Rudders and PFDs

Teddy asked the following:

"I read your blog account of your second session out and it points out my total ignorance! I didn't know they had pedals in kayaks! And why do you move the rudder up and down rather than side to side?"

There's a rudder at the pointy end of the stern. It's usually flat against the kayak. When you are motoring along (LOL) you can put this rudder down and it helps you to steer left and right (so it does go side to side). You pull it up when you approach the rocky landings of the broken islands... and you pull it up PDQ so it doesn't scrape on the rocks and break off. I don't see why we need it as I'm hoping to be paddling in a straight line to the next island. Should this not be the case, well then, I'm probably screwed but I am able to turn the kayak with the paddles, sort of like in a canoe. A tippy canoe.

"I guess I didn't realize we'd be wearing PFD's either...hadn't really thought about it! But I applaud the idea!"

I'm pleased to have a PFD although, having watched the video Lynda lent me about sea rescue, I have concluded there is no way I can get back into the kayak. As an aside, in the video they mention that "women have a harder time hoisting their upper bodies up onto the kayak because of their low center of gravity". This would be the politically correct way of saying we carry a lot of weight in our hips. Of course this weight drags you off the kayak. With my bulky forward protrusions hampered by an equally bulky PFD, I don't see how I can possibly get my upper body onto the kayak. I will be swimming to shore and towing the kayak.

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