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 Back to Trip Reports
ISK Introductory Kayak Class - June 3, 2000
by Rich Wahls
The first Saturday in June served to remind a number of ISK members how cold
the water can still be in the Twin Cities at that time of year if you are
immersed in it for any length of time. Five ISK members (Linda Campbell,
Dana Dickson, Chuck Holst, Rhett Taber, and Rich Wahls) volunteered to assist
with the Sea Kayaking Fundamentals class taught by John Andrew and Rick
Grygar of Paddle Masters. The class is an annual event geared toward
helping paddlers who are new to the sport with some fundamental concepts and
information. John and Rick were generous enough to donate their time and
equipment for this ISK fund-raising event. Thirteen students attended the
class.
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After a some basic instruction from John, the students got to spend some
time playing with boat stability, testing how far their boats could be
leaned before tipping over. This was compared with the degree to which
each boat could be heeled if the paddler worked to keep his/her center of
gravity over the boat.
Nobody seemed overly concerned at this point as the
water was less than 10 inches deep. I took some time to play with this
exercise as well and found it rather productive.
The students looked a little more worried for the next set of exercises: wet
exits.
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Every paddler executed three to four wet exits, each with a slightly
different requirement (without spray skirt, with spray skirt, with skirt and
tapping to alert other paddlers). The volunteers stood in waist to chest
deep water to assist as needed. While not as cold as the water during our
Cold Water Immersion and Rescue practice, it was a little cool to be standing
in for a long time. John seemed have a good sense for which paddlers needed
a little more patience and verbal coaxing and which students just required a
quick shove. Basic boat draining techniques were practiced between exits. |  |
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At that point we returned to the beach for a discussion about paddles and
basic paddle strokes. While the day was nice, it was still before 9:30 a.m.
and many of the students quickly started to exhibit signs of mild
hypothermia while John talked. Additional clothes helped some while others
warmed up doing practice strokes while sitting on the beach. The sand
provided an excellent pallet in which John could both demonstrate stroke
technique and point out strengths and weaknesses of each student's trial
strokes. |  |
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We divided into groups with two to three paddlers per volunteer and headed
back to the water to spend some time practicing basic paddle strokes. The
students finally got the chance to get a feel for paddling their boats and
the volunteers got the opportunity to play the role of mentors, helping
where we could. I know that slowing down and taking the time to work
through various processes with others as well as to practice some more
myself improved my basic stroke skills. I was surprised how quickly I could
turn my almost 18 foot boat using a fully extended sweep. |
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After Rick gave us a land-based demonstration of how to use a paddle float
to re-enter your boat (does the goose dung really help you slide into the
cockpit more easily?) we headed out for rescue practice. Each student
executed a paddle float self-rescue, a stirrup and paddle float rescue, and
acted as both the rescued and the rescuer in team rescues.
There was
neither wind nor waves, so it was a great day for learning basic rescue
techniques. The different methods provided varying amounts of challenge to
the paddlers and John offered some additional alternatives in a few cases.
Some more basic paddle stroke instruction rounded out the day and we headed
in to the beach. While our lunch break had provided a warm, sunny
opportunity to dry out, the late afternoon witnessed the arrival of dark
gray cloudy skies. |
 After a brief celebration of Dana's birthday with
cupcakes provided by Jody Russell (who could not paddle with us) the rain
started to fall. A wonderful class ended with the last boats being loaded
in a steady drizzle and most paddlers looking forward to some rest.
Thanks again to John and Rick from Paddle Masters and all of the ISK
volunteers who helped make the class a success.
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