How to: remount your ski (side-saddle method!)

Practising remounts... Credits: Alex Matthews

Alex Matthews is a Sea Kayak instructor from British Columbia.  Bob Putnam lent him a Think Eze surfski for the winter (eeek - that's cold!).  Bob said that Alex "had been resistant, almost anti-surfski."  Clearly though, sea kayakers are a tough breed and Alex is now hooked on surfski and has been playing in a tidal race called Baynes Channel.  The first thing he had to do though, was practise remounting the ski.

Remounts

This is an excellent video that shows in minute detail how to use the side-saddle method of remounting a ski.

The only points I'd add to the video are:

• In a strong wind, the ski will tend to go broadside to the wind and waves.  Don't fight it.  But you need to be on the windward side of the ski to remount - you'll come short if you try to remount from the downwind side!
• Sometimes your bum won't slide into the bottom of the bucket, and you can find yourself sitting with the ski tilted, unable to slide your backside down into the center of the bucket.  An easy way to fix this is to lean backwards onto the back deck - you'll find your backside centres automatically and you can then just sit upright.

Here's video...  (Thanks Alex, looking forward to more!)