C-Forum

Inspired by what Craig said in the thread about OC1 freestyle boats; and a conversation with Chris Noble earlier... I realised that paddling C1 has massively boosted my OC1 paddling ablities; Is this something many people find, or not.

Didn't vote, I'm going the other direction...Picked up a blackfly last week, been skirted for a couple years now. Haven't had a chance to get it out beyond the local II, but I feel like it's going to improve my paddling overall. I'll always be in my Cboat beyond III(IV)...

I would have to say that I've picked up a bit here and there. Learning discipline, speed, and grace from C1 slalom. Learning water dynamics and better roll technique from play boating. And countless other things from just river running with my friends. You are never done learning.

If you don't push yourself to try new things then you aren't learning anything.

Great things may be a bit of an exaggeration, but paddling twitchy C1s has definitely taught me to stay forward, be aggressive and always be ready to whip out a quick get down low brace!

A guy I used to boat a lot with that taught me many things often said... "if you can paddle a C1 well... you can paddle anything."

Craig Smerda wrote:A guy I used to boat a lot with that taught me many things often said... "if you can paddle a C1 well... you can paddle anything."

I like that! Though I'm tempted to yodaise it...

"Paddle anything you can... if well a C1 paddle you can!"

Craig Smerda wrote:"If you can paddle a C1 well... you can paddle anything."

Haven't been at it (C-1ing, that is!!!!!!) long enough to vote for sure, but the quote above embodies the reason why I made the move to a skirt-boat.

It ain't just about paddling skills. It's about the whole head-space: new boat(s), new rivers, new paddling friends, seeking out new instruction. . .

. . . about admitting I really didn't have 30 years of boating experience -- just 1 year of experience repeated 30 times. . .

. . . about lighting a firecracker under my a$$, and clearing the cobwebs out from under my grey hair (both of them)!

So far, I love it!

Rick

The main things C-1-ing (mainly in short play boats) does for my open boating have been :

* learning to be efficient - a short conversion can be gosh awful slow
* nailing down the roll - rolling early and often, making it instinctual, no swamped boat penalty
*developing balance - those early conversions (Whiplash) were pretty dern twitchy, but more recent ones are so much more stable and do less of that

But... they can make you complacent about dry lines and when hopping back into the open boat, you have to adjust. That and remember that the righting pry/stern squirt reflex to an offside flip can hurt when attempted in a boat whose stern will NOT be submerged...

i couldn't vote because you have no "eliminated" catagory for me

I think paddling an open boat has had a negative affect on my C-1 roll. Seems of late the decked roll is slower and more labored than it use to be.

ive been playboating C1 a lot since beginning of spring and it has made my roll beyond confident, in c1 and OC1, and made my reaction time in any boat much quicker with braces and simply making decisions on what to do next. plus paddling a small playboat makes me feel very stable in any open boat (except a millbrook reaktor i got to paddle recently, i stayed upright but havent felt that sketchy in a OC1 in a long time)

[quote="OC1er"]Didn't vote, I'm going the other direction...Picked up a blackfly last week, been skirted for a couple years now. Haven't had a chance to get it out beyond the local II, but I feel like it's going to improve my paddling overall. I'll always be in my Cboat beyond III(IV)...[/quote]

when did you start paddling class IV? i was green all the way home! :oops:

gee larry, that's what i was thinking. :o

Chester the Brace Monkey here. I haven't really been in an open boat since ALF and even down there I did most of my boating in a C1....so I can't say if I'm a better open boater because of it. I'm definitely a better boater than I was just a few short months ago and feel totally at home on class IV since joining the C1 crowd.

I've gotten on some good runs that I wasn't 100% ready for last year and felt pretty good on them. Conowingo in Maryland...Lower Big Sandy, Cheat Canyon, W.Va., Upper Yough, PA and a few other IV ish runs. My brace and roll have been put to good use out there and I'm currently working on sharpening up a few things.

C1-ing has been a great thing for my boating and once I get that Option we'll see if I'm an open boat slouch or a guru!

Oh yeah...C1's are way easier to roll...that I know for sure.