Been here 3 weeks and I finally got into my boats. They made the journey in the bottom of the United Airlines 747 with me. On the day I arrived my brother-in-law and nephew anxiously helped me unpack my Huck & Hoss. Between them I had packed about 200 pounds of gear, clothing, various sports equipment. My Salamandar Bags had barely survived the journey. One had lost a handle and the other’s zipper had blown out. I’m sure the bags were never intended for use with that much weight and they survived the trip pretty well.
Liu Jiang and I loaded the kayaks up on Dad’s Toyota mini-van and he drove us to a local lake in the city here where we live, Wenzhou. The lake has no bank to speak of. It isn’t large and entirely surrounded by a concrete dock/sidewalk. The first time was just to introduce Liu Jian to kayaking.
When we showed up at the lake, there were about 5 people there. By the time the boats were unloaded there were suddenly 20. By the time we had our gear on and the boat resting on a dock it was at least 50-60 people! I had figured on something of a crowd watching us but not so quickly at the start. I had already given basic instructions at home so I went over it again. I made sure he tightened his back belt and his skirt was properly attached. I demonstrated the idea behind wet exiting again as we sat side-by-side. Okay, we’re ready!
The drop was about 15 inches, no big deal for me and Liu Jiang didn’t seem intimidated either. I dropped in off the dock first so I could be in the water to help him. His first drop in went tippy pretty fast and the wet exit lessons paid off. He was out and standing up quickly. Great! Glad to see that lesson is covered. People watching of course were laughing hysterically. I was nervous Liu Jian would be too embaressed to continue but he emptied the boat and tried again.
This time he did much better, a little wobble but he balanced quickly. I paddled over to him and reminded him about putting the drain plug back in (wish I had Jackson boats some times). Then I said, “Liu Jian, in the future I will show you how to roll your boat.” I tipped slowly over (and heard the crowd starting to cry out as I flipped) and I came up really fast. “See it is very quick.” Liu Jiang nodded his head, “Very Quick. Okay.” and proceeded to tip himself over and try to roll. A loud “Oh Shit!” escaped my lips and the people on the dock were laughing again.
Okay, the language barrier is serious here… I had to be very careful about everything I said from here on out. Liu Jian’s English is far more advanced than my Chinese for sure but he isn’t in the “very good” category yet so I watched what I said and confirmed he clearly understood each thing. If not I’d demonstrate time and again until he was confidently nodding. 
In the end I taught him the beginnings of how to brace and roll. His brace needs a lot more work but without better language skills I just couldn’t get it across to him. One time at the far end of the lake he flipped and the dock there was a good three feet up out of the water. The first drop-in here was an immediate flip and do-over. The second drop-in was great and he did fine.
He had a few more swims but the last time he accidentally flipped over that evening he managed to grab my bow and I T-Rescued him! I was so proud that this time he patiently waited for me to hit his boat and then he managed to roll up with my help! It was a great way to end the evening!
We had only been gone about 2 hours. Dad was waiting at the drive way when we arrived home. He wasn’t mad actually and Ceci says he wants to try kayaking too! I think I need to find a couple of rec boats here in China. I’m sure I can find those over here.
By the way… the lake was green… kind of nasty with a little bit of trash here and there, Liu Jiang swam into a dead fish one time on his way back to the dock. I’ve decided I’m pretty good at using two paddles and pushing the other boat back to shore and Liu Jiang now understands why the life vest is important even at the lake. He took enough swims to be very tired.
Post a Comment