Skills: Self-Evaluation Quiz

April-May 1999

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.

Wendell Phillips developed the following list of questions for use at his kayak school and for assessing assistant guides and instructors for his company.

Wendell compiled the questions in a cafe in the Philippines while waiting out poor weather and has kindly offered a portion of them to pass on to our readers. They will hopefully provoke some thought and self-evaluation. Wendell will provide answers a few at a time over the next few issues.

1) Describe the relationship of the forearm and wrist during a forward stroke.

2) When using pulling strokes, such as a forward or sweep stroke, describe the role of your feet and torso.

3) During the forward stroke, the speed in which the pulling blade is released from the water is governed by _____________________________

4) The ligaments and tendons in your wrists are stressed when you _____________________________during a forward stroke.

5) Name four phases of a forward stroke

6) In a forward stroke, we keep our arms close to our body to maximize. _____________________________

When our pulling arm reaches our hip, the leading arm should be _____________________________

7) During a forward stroke it is important not to drop your arms at the _____________________________of the stroke 8) Describe a stern draw and explain in what conditions it would be useful9) On lateral movements with a kayak like the draw stroke and sculling draw, describe the most favorable and efficient position of the hull and the position of your lower body.

10) Explain two reasons why we rotate our torsos to face the direction we are moving on these lateral movements.

11) Explain the position of the blade's leading edge during a sweeping low brace, and its path.

12) When we paddle forward it is important not to cross our leading arm over the center of the kayak. This sets up the blade to_____________________________ water.

13)Describe the movements of a bow pull, cross bow rudder and a hanging draw.

14)Distinguish the differences between a sculling support and a sculling draw.

15) Explain the movement of the sculling draw particularly in terms of the paddle's leading edge and the inboard arm.

16) What is the distinction between hybrid and combined strokes.

17) What paddle stroke is good to initiate before using a bow rudder or low brace turn?

18) Describe the position of the inboard and outboard arm on a low brace turn. How can we speed up this turn by using the paddle?

19) On a draw stroke how do we avoid the inefficient spilling of water off the blade, and prevent violining of the paddle?

20) Our lower body controls _____________________________ in kayaking

21) Our upper body controls _____________________________ in kayaking

22) Distinguish a low brace recovery and a low brace support.

23) The deeper the blade during a sweep stroke, the more you lose _____________________________

24) On a sweep stroke, the farther the blade is from the pivot point, the more _____________________________ you will achieve.

25) Learning to blend strokes can increase your flexibility and paddle awareness but what is the biggest advantage?

26) In a stern rudder, leaning forwards and backwards can control the boats' _____________________________

27) Describe the position of the wrists relative to the shaft, the role of the lower body, and the path of the blade in a sculling support.

28) Explain the placement and angle of a stem rudder while paddling in a beam (side) wind. Which is more stable & efficient, and allows you to maintain speed? A) correcting on the upwind side B) correcting on the downwind side

29) Footrests in a kayak determine _____________________________ while you paddle.

30) Opening the pushing hand during a forward stroke allows the paddle to _____________________________ rather than forcing your wrist to bend laterally.

31) In a fast Inuit side bow rescue, describe your means of stopping to set up as a rescuer.

32) During a standard paddle float rescue, what time frame should you be looking at to complete this in practice and real conditions?

33) Distinguish a tide rip from a rip tide (rip current).

34) Kayaks displace a vertical wake as well as a horizontal one. In what circumstances does a vertical wake require our attention in navigation?

35) Define the distinctions between sea and radiation fog.

36) Why is sea fog often associated with wind? Explain.

37) Explain the differences between semidiurnal and diurnal tides.

38) In calm conditions, at what distance will kayakers lose sight of each other on the water?

39) Hard rain on the ocean creates a brackish layer that can be responsible for propagating larger waves in wind. Why? How does rain drive a surface current?

40) Why does cold wind generate larger waves than warm?

41) Name three principal factors in wave growth.

42) Why is a shear line often created after a flood changes to a ebb and vice versa, in a channel?

43) Describe a hydraulic head and estuarine circulation.

44) If you are paddling at 3 knots, how long does it take you to go one mile? _____________________________