A couple of days later I increased the distance to five miles with the New Haw to Pyrford. The only trouble was that all the parking space was taken at the New Haw car park and I had to drive to the half distance point at the BBC to start. From the BBC I paddled up to New Haw, turned and retraced back to the BBC and on to Pyrford. This time it didn't feel very good at all. The paddling was erratic and rough. Nevertheless the time of 1hr 24 wasn't too bad which included two turn rounds.
I finally broke into slightly longer distances at the weekend by joining in the scheduled club run on Saturday. This was the third outing of the week and was again on the Wey but this time started from the Wey Kayak Club at Guildford and went out to Cattershall lock near Godalming. The return distance totalled twelve miles with two others in kayaks and a couple in Canadians. It was a really pleasant run in warm weather, but at a steady pace which took about two hours each way and a lunch break in the middle at Cattershall. The paddling speed averaged out at around three mph which included portaging three locks.
I was pretty well bushed at the end but I think that with a few more attempts at those sort of distances it should get a bit faster. I was able to concentrate on keeping a steady paddling action which seems to be coming more easily. Even so it all began to fall apart as we got into the last couple of miles and I was taking too frequent breaks and resting the back against the back of the cockpit.
I was able to watch one of the others who is even less experienced than me, and he has what I would judge to be an almost non-existent technique. His paddles are dipped only about half way into the water at a forty-five degree angle, he has no rotation of his body, his arms are bent and there's almost no stroke length to speak of. Yet weirdly, he's faster than me and he kept going for most of the outing. There ain't no justice.
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