The power of healing - James White

Over the course of the weekend our First Aid teacher, Jim Butterworth, taught trained us in Standard First Aid 'A'. Thankfully, all of us passed and are now certified. For those of you who do not know how to access a situation, hopefully I can help.
First, you must know that your number one priority is to keep yourself safe (better to have one person to deal with than two). Next, when approaching the injured person, look out for any hazards (Electric lines, loose branches, people, etc). When you reach the person, introduce yourself (if they don't already know you) and follow six simple steps, also know as S.A.M.P.L.E.

Signs and symptoms
Look for any bleeding, bruising, pain, and if they are conscious then you can ask them what hurts and what symptoms they are experiencing.

Allergies
Always remember to ask about their allergies. It could be vital to their lives. Allergies aren't     necessarily to food, but also to medicine such as Ibuprofen.

Medication
Medications are important, because certain medications affect others. For example, Ibuprofen numbs the effects of aspirin. Also, if they already have medicine to counteract what is happening

Past medical history
Knowing their history is important because it might help you know/figure out what is happening.  

Last meal
Remember that it is possible to be low on blood-sugar and that it is very important to eat food because food.

Events leading up to the incident
If you know what happened, you could save a lot of time. (it isn't hard to know that someone broke a leg when they jumped of a cliff and heard (and felt) a crack in their leg).

Thanks for reading my weekly blog post,
James White
Hey Dad & Judy

An exterior skull - James White

If you have ever hit your head while going down a rapid, you have either not been wearing a helmet or, you have not been wearing it properly. So, for my "How to" blog, I've decided to tell you how to properly wear/put on a helmet.

• Step 1: Put the helmet on your head.
• Step 2: Adjust the straps on the back of the helmet so that you can shake your head without the              helmet moving.
• Step 3: Put on your chin-strap located below your chin.
• Step 4: Adjust the chin strap until you can no longer put a finger between the strap and your                    chin.
• Step 5: Shake your head (If you have done this right, then your helmet should no longer shake).
• Step 6: Go kayaking (Assuming you have all of your other equipment on).

Now that you know how to wear your helmet, you can go out kayaking with slightly less worry about hitting your head on a rock.

The Challenges and Frustrations of the Bow Stall

There is one move that almost every keener is trying to get: the bow stall.

The bow stall is probably the easiest trick to try, but it is incredibly hard to master. A bow stall is when you balance with the bow of your boat under water, and the stern vertically in the air.

While staying up is a challenge on it’s own, the piece that most of us are working on is the double pump. The double pump is the method that you use to get the boat vertical.

I’ll explain the basic idea.

Start paddling to get some momentum, then take a hard forward stroke at the same time you get on edge. This should lift your bow into the air. You then slam your bow back under you as you take a powerful reverse stroke, trying to keep both paddle blades in the water.

The idea is fairly simple, but that only makes it more frustrating when you exhibit one of the seemingly millions of ways that you can either land on your head, or just end up looking stupid in front of all of your friends.

The bow stall can look pretty cool, and there are lots of cool tricks you can do with it, but if you ask most of us about our bow stall, all you’ll get for an answer is a look of frustration and an “It’s going ok.”

How to loop with Connor

It's Connor back and I'm taking you through the loop I find its such a fun trick so these are some instructions on how to do the loop.

Front Loop  

In a loop, the boater does a complete flip, landing in the same direction that the move was initiated. Loops are unlike most other moves in that the bow is initiated flat to the water, with no edge. The move is begun like a popup, with the paddler driving straight and flat into the most powerful part of the current on a feature. The boater leans forward, and the bow is swept down and the stern up. Once vertical, the paddler quickly leans backward to pop up out of the water, then powerfully drives forward to intentionally cause the boat to become over-vertical. If done properly, the stern should catch in the current and the boat will return to its starting position.

Aerial Loop

Back Loop

A back loop is identical to a front loop, but is performed backwards, both starting and ending in a back surf.

Flat Loop

A flat loop is a loop done on flatwater. To accomplish this, the paddler stops in a front stall, before bouncing on end and "plugging" the hull deep in the water, and using the pop to throw the boat clear of the water and subsequently loop.