A bit of paddling in a Stiletto

Adam and I have started the process of getting back into a boat, concentrating on K1 stuff. We have both been paddling a hobby, which after a few wobbles initially, has proved pretty stable. Yesterday, I was invited out in a Stiletto with a dad from the kids' school, Oli, who is a very experienced paddler. He has done the DW himself and when he found out that I had done it in the past, he kindly offered to take me out in a tippier boat. I wasn't looking forward to it; the name 'Stiletto' highlighting the relative instability of this boat (wobble factor 2/3) and I was very confident that I was going to take a swim or two.

It was a very strange experience. Firstly, at no time did I feel unstable; Oli, unfortunately did. I was in the back and Oli being a taller, bigger bloke folded himself up in the front as it was a club boat and I didn't want to break it. The boat was also A LOT lighter than anything that I have paddled in before, being easily lifted in and out the water by us with one hand. As we pushed off Oli started putting support strokes down straight away and sculling the top of the water and a couldn't understand why. I had the benefit of feeling very stable but with Oli in a new position, for him, in the boat and I presume not being able to see me and in the lowest volume part of the boat he was finding it hard to relax. We bimbled round the island for 5 minutes and the situation wasn't improving so I offered to go in the front. A quick boat change to the stiletto Oli had set up for him in the back, a quick seat adjustment for me in the front and we were off again. This time it was better. I was able to just keep stroking away while Oli gradually put down less and less support strokes, although the wind was getting up and did give us a few wobbles to contend with now and again. By the end, we were having a few runs of 5 to 6 minutes where we were really giving it some beans. *big grin*

All good fun, but I need to work on my own stability. The club has a beaten up old Blenheim which I will attempt to master before the water starts getting cold.