It Accumulates

(thoughts on the learning curve)

I never have considered myself an expert paddler, however I, like all of you, have some skills. And I didn't come by mine by accident. The process was, in fact, like an effort to get to Carnigie Hall. I practiced, practiced, practiced.

I don't know how many hours I've spent (often with JB) going over my strokes, working on getting my upper hand over the water on my hanging draw and stretching to face my work. I worked on the concepts, and I worked on the details.

Interestingly, when one knows little about something, the learning comes quickly. We say that the learning curve is steep. But like physical conditioning, as one progresses to higher levels, the learning is slower, and it takes more effort to learn just a tiny bit more. The devil dwells in the details, as it were.Be it strokes, rolls or braces, the endless hours of practice slowly paid off as I became more confident in the skills I'd acquired. And, because of the effort that went into it all, I value them highly. Now, however, the weather is robbing me of my time on the water, and I fear I will lose some of what I have so slowly accumulated. Part of that concern, I am sure, is due to the dreary days and unusual snow fall we've had. It has been a long long time since I've spent so much of my time indoors. For now, I can only think of the skills I've accumulated while I watch the snow accumulate.Paddle safe...

DS