to be thinking about a prusik loop made fromm 5 or 6mm cord. The closer the cord and main rope are in size the less efficient the system. You also need to balance this against using a cord that is so thin that a. its breaking load is quite low, and b. it could cut through the main rope.
I made a couple of new loops today. Each one takes only a few minutes to put together. The 5mm cord used in the following images is manufactured by Marmot and costs only £0.60 per metre. The first step was to cut the cord to length and then seal the ends using a lighter. I cut my cord to approximately 150cm long.
A loop is one of these re-discovered moves that has caught the imagination of paddlers and kayak designers the world over. If you imagine a cartwheel in in hole but with no edging of the kayak involved. The kayak cartwheels (loops) end over end with the bow ploughing under the water and throwning the paddler upside down. As this happens the stern of the now upside down boat gets caught by the on coming water resulting in the paddler ending up right on the wave!!
Small boats with plenty of volume help, as does the addition of an overthruster. This prevents volume being lost due to the spraydeck being pushed inside of the kayak. In addition it also prevents the deck imploding which would probably result in a “technical swim”!
Pick a hole that is deep enough to pull the move in. The last thing you need is finding yourself being driven into the river bed. If the stopper has a high pile then this will also make the move easier to initiate. Continue reading
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