Peer Practice ’14 (second session)… …Was just held in Massapequa this past Monday evening @Alhambra Park.

We had a great turnout of 10 NACK members, with quite a few of them coming down up to 1½ hrs. early to get started on this new paddling season! While not everyone was ready to literally ‘take the plunge’ in the still chilly Spring water, about half the members there had no problem getting upside down in their boats. There were all kinds of self and assisted rescues practiced, tandem rescues, towing exercises, you name it; all with a steady onshore wind that made it interesting & challenging to avoid getting blown into the pier or shore side rocks while working on these maneuvers in the slight wind chop.

As the evening wore on, the diminishing winds and the arrival of another L3 level instructor turned the focus to the various draw and pry rudder strokes, with excellent explanation of the advantages of each type given. The how & why of each particular stroke, depending on the wind conditions & combined with which direction you want to turn was very informative.

I encourage anyone still sitting on the sidelines to grab a wetsuit & get out next Monday & join us back at Timber Point for our last practice this month. Come early, Stay late & ‘get the NACK’ !

-Alan Mayors

Here’s a link to some photos of the session.