DUNKING ON PURPOSE?

As a newbie, I am reading everything I can find on kayak handling and learning my kayak. I read an article about purposely trying to roll your yak to learn it's tipping point.... Is this really something I should do or is this guys messing with the new guys? 

I do this when I'm practicing self rescue. I tried it on the two kayaks I have now and will try it on my new one. Just try it in shallow water with nothing on the kayak, then try to get back in. There are a bunch of vids on self rescue but I learned much more by going out and trying it. After you can get back in consistently, then you can try it with more gear on.

As a newbie, I am reading everything I can find on kayak handling and learning my kayak. I read an article about purposely trying to roll your yak to learn it's tipping point.... Is this really something I should do or is this guys messing with the new guys? 

Must do it!!! Watch this if you haven't already.
If you don't plan on going out till water temps warm up wait and do capsize drills then.
Dress for cold water immersion see this thread and search for the many articles about dressing for emersion:
http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=18793.0
Read all you can on these subjects is my recomendation.

Not only practice your dunking on purpose with the goal of getting back in unassisted, but also practice your tipping point and how to recover before you go all the way over.  This will educate your butt feel of how far you can tip before there is no return. In turn your feeling of tipsiness will be smoothed out knowing you have much further to go than you originally thought. 

Oh, and it's fun! 

Once you get the hang of dunking yourself and performing self recovery, try standing, or crawling all over your kayak from tip to tail and see how the kayak responds.  Practice climbing in from as many place on your kayak as you can. 

Come on in, the waters warm 

As a newbie, I am reading everything I can find on kayak handling and learning my kayak. I read an article about purposely trying to roll your yak to learn it's tipping point.... Is this really something I should do or is this guys messing with the new guys? 

Don't buy a boat without doing this test on it.

Don't commit to this hobby until you prove to yourself you have a basic skill/ability to get back on board without assistance.

Thinking "My plan is to stay on the boat in the first place" is fooling yourself. You should assume you will be in the water, and even embrace it.

I brought a buddy into the sport. Lent him a pfd and a boat, took him to shallow water cove at Hagg and had him dump it and climb on over and over until he knew how, and what he could or couldn't do. After an hour he had little energy for anything but the paddle back to ramp c, but he knew he could do it and went and bought a boat.

Not only practice your dunking on purpose with the goal of getting back in unassisted, but also practice your tipping point and how to recover before you go all the way over.  This will educate your butt feel of how far you can tip before there is no return. In turn your feeling of tipsiness will be smoothed out knowing you have much further to go than you originally thought. 

Oh, and it's fun! 

Once you get the hang of dunking yourself and performing self recovery, try standing, or crawling all over your kayak from tip to tail and see how the kayak responds.  Practice climbing in from as many place on your kayak as you can.

Maybe we should try to whip up a get together at Hagg for practice,practice,practice then a potluck lunch or something, when we warm up obviously. More seasoned guys can help the newbies get it under control and might learn something new themselves.

Not only practice your dunking on purpose with the goal of getting back in unassisted, but also practice your tipping point and how to recover before you go all the way over.  This will educate your butt feel of how far you can tip before there is no return. In turn your feeling of tipsiness will be smoothed out knowing you have much further to go than you originally thought. 

Oh, and it's fun! 

Once you get the hang of dunking yourself and performing self recovery, try standing, or crawling all over your kayak from tip to tail and see how the kayak responds.  Practice climbing in from as many place on your kayak as you can.

Maybe we should try to whip up a get together at Hagg for practice,practice,practice then a potluck lunch or something, when we warm up obviously. More seasoned guys can help the newbies get it under control and might learn something new themselves.

That sounds like a good idea!

I took the family out yesterday in lake like bathtub conditions on Kauai. TLW huli'd almost immediately. She hadn't practiced self rescue and found it impossible. I had to buddy rescue her.  I've got some work to do this summer getting her comfortable with self rescue.

That guy wasn't putting you on at all. Get out and learn what your boat can do and learn how to self rescue and how to buddy rescue.

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Once you get the hang of dunking yourself and performing self recovery, try standing, or crawling all over your kayak from tip to tail and see how the kayak responds.  Practice climbing in from as many place on your kayak as you can.

Yes this!  I watched a friend with experience roll when reaching for something in the tank well.  He was upright and then upside down in a blink of the eye.  After that, I practiced crawling around when practicing self recovery, and fell in a lot more often than I would have believed.  The kayak responded as expected, I did not.

Great advice.

Not only practice your dunking on purpose with the goal of getting back in unassisted, but also practice your tipping point and how to recover before you go all the way over.  This will educate your butt feel of how far you can tip before there is no return. In turn your feeling of tipsiness will be smoothed out knowing you have much further to go than you originally thought. 

Oh, and it's fun! 

Once you get the hang of dunking yourself and performing self recovery, try standing, or crawling all over your kayak from tip to tail and see how the kayak responds.  Practice climbing in from as many place on your kayak as you can.

Maybe we should try to whip up a get together at Hagg for practice,practice,practice then a potluck lunch or something, when we warm up obviously. More seasoned guys can help the newbies get it under control and might learn something new themselves.

I'm game for this. 
How about this Friday 2/3 or Saturday 2/4?   
The cold water in the lake now will replicate the ocean temps pretty much year round. 
Drysuits, drytop/wader combo, or wet suits required or you are staying on the beach. 

We could do it again in the warmer months when bikinis are the more fashionable kayak attire. 

Is this really something I should do or is this guys messing with the new guys? 

First, yes you MUST do this. Not should, must. The importance of testing your boat's stability, practicing your recovery and reentry skills, and proofing your immersion gear in a controlled environment cannot be understated.

Second, the PNW kayak angling community isn't a "mess with the new guy" kind of group (at least not out on the water). Going out on water that's cold enough to kill you is serious business, and anyone who's been at it long enough takes safety very seriously. 



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