dealing with beam wind and chop?

1' to 2' chop taken straight on or even at the quarter seems to go pretty well for this novice but beam side wind chop I find impossible. Does one eventually get so comfortable on their ski that even weather directly on the beam can be handled or do you just learn to avoid it?

1xsculler wrote: 1' to 2' chop taken straight on or even at the quarter seems to go pretty well for this novice but beam side wind chop I find impossible. Does one eventually get so comfortable on their ski that even weather directly on the beam can be handled or do you just learn to avoid it?

When I got into this sport it was through adventure racing where you race between points, so often you are not ideally positioned for what the wind and swell are doing. For this reason I targeted skis that were

1) stable
2) low volume

The volume in the bow of the ski can act as a sail in windy conditions, as your bow lifts up over swell or chop the wind can catch it and it makes for an uncomfortable paddle.

So I had to discount quite a number of very capable downwind designed skis and went for skis like the V10sport (stability), the V10L(low volume) and the Vault and then the Flash (both low volume).

Now that I have moved away from Adventure Racing (through accumulated injury) and am now primarily a paddler I am starting to look at other skis I had not previously been interested in.

The V12 is a favourite ski of mine for speed and secondary stability but it's a handfull in cross chop.

I guess the long and the short of it is that either you join an ever growing portion of paddlers that own more than one ski for differing conditions or you train in the conditions you want to be able to race in.

I was reminded how valueable stability is in cross chop conditions a few weeks ago when I did my first ocean race in a few months (I tend to stick to marathon river/estuary racing). While I finished in the top 25% of the field I was overtaken by another paddler on a V8

One of the reasons I prefer the shorter length skis for everyday paddling, the less wind effect on the bow. Yes you do get used to it.

Something that will help you, when your warming up in flat water, explore the limits of the secondary stability, lean the ski over to extreme on one side, paddle for about 20 strokes, lean to the other and paddle for about 20 strokes.

Another exercise I like to do which will help is lean the ski to one side, paddle around in a circle with the ski leaning to the inside for example, then figure 8 it and lean to the inside on the other side, then do the same with the ski leaning to the outside. Do this when you can and your stability will rapidly improve and your hips and core get built up and used to not being parallel to the sea surface, it all helps.

I actually quite enjoy sideways chop these days. Obviously different periods and steepness of chop and wind strength can change it from being enjoyable to struggling, but improvement and enjoyment comes from doing it.

When I started doing some K1 training in crosschop on our "swamp", I found I was very unstable and did a lot of swimming.

One of the old hands gave me a great hint in these conditions. You actually lean onto your paddle on the wind-ward side. Not the back of the paddle, but the scoop of the paddle.

So it creates a pretty poor stroke, but we ARE talking here about learning, so that's ok, right?

Instead of doing "normal" strokes, put your blade almost horizontal and kind of brace your stroke.

You'll find it makes it really easy to balance, but you won't go too fast. It will also help to teach you that balance comes from paddling, and get you into the groove of keeping paddling in this situation.

As you improve, your stroke will improve in these situations (I'm still improving) and one day you'll be the guy passing the beginners, not the other way around (I look forward to that day).