Figuring it out 4 yourself

Stan the day we picked up our new boats

The day Stan and I picked up our new Nordkapps we went to Long Pond to try them out. It was blowing hard - constant at 50 kms/hr with gusts to 70. I put-in and the wind just blew me sideways down the pond. Try as I might, I couldn't get the kayak turned into the wind. Sweep, sweep, sweep; the wind was too strong and I kept going sideways. Lucky I wasn't on the sea in an offshore wind.

I did eventually get the boat turned into the wind by what I thought were unorthodox means. I did a couple of reverse sweeps on the upwind side trying to get the stern to drift downwind as opposed to trying to turn the bow into the wind. It worked.

Now I feel sort of vindicated after reading Gordon Brown's book "Sea Kayak". That's not Gordon Brown the British Prime Minister, its Gordon Brown the Prime Minister of Scotish kayaking. He writes "Sometimes you find yourself in a situation where you are facing downwind and no amount of sweeping will turn the bow of your kayak into the wind. Hopefully you will have read this section before heading off into the great blue yonder." He goes on to describe reverse sweep (upwind side) - forward sweep with bracing component (downwind side).

I hadn't read his book but I figured it out by necessity and now I have authoritative weight to support my approach. Sometimes its a matter of doing what ya gotta do.