Guest _rick Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 Six of us went out and six of us came back in one piece. Greg Paquin (wwww.kayakwaveology.com)with the assistance of Rick S. and our own Paula R. ran a ACA/BCU hybrid class consisting of: Swift water rescues, Landing in No landing zones, Current and Surf class. The venue was an interesting formation of a very narrow river, a broad gentle sloping beach and rocks. We started the day with a fairly indepth plan and risk assessment session. Paddling down to the playground assorted strokes were taught and demonstrated as well as reviewed by our teachers. I got some more pointers on two of my rolls. Ferry angles were covered in a 3-4 knot (estimated) current. Very illustrative particularly the river was only about 40 feet wide at the practice point.. One of the more interesting efforts was conducting a rescue with boat leaving and swimmer in the water, in fast moving water. It was a fairly typical non text book rescue which provided alot of enrichment. One of us handled the swimmer, one of us handled the boat and yet another snapped a tow on the swimmer and rescuer. After much work we finally got Greg back in his boat. Leading the following thoughts: Get a good big caribiner, Side stuff tow rigs are a pain in the butt, You need a short tow line, You should always think "me, me, group,swimmer, gear" . Be prepared for the unexpected. After landing in the rocks and dealing with "no landing" we ate amoung the birds, surveying what we would play in later. The beach had some interesting breaks with fair consistent intervals. 2-3 was the off shore buoy reports and the exended duration and fetch only increase the heights of the waves. Moving up and down the beach afforded us the opportunities to play in 5's, steep 3's as well as the odd ball big ones. Funny thing about surfing...You get told how to do it if you do it wrong very instant feedback. Note to self no stern rudder on downside of wave.. Greg, Paula and Rick set up a very effective pattern and actually surfed with us to provide more guidance and feedback. Practicing getting into a boat in between wave sets is interesting to say the least and you dont always have enough water to roll. (didnt even try). I probably drank a half gallon of seawater, permenant smile and all that good endorphins..What a great play spot and what an opportunity to learn.. _rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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