Page 112 - WishStream Year of 2023

Exercise POSEIDON
OCdt Yeatman
We had an early start on the first day, head- ing north to Wyvern barracks to meet the instructors and be taught how to use our kit. We re-constituted the kayaks before heading to the river Exe learning the basics of paddling forwards, backwards, and use of the stern rud- der to have more gradual turns maintaining more momentum. Our first day on the ocean was met with strong winds and choppy waters. We expe- rienced our first capsize, which was very quickly followed by 5 more, whilst trying to land on the Exmouth beach.
The middle of the week was strongly characterised by rock hopping in and around an arch rock for- mation strangely called London bridge, presum- ably for it constantly falling... filling us with confi- dence when we went through. We did a few hours on close control around rocks in the shallows to build confidence and we concluded our final day on the ocean with X and T rescues. An X rescue is when the other person has completely come out of their kayak and requires you to empty their kayak for them, whilst a T rescue is when you flip the capsized individual back over whilst they hold onto your kayak.
On the final day we headed to Teignmouth estuary to make use of the calm water to advance our basic skills. We were taught edging, moving sideways and emergency stops. Edging is where you lean to a side and the kayak turns without you having to change your strokes. Moving sideways is rather self-explanatory. Emergency stops taught us that we should be able to change from full speed to for- ward to going backwards in just three strokes. We then tested all our new techniques in a game of tag with the instructors. To end the day, we kayaked down the estuary. During these calmer moments, we all took the opportunity to discuss the wider military applications of AT and learnt a great deal from our incredibly experienced instructors.
The week was a great opportunity for all OCdts as we each had never kayaked before so to gain a new foundation skill was a fantastic opportunity. The weather conditions meant that each of us were pushed out of our comfort zones during the week and, through the experience of our instructors, we each gained an additional nugget of knowledge on various topics from leadership, basic soldiering, management of soldiers and AT!
110 SANDHURST