Kayaking Class in Whittier

UUUUGGGGGHHHHHH! (Insert Charlie Brown type voice here!) Yet another expensive water sport that I've been totally sucked into (or immersed in as the case may be :)

Yup! I finally got around to taking a sea kayaking class and had the shear luck of calling an outfit in Whittier, AK a scant few days before their last Spring class started. We had reasonable weather the first day and fantastic conditions the second. The instructor and other folks in the class were awesome to boot. I really appreciated the attention to detail and repetition on fundamentals... kayak football was a hoot too.

I've been out for an 8 mile solo paddle in Portage Bay since the class. I ended up kayaking after bagging a dive I'd planned thanks to yet another frag out on my dive gear. The weather was good that day though so I shifted gears and thanks to "Ever Patient Pete" over at Alaska Sea Kayakers (www.alaskaseakayakers.com) I was able to rent a kayak and gear in a hurry and head out. The trick was the wind that kicked up literally as Pete was mentioning that it could. Just before I hopped in the boat katabatic winds began sweeping off of Portage Glacier at about 10 knots giving rise to 2 ft. seas. Pete let me give it a try and suggested that if I couldn't visualize being comfortable in winds 5 knots higher that I should bag it and come back. Good training prevailed though and I was pretty comfortable crossing Portage Bay right out of Whittier, then headed down wind to a rocky point past the Rookery, crossed back over to the South Shore and paddled up wind back to the boat harbor. I got a little crazy along the way and took advantage of having rented a dry suit to practice self rescues and have a go at teaching myself how to do a complete roll. Bad idea that! All I managed to do was smack my head off of the stern deck and get the wickedest ice cream headache ever.

Kayaking adventures continued last weekend while I was in Seattle. I was able to borrow a friend's boat to goof off at Golden Gardens and practice some rescues (thanks Woody and David). The paddle with Woody that afternoon was awesome... beautiful afternoon skies, near zero wind, fun tidal eddies to play in and good conversation.

Hope you like the photos... if you click on the slightly amorphous person icon at the bottom of the slide show it should take you to the website I uploaded the photos at... there is an option to down load photos on the right side of the page.

Cheers.