The weather did not look promising when I got up in the early morning. I called the leader, Nick, and hoped that I could fish out a message – the trip is cancelled – from him so that I could return to my warm blanket and finish my dreams without feeling guilty. Apparently Nick is more of a die-hard kayaker than I am – from the other end of the phone he sounded a little bit disappointed, “If you have decided to stay home, it is fine, but I’m definitely going.” I hang up the phone and rushed out, wondering whether I might welcome a storm on the river.

Jane and Bill were there when Nick and I reached the meeting spot. We looked at each other, and it seemed that each of us put on whatever clothes were at hand to keep our bodies warm and hopefully the clothing we had would be sufficient to fight the water-cold. “What a day,” I crossed my fingers.

The trip did not disappoint us, on the contrary it became the most fascinating trip since the season began. After several sessions of fast water, smooth water, and waves, we turned our boats around at a playing area, where we practiced our ferry, eddy hopping, and attainments. I struggled on fighting the water flow and eventually I reached the rock upstream, I therefore proudly reversed the boat and drifted downstream, enjoying my victory. It was nice to daydream until I was distracted by Bill, “Look! It’s an osprey.” The osprey was beautiful, and I could not stop staring at it while it glided so perfectly. Suddenly this elegant creature dropped in the water with a speed about ten times faster than pouring rain. It then grabbed a fish with its claws, and the fighting between the fish and the osprey made them water-ski across almost half of the river. It all happened so fast, faster than our minds could possibly process. We were stunned and watched another fish become the osprey’s game. “Isn’t it something?” Jane commented. It is something, indeed.

Later in the trip, we passed through several drops and reached the point where the next climax of the day took place. That spot was a perfect location for surfing, so how could we miss the chance? I did not quite understand exactly what I needed to do. All I knew about surfing is moving your boat to a certain place where water circulates within a fixed range which allows you to stay there without paddling. However, how to find that sweet spot remains unknown to me. People say that I need to “sense it” and “trust my feelings,” and all those “hints” just ensure that surfing is a tricky business.

I tried to extract some useful movements by observing. It seemed that Bill and Nick started by charging the water as a moose, and magically they trapped themselves in a rolling wave. They found their sweet spots therefore their boats only moved vertically, not any other directions. “Huh, that should just take a little bit of courage,” I wondered, and started to charge the water as if I were a bull aiming at the red. However, I didn’t know where to stop, or I was just so into charging. I passed a little wave and another bigger one and was approaching the biggest one; suddenly the force of water turned my boat sideways. I could see the wave was ready to swallow me, and before the water even got a chance to hit me, my fear hit me really hard. I worked so hard trying to turn my boat straight, no effect. At least I still held my paddle really tight; I knew that I couldn’t lose my paddle but what could I do with it if I was holding it with just one hand? The only thing I could do was lean my boat and constantly tap the water surface with my free hand, and I survived without tipping over. Oh, my goodness. Isn’t it something?

My kayaking fellows described to me that they saw my boat being brought up by the river really high, and they were all ready to rescue me. Bill said “don’t use your hand to brace; use your paddle!” I wish I could have used my paddle but I was totally out of control and that was when I called it a day.

Picture: Die hard kayaker, Nick.

Here is the English version

從去年參加 Lehigh Valley Canoe Club（LVCC），一直到今天，我才真正有「成為大家族成員的的感覺」。因為，我終於參與了活動列表上的行程，這可是用很多很多小時的學習與預備才換來的。雖然我也只是從一個對kayaking什麼都不了解的人，進階到一個初學者罷了，我仍然感到相當驕傲。

每年LVCC都會籌畫一系列專供初學者的特別行程，今天的行程並不在其中，只是其難度大約是在 Class 1-2 之間，是沒有理由拒絕像我這樣的人的。更何況在我學習的過程中，很多前輩再三保證，這難度對我絕對不成問題，同時強調我一定會相當喜歡在河上的感覺，那麼，除了準時報到，還有什麼其他選擇呢？

Jeff是活動的領隊，看起來就是和藹可親，聽說我來自台灣，興高采烈地說他的親戚以前在台灣當大兵的時候，認識了他現在的台灣老婆，後來進而定居，現在中文也講得呱呱叫。我疑惑地說「當兵？」其他的人七嘴八舌地說，「他的親戚和他一樣大啦，你那時候可能還沒出生呢！」

我向Jeff報備說，這可是我的第一個真正的河上行程，可要好好照顧我啊！Jeff當場就指派專人看護，其他的人也笑笑地說「不要擔心啦！」我注意到Jeff的褲子後面靠膝蓋的地方，故意挖掉了兩個大洞，原來他是嫌防寒衣的質料太硬，每次坐下來都會卡到關節，乾脆一剪了事。看起來既可愛又滑稽。

那天的天氣很清朗，微風徐徐，河水還是相當的寒冷。於是聽從 Nick 的建議，穿上我嶄新的划船夾克，這個夾克是防水的材質，同時手腕以及脖子的地方，使用橡膠箍得緊緊的，如此一來，無論在河面上怎樣地翻滾玩耍，都可以享受滴水不進的感覺，隨時乾燥溫暖。貼身穿著的是一套兩件式的防寒衣，防寒衣的原理是在濕著以後，纖維之間會留住一層薄薄的水，活動之後，身體的體溫會加熱該層水，而成為良好的隔溫層。

對於我來說，今天的行程相當有趣。旅途中間歇地有數區波滔洶湧的地方，需要全神貫注，小船乘風破浪的感覺相當地刺激以及新奇，而這些波滔洶湧的地方，通常也不會太長，需要讓我向老天禱告「不要再折磨我了吧！」總之，是相當適合我的行程。在河水平靜的時候，還可以靜靜地仰面，背倚船身，悠閒自在地欣賞鳥兒飛翔，和登山的時候，老是只看到鳥兒背部羽毛的顏色，或者只是聽見鳥兒啾啼，卻遍尋不見鳥影的感覺，大異其趣。

還記得第一區的浪潮，我全身的緊張神經都枕戈待旦了，Nick不住地提醒我說「千萬不要有一刻停止使用你的槳！」這真的是金玉良言。如果在感覺失去平衡感時，心裡著慌，不知如何是好，那麼只能乖乖地等著翻船。如果還足夠清醒，讓槳面和水面有所接觸，那麼還有一線生機，努力地划船吧，天助自助者，是不變的真理。滑著小船在波浪裡頭玩耍，就像群山遍野的小草青綠乘著風搖擺，輕觸著牧羊女的裙擺。我的船擺向四面八方，我的身子沒有一刻垂直於水面，又像隨時隨刻都和水面垂直，神奇的是，藉著身體與槳的配合，小船高來高去，卻還是讓我有著巨石堅屹山頭似的篤定。也許你會了解這神奇，如果你也曾經坐在小船上，什麼也不做，只隨風打著你泊在如鏡面的湖上的船，你會知道，你的船總是想要翻滾玩耍，怎麼能料到篤定可以存在浪濤之間呢？

我很快地加了一條備忘錄在該句金玉良言之後，「別停止划槳，也別停止呼吸。」我不知道大家是不是都有這個習慣，但是我在緊張或者是受驚嚇的時候，常常就會憋著自己的呼吸，等到一切否極泰來，才呼地鬆了一口氣。這個習慣在陸上運動，對小命還不會有什麼威脅，可是在隨時可能翻船的小船運動，可真是太危險了。我最好還是確定我能夠有夠長的氣，讓我在頭下腳上的情況下，還可以從容應對，雖說自我逃生的步驟通常不會超過四秒鐘，準備充分永遠不是壞事。

河水有它殘酷的一面，對初學者則更加殘酷。初學者錯在哪裡呢？就在於沒有花夠時間好好了解水的個性。其他經驗豐富的划船者，藉著觀察河面可以避開危險區域，而我，光是讓小船穩穩地穿過浪濤，就忙地手舞足蹈了，要我睜大眼睛避開在波滔中若隱若現的凹陷，可能是有點強人所難。我唯一能做的也只是，牢牢地抓著我的槳，前方的路是荊棘還是樂土，勇往直進就是了。其他的kayakers事後告訴我，當他們看到我義無反顧地將船開往大波谷的時候，心中的擔憂是遠遠超過河水的震盪的。我硬生生地撞進矗立在面前，高過頭頂的水牆，滿頭滿臉滿身上，攬進了好一片濕淋淋，用力地不停眨眼，偶而偷進幾口呼吸，終於又見到當日的陽光笑臉，我忍不住愉悅地綻開笑容。Jeff促狎地問我：「水還冷吧？」隨後又溫暖地說「看你這笑容，喜歡這感覺吧！」我用力地點了點頭，說不出話來。

河水給予初學者的驚嚇還不僅於此，多的是河流中突然蹦出來的大岩石。當然其他的人知道怎麼判斷河水的變化，來判斷河流中岩石出現的位置，甚至估計其大小。而我多半要等到眼見為憑，卻通常已經為時已晚。記得一卷浪把我裹往岩石砸去，張大嘴巴還沒來得及尖叫出聲，岩石已經離我不到寸許，幸好腦袋靈光一閃，閃出「大石哲學」，所謂「愛你的岩石，而不是遠離它」。利用的原則仍然是保持水流打擊船底，而非船面。而唯有靠向岩石，才能確保水流擊打船底。反之，如果你忙不迭地歪向另一個方向，你該知道河水是會施予怎麼的懲罰的。

經過了數個驚濤駭浪，自以為我已經可以從容應對了，更何況面臨的這一個也只是「一塊蛋糕」罷了。河水冰冷的觸感從船底傳到臀部，經過身體，流到腦海，突然我像是被這股冷流電擊到一般，嘩啦，我驚叫出聲「我的槳掉了！」這真是非常非常非常不可原諒的錯誤，我真要無地自容了。身處波浪之中，只能夠讓身體前傾，靠進船身，喃喃地希望船底下的這個浪頭，已經是最後的一個。Arlene首先發現我使用笨拙的狗爬式划船，幫我撿回了船槳。

我善良的友伴們一點都沒有取笑的意思，還不住口地安慰我說，「這是很平常的一件事啦。」沒想到，另一個打擊接踵而至，我在手套下的兩隻手掌，已經腫得和豬頭一樣大。怎麼回事？凍的？水還沒這麼冷啊。原來我的防水外衣的橡膠手腕太過緊繃，阻礙了血液循環，哈，我算是為我掉槳事件找到了藉口。只是，在從事任何戶外運動之前，都應該事先檢查裝備是否妥當，我怎麼可以忘記這麼重要的課題呢？

旅程中的最後一個挑戰，是通過水壩。水壩是人為的建築，通常橫阻河面，造成相當有規律的水位落差，水位落差造成的水流循環，可以讓任何陷入的物體，在其中載浮載沈，不見天日。而橫亙水面的水壩，讓划船者除了搬船上岸別無選擇。幸好這個水壩在河右岸留下了一個天然的通道。Jeff警告我們仍然不能掉以輕心，並需一個接一個慢慢地通過該處水道，同時，Jeff先行到岸上，拿出他的救生繩索，以備不時之需。小心翼翼地通過之後，我回頭望向水壩橫切處，該個斷層並不是很大的斷層，若不是他們告訴我，我又怎麼能夠知道，若身陷於此，可能成為籠中不停踩著大輪奔跑的白老鼠，掙扎到最後一口氣息為止。

圖：我的 kayak

Here is the Chinese version （中文版請進）

On Saturday, April 16th, I felt that finally I became a true member of the Lehigh Valley Canoe Club: I attended my first trip on the Lehigh River, and this trip was on the club calendar. I was very proud.

This trip is not one of the “Beginner Series” trips, but it is rated as Class I-II, which should be easy enough for a beginner. Chris once told me at the side of the pool that “you will not have problems” and my friend Nick commented that it would be “a good learning trip.” Therefore, at 10 am, I was at the meeting point. Sharp.

The leader Jeff, who looked like a nice guy, was in his wet suit which had two man-made holes open up at the knee area in the back. Other fellow kayakers, all greeted to me, this newly joined member, and encouraged me that “you will have a lot of fun” when I told them that I was fairly new to this sport. Jeff also made sure that there would always be someone looking after me which made me even more relaxed.

The weather was nice, but just a little bit windy, plus the water was cold. I listened to Nick’s advice and put on my paddle jacket. This paddle jacket is made of waterproof material, and at the wrist and the neck area, it has very tight gaskets to ensure that no water can leak through the jacket even when the kayaker is extremely active on the water. Under the paddle jacket, I had my wet suit, which is made of mostly neoprene and partly nylon. A wet suit traps a thin layer of water when it gets wet, after the kayaker warms up that layer of water, it serves as an insulation layer to keep the person warm.

This trip was indeed very interesting to me: it had enough sections of waves to get me concentrated and excited, and none of them was too long for me to survive. And when we boated on smooth sections, we just drifted through and even laid back and watched the birds fly by. I am a backpacker so I usually watch birds from above when I rest at vistas close to the summits. It gives me a brand new feeling to observe birds from a different angle – at least I do not just know the color of their backs.

The first wave got me very nervous. Before we entered that area, Nick kept reminding me to “keep paddling; never stop paddling.” This was indeed the key. If you feel that you are losing your balance and just freeze there, you are destined to tip over. But if you keep paddling, and keep your paddle in the water, you have a better chance to do something, and change your fate. Going through waves is a fascinating experience: I felt that I could never be perpendicular to the water surface, sometimes I leaned to the left; sometimes I leaned to the right; but as long as my center of gravity was leaning forward and my paddle was doing its work, I was stable, although I kept being driven up and down. I felt that I was even more stable than on pure flat water. If you ever sit in a play boat in a lake, or in a pool, you will understand what I am talking about. Because a play boat always seems to tip over in the next second, especially when you are not moving and there is a mild breeze.

I soon changed that principle to “keep paddling; keep breathing,” because I had a tendency to hold my breath when I was shocked or when I was nervous. This habit of holding breath is not a life-threatening one if I am always having my activities on a land; however, it is not the case on a river. I want to make sure that I will have enough breath if I have to go under water. Although my instructors always told me that it only takes 2-4 seconds to do a wet exit or a roll, it never hurts if I have more time to calm down and rescue myself.

Rivers are crueler to a beginner, just because a beginner does not understand them. When passing waves, my fellow kayakers knew how to sneak around holes. To me, dealing with waves was already quite a mission, never mention that I could possibly have time to read the holes and get around them. As a result, I kept paddling through whatever was in front of me – bitter or sweet. People said they worried about me, they saw me driving the boat directly into a hole. The cold water wall hit me from above my head, and swallowed my entire boat unemotionally. I blinked my eyes, kept paddling, and tried to steal some breath. I was glad that I still saw the sunlight after several harsh attacks, and I laughed. It was great. “Is the water cold?” asked Jeff. “It seems that you enjoyed it so much otherwise you would not have such a big smile.” I nodded positively.

Another ruthless thing a river does to a beginner kayaker is unexpected appearance of rocks. Advanced kayakers can observe the current changes or some other natural phenomenon to predict the locations of rocks; to me, the only way to discover a rock is to actually see it, and it is usually too late. Once a heavy wave brought me toward a rock, I opened my mouth but before I could make my scream, the rock was too close. Luckily, right at the moment, the rock principle flashed in my mind, “If you cannot avoid a rock, lean toward it instead of trying to get away from it.” The concept is straightforward: always make sure the water is hitting the bottom of your boat. Only by leaning toward the rock, one can tilt one’s boat in the way that has water hit the bottom of the boat. If you are so afraid to hit the rock and eagerly lean away from it, the force of water would turn the boat over.

After passing through so many sections of waves, here came another. “This one looks easy, should be a piece of cake,” I mumbled. As usual, because of the cold temperature, I felt the current, starting from my butt. The current flew smoothly through my whole body and reached my mind, and “SPLASH,” just like being hit by an electrical shock, I dropped my paddle. “My paddle,” I yelled helplessly. Damn, I could not believe I dropped my paddle; this is such a horrible horrible horrible mistake. What an embarrassment. Without a paddle, I could only tug myself toward the boat, and let my body move with the rhythm of the current, and wish the wave I just entered was the last one. Arlene was the first one who noticed my awkward doggy crawls, and helped me regain my paddle.

Later, all the fellow boaters smiled at me, and assured me “that was definitely not an uncommon thing.” I therefore could drag my boat up to the shore to the lunch spot with an eased mind, but another thunder hit me really hard. I found my both hands swollen to almost twice as big as usual, “this is not because of the cold.” Indeed, that was because of the paddle jacket; the gaskets at the wrist area were too tight for my body liquid to circulate till the fingers. This soon became my excuse of dropping my paddle, as you might predict. The importance of an outdoor lesson is reconfirmed that one should always check his/her gear before he/she heads out for any outdoor activity.

The last challenge of this trip was to sneak through the dam area. A dam is a man-made construction, therefore a drop created by a dam is always consistent, and usually goes across the whole river. The kind of drop generates a hole or a strainer, which sucks nearby objects in, and keeps them there forever. Fortunately, the dam we passed on that day left a narrow passage on the river right, in other words, the dam did not extend all the way to the right bank. Jeff warned us never to underestimate the danger and requested us to take that passage one by one, and at the same time he got out of his canoe and was standing on the shore holding his throw rope to give assistance if necessary. I looked back at the drop after I kayaked by and entered an eddy. The drop looked small, who could imagine that if stuck there, one can become a hamster in a cage running its wheel forever until the last breath.

Picture1 (top) : me and my fellow kayakers
Picture2 (bottom) : leader Jeff and his canoe

Chinese Version

Last winter, I enrolled in the kayaking pool classes provided by the Lehigh Valley Canoe Club (LVCC). After 10 winter sessions full of basic kayaking strokes on calm water, such as forward stroke, sweep, brace, and of course the Eskimo roll, which I only have 10% of success rate right now, our dearest instructor John decided to put us on moving water to practice some river reading techniques and river strokes before we actually head to any real white water.

The place we went is called Little Lehigh Creek, located in Little Lehigh Park in Allentown, PA. This is an excellent place for practicing river kayaking. Just within a range about 2-3 miles long, this creek has several different platforms, which means there are many drops and different kinds of rapids. Furthermore, the LVCC put some artificial obstacles in the river to simulate the rocks in a real river. Therefore, people can just walk and carry their boats back and forth to practice so many river skills again and again.

Besides the basic moving forward, backward and sideways, on a river, there are these important strokes: ferry, eddy turn and peel out.

The name ferry comes from a kind of boat which ferries and carries passengers from bank to bank. The technique of ferry is: say, you face upstream, if you want to go to the river left, then point your boat to about 1-o’clock direction; if you want to go to the river right, then point your boat to about 11-o’clock direction, and paddle forward. The movement of your boat and that of the stream will lead the boat across the river. You can draw the directions of these two different movements on a piece of paper and you will find out that ferry is simply a direct outcome of basic physics.

Talking about eddy turn and peel out, first we have to say what an eddy is. Generally speaking, an eddy is a calm river area. For example, suppose there is a rock in the river, and because the water flow is blocked by that rock, the area behind the rock is smoother than the main water flow, and is called an eddy. There are many reasons to form an eddy, such as river curves, obstacles, and a shallow river bed. The line which separates an eddy and the main water flow is called an eddy line, sometimes it is obvious but sometimes it is vague, and an eddy line does not stay statically just as a river is always running. An Eddy line divides water into two categories: rapid and calm, it also indicates the change of direction of the water flow. At an eddy, the water is going upstream, or I should say the opposite direction of the main flow.

Entering an eddy from the stream is called an eddy turn, and exiting an eddy and returning the stream is called a peel out. It is important to know how to tilt one’s boat, if he/she wants to manage an eddy turn and peel out. We have to always make sure that the water is hitting the bottom of our boats; otherwise the force of the water would just turn our boats over. We experience a direction change of water while we pass through an eddy line, therefore how to tilt our boats becomes very critical. This movement is very similar to turning a bike or curving a pair of skis going down a slope, in practice. Another good point is to watch the angle to cut in the eddy line, it is taught that 45 degrees is the best, but as mentioned above an eddy line is not always friendly, therefore, the more experience you have the better you will apply these techniques. John said that the difference between a beginner and an intermediate is how well one reads the water, not how strong his strokes are.

The sun was nice and warm on that day, but the water was extremely freezing. I believed that it would be cruel to dip myself in the water so I paddled conservatively with too much caution. My classmates Dave and Sandy, however, did not care as much as I did and I kept hearing their crazy laughter and I witnessed several of their wet exits. This reminded me how much fun that was and made me regret being such a coward. Last summer, I went to Jerry’s 2-day kayaking class, and on the 2nd day Jerry took the whole class under a bridge in the Lehigh River to practice eddy turns and peel outs. I tried several times, and the last time my boat tilted over on me before I could even understand why; I couldn’t roll so I did a wet exit. That was fun and exciting and that was summer.

Picture: My classmate Sandy and her little blue kayak

English Version

經過一個冬天，在平靜無波的游泳池水面上，練習了基本的 kayaking 操縱、使槳的方式，以及目前只大約有一成成功率的 Eskimo Roll。認真負責的教練 John 在讓學員正式與河水奮鬥之前，帶領大夥兒到流動的河面上練習閱讀河面的技巧，以及河面的 kayaking 技巧。

練習的地方叫做 Little Lehigh Creek，位於 Allentown, PA 的Little Lehigh Park。這個地方的好處是地形，在長約 2到3 miles 的河道上有數個不同的層次，另外 Lehigh Valley Canoe Club (LVCC) 在河道上置放了障礙物，以模擬河流中的岩石，短短的河道上，竟出現了不少真實河面的狀況以供練習。

除了基本的前進、後退、平移，河面的技巧重點在 ferry、eddy turn以及 peel out。

先說 ferry，ferry 名稱的由來是取自在河面上載渡遊人過岸的渡輪。技巧是，面對上游，若要到河左岸，則把船頭指向約一點鐘方向；若要到河右岸，則把船頭指向約十一點鐘方向，向前滑動；船前進的方向，加上水流的方向，就會帶領船橫渡水面，你可以在紙上畫出這兩個方向，會發現 ferry 其實是簡單物理的反映。

講到 eddy turn 和 peel out 則不能不先說一下什麼是 eddy。eddy簡單地來說就是河面安靜的地方，比如說在大岩石的後面，因為水流受阻，就會有一塊水流比較起來較緩和的地方，就叫做 eddy。造成 eddy 的原因很多，河道彎曲，障礙物，或者是水深都是原因。介於eddy和水流之間的界線叫做 eddy line，eddy line有時明顯易辨，有時曖昧難明，通常不會靜止一處。Eddy line除了是水流急緩的分界點之外，也是水流方向轉變的分界線，因為於 eddy 處，水流方向是湧往上游的。

所以 eddy turn 就是從水道轉進 eddy ，而從 eddy 轉回水道則叫做 peel out。Eddy turn 和 peel out 的重點在於傾斜船身的技巧。Kayaking中一個不讓船翻的重點，是隨時確定水流打向船底，而不是船面。而穿過 eddy line 正值水流方向轉變的關鍵時刻，如何傾斜船身變得相當重要。這個動作實際操作起來和騎腳踏車或是滑雪轉彎相當的類似。另外一個技巧在於切進eddy line的角度，讓船身和 eddy line成45度收益最大，不過就像上文提到的， eddy line 並不一定都是友善的，所以這些動作需要很多經驗的累積。John說往往區分初學者和進階者，不在於個別划動 kayak 的動作，而是在閱讀河面的經驗。

當天的太陽很好，水卻還是料峭春寒的冷，我顯得比較保守而且放不太開，總想著不要翻船，免得著涼。反觀我的同學 Dave和Sandy都玩得不亦樂乎，翻了兩三次都還是樂此不疲，讓我有點後悔自己的蹢躅不前。我在去年夏天也曾經參加過一個兩天的 kayaking 訓練營，第二天教練 Jerry 也是把我們帶到河當中的橋墩後面練習 eddy turn 和 peel out，我連試了好幾次，最後一次眼睛一花就翻船了，那時候還沒學好 Eskimo roll，老老實實地就 wet exit了，不過那時夏天，弄得渾身濕淋淋地很是舒服，非常過癮。

參考文章：
Eskimo Roll
Wet Exit

早上五點鐘就醒來了，不明白的是昨兒個晚上，我倒是睡了沒有？是整個晚上都在想著Eskimo roll，還是，整個晚上作夢都夢著它，可能兩者都有吧。

去年夏天開始接觸kayaking，那種順著水流，仰天望著飛鳥的騰躍、兩旁聳立的山勢、與叢叢的樹林的感覺，跟爬山登高，鳥瞰山林，有著完全不同的況味，就這樣，對小船著了魔。

尤其令人羨慕的是kayaking高手，駛著稱為「play boat」的小船，直上直下，翻滾縱橫，心中想著：「我這輩子是不可能操著舟子，勇闖瀑布了，弄條小船在普通的河面翻來翻去，總不是問題吧！」更何況，那種靈活的小船叫做「play boat」，光是這個名稱就讓我心癢難搔，愛玩如我怎麼可以錯過？怎麼可以錯過？怎麼可以？

參加了為期十週的課程，每個星期天晚上到游泳池報到，第一課當然是wet exit，接下來學了很多不同的strokes，小船在身體和槳的操作下，可以繞圈子，也可以直著走、倒著走，甚至像螃蟹一樣橫著走。而我心裡念茲在茲的一直還是Eskimo roll。

划kayak的人，首先要習慣的就是頭下腳上的姿勢，就好像學滑雪的人沒有不滑倒的，學kayaking的人沒有不翻船的，一翻船，身體就是倒著懸掛在水中，極不好受，也因此正在學習kayaking各種技巧的人，都會準備鼻夾，免得倒灌進太多池水、河水或是海水。

翻了船之後，最乾脆的步驟，就是wet exit，幾秒鐘之後，就可以重見天日。可是wet exit非常勞民傷神，要重新回歸小船的懷抱，首先必須先清空灌進小船的水，接下來重新把自己擠入小船中，然後套好防潑水的spray skirt。在河上，這可能代表需要游泳好一陣子，因為河上顛簸，伙伴需要等待行進到平靜的河段，才可以幫你清船，如果沒有這樣的好伙伴，就代表必須自己拖著船到岸邊，一切從新來過。

因此，如果真的要玩進階的玩意，最好就是學會Eskimo roll。Eskimo roll望文生義，當然是愛斯基摩人最先發明的，聽過一個故事是說，愛斯基摩人滑kayak出海捕魚，若船翻了不能再將船翻正，那就死定了。你說，可以 wet exit啊？漫漫無邊的海洋，何處去清船？在那麼冷的海水裡游泳，就算是好人也撐不了太久。不知道這個故事的可信度有多少，但是這翻船180度的技巧，的確是愛斯基摩人傳下來的。

昨兒個晚上終於正式學到Eskimo roll了。其實，為了學會這個roll，教練已經培養了我們很久：先是游泳池畔hip snap，靠近游泳池畔的手掌壓著池畔地面，上半身側躺進水中，另外一隻手掌接著蓋住前一直手掌，這時候船是倒著的，輕輕壓在身上，接下來，下方的膝蓋一頂、上方的膝蓋一鬆，加上手掌的輕輕藉力，船就起來了。要訣靠的是下半身，而不是手掌的推力，教練說，做對了，池畔的手掌連顆雞蛋都不會壓破。以後手的部分會被槳取代，如果槳能夠製造很大的推力當然很好，可是在水流中，有時候槳的角度沒有辦法掌握得很精確，只存著依賴槳的推力的心理，是不足恃的。另外，頭不要急著挺直，頭一挺直，需要的力矩就更大了，在船翻過來之前，頭和身體都需要盡量靠進船身，才可以翻得輕鬆愉快。這個hip snap就為的是讓我們感覺如何用腹部、膝蓋、臀部的肌肉，把船翻起來的感覺。

等到hip snap練習得熟練之後，變成練習T-rescue，假設某人船翻了，首先掌摑船底造成巨大聲響，吸引注意，接著兩隻手掌朝向船身，前後移動，伙伴見狀，會以90度的直角撞擊你的船身，你的手掌於是可以按著伙伴的船頭，做一個hip snap把船翻過來。因為兩隻船會呈現一個T字形，所以這個drill稱為T-rescue。

最後的準備是brace。brace是在船身失去平衡，整個倒扣進水面之前，以槳面平行於水面的姿態，平壓水面，將船再撐起來。當然這個步驟少不了hip snap的配合，會讓整個過程更加輕鬆愉快。

好，萬事俱全，只欠東風。只要加入槳的動作，然後把所有學到的東西拼裝起來，就是Eskimo roll了。船翻了，第一，身體向前傾貼進船身，持槳的兩手沿著船側，將槳撐出水面；第二，試著以主要操縱槳的那隻手（在我是右手）感覺槳擊打水面的味道，確定槳面是和水面平行的；第三，控槳的手將槳轉成和船身成直角，這時候上半身同時也轉了90度；第四，控槳的手做一個brace，身體做一個hip snap。船身就轉回來了，Eskimo roll大功告成。

這，這，這，練習了這麼多的hip snap的我，應該有一種水到渠成的感覺，偏偏不是。我的船身總是翻了大概120度到150度左右，然後又摔了回去。教練說，槳的位置不對；又說，hip snap的時候只有一個膝蓋使力，我在快起來的時候，身體直覺地又加近了另外一個膝蓋的力量，變成了阻力；另一個教練說，我的頭太快起來了，也加了阻力。在伙伴的輔助下，昨兒個晚上，我大概摔進摔出了不下十次，到了課程結束之後，還是不死心地纏著教練再練習幾次，最後教練說「你累了，回去休息吧」，才發覺我已然昏頭轉向，心神無法集中了。

回到家，迫不急待地拿起我從未曾翻閱過的kayaking教科書，匆匆地翻到Eskimo roll的章節，嗯嗯嗯，如此如此這般這般，還不死心地拿著槳揮舞了兩遍，才心不甘情不願地去睡了，整個晚上翻來覆去，腦袋裡唸唸有詞，第一步、第二步、第三步、第四步，唯一勉強可以安慰的是，書上寫說如果轉槳沒有轉到90度，接下來的hip snap會變成相當困難，一定是我栽到水裡不知身處何處，槳也不知道哪裡去了，定下心來一步一步來，一定可以成功的，嗯，一定可以的。下個禮拜天，再來試試看！

第一次聽到「wet exit」這個術語的時候，是覺得懵然不通的。但是朋友絮絮地說：「只要懂得正確的 wet exit，划 kayak 就不用擔心了」，再加上他手舞足蹈地說如何乘風破浪，如何 surf ，河川山色又是如何的開展，川邊野鳥又是如何地高飛展翅，終於把本來就靜不下來的心，鼓譟地無可不可，終至心癢難搔了。

夏日的一個週末，兩天的 kayaking 課程。教練頭 Jerry 說著初學者常犯的驚異：船這麼小，真的能塞下一個人嗎？

有趣的是，一行二十幾個人，不管高矮胖瘦，都神奇地縮進一艘小小的船身。 White water kayaking 最重視的就是船身的剪裁合度，由於河水的變化無端，除了手上划槳之外，整個身子的協調度是頂重要的，因此如果沒有人船合一的感覺，操控上是相當吃力的。

坐進船中，調好背椅、腳踏，兩條腿是微曲的，膝蓋頂在兩側的膝墊上，背是打直的，另一個教練 Ted 說：坐得妥當，兩個人一前一後抬起這艘船，再將船倒轉過來，人也是掉不下來的。

Kayak 的船身淺，又常隨著水流高低起伏，為免避免河水潑入，加重負擔，划船者在腰部上穿著一條 spray shirt ，待坐進船之後，把入口牢牢罩緊，滴水不進。再加上救生衣、安全帽以及一根長槳，就是 kayaker 的基本配備。

船入水的時候，感覺相當奇妙，水流的絲絲撥動，都一點不誤地傳播到身上的每道感覺神經，習慣了剛入水的緊張感之後，左右看看，大家都嘻嘻哈哈的，想是每個人的樣貌看來都是相當滑稽，像是以人頭裝飾的海軍棋棋子，長槳就是兩頭帶刃的長槍。

第一課，船翻了，該怎麼出來？船一翻，頭下腳上，身體緊緊地卡在船裡，spray shirt緊緊地罩住船口，出不來，怎麼辦？恐怕是死路一條了。

說時遲那時快，示範的 Maria 的船翻了，只見她兩隻手不慌不忙地從兩側伸出水面，在船邊擊打了幾下，傳達「她很好」的訊息：第一步，千萬不要緊張。接著，上半身往前彎，將身子貼近船身，保護自己盡量不遭受水中大石或是不平坦地面的攻擊，雙手摸索到前方拉起 spray shirt 的套環，拉鬆 spray shirt ，兩掌再在船側一撐，人就「掉」出來了，加上救生衣一帶，人就出了水面，記住的是身體要保持平坦，不要急著站起，免得被湍急的水流激地把持不住。

這番出船套式，就是 wet exit，是 kayaking 最基本的功夫，是了，這樣一來不濕才怪，難怪叫 wet exit。據說，wet exit 的要訣在一個「掉」字，若是毛手毛腳地「爬」出來，手腳在水裡亂舞，保不準有什麼瘀青還是刮傷，還是輕輕地像一個球一樣掉出來，才是最寫意也是最安全的。

練熟之後，一個 wet exit 花大約 4 秒，一般人閉氣的功夫可是遠遠超過 4秒鐘的。最要緊的是要保持平靜，不要平白浪費自己的存氧量。

只是，第一次試的時候，還是忐忑不安的，問 Ted 說，「你在水底下睜不睜眼睛啊？」又吸了一口起說，「我準備好了」。Ted 說，「你自己翻船吧！」身子一歪，這船要翻還真的不是普通地容易，眼一閉，還是花了兩秒讓自己平穩下來，才得以乖乖地浮出來。