Alaska Kayak School Journal

Winter Sea Kayak Weekend, Homer, Alaska, 30-31 January 2010, Spring Tides

TomPogson — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:50:56 +0000

One of the reasons to live in Homer, Alaska, is to have access to ocean in the winter, when we have so many nice days in which to enjoy sea kayaking at a time of year most paddler would not dare think about paddling on the ocean. This past weekend, for example, we had 21′-22′ high tides in mid afternoon, a perfect excuse to take to the water and enjoy the delightful weather and moving water; air temps were highs in the low 40’sºF, sunny and variable winds 10 kts. Water temp. was 38ºF.

After a brief warm-up paddle and a few choice photo ops of the lovely conditions, we made our way into Beluga Slough, near Bishop’s Beach, where the flooding tide creates conditions ideal for learning and practicing sea kayaking skills for moving water: ferries, eddy turns and peel outs. Current in the slough rips at 4-5 knots. Scottdickerson.com’s excellent aerial image gives you a feel for the spot. To see many more of Scott’s awesome images of Alaska, check his website, www.scottdickerson.com.

After making our way into the slough last Saturday, 1/30/2010, we found the spot where the city of Homer cut a new channel through the island in the middle of the above image; this is the spot where we had an eddy on either side of a 40 yard wide tidal stream – a useful location for practicing eddy turns, peel outs, ferries and s-turns.

The Spring tides float a bit of ice that mills around in the eddies in Beluga Slough, but not a big deal as the current helps clear the zone for the fun-hogs to safely practice their moving water skills – in spite of the ice. Here Mike shoots the gap between the islands to get to the main training site; a jet of 2-3 knot current with big eddies on either side of it, great spot to practice s-turns.

When turning long, straight-tracking boats like sea kayaks, turning your body and looking in the direction you want the kayak to go can really enhance and facilitate the turn, tilting the kayak in the direction of the turn, and placing the paddle off the hip on the downstream side with the back face of the blade providing support enhances the stability of such a turn.

But this was 2-day instructional event, and the mild winter conditions really lined up to give us a chance to practice some open water trip planning & navigation skills. We met at Land’s End Resort, where we made a trip plan to travel from the tip of the Homer Spit back towards Homer (North) in open water. We timed our open water trip so we could arrive back at Beluga Slough for a second day of playing in the moving water rushing in the channel of the slough on the flood tide.

This particular weekend, we experienced extremely high tides, 21.99′ on 30 January and 22.66′ on 31 January, but we were also graced with warm-ish, calm conditions that made an open water crossing of 3.8 miles from the “green can” bouy no. 1, off the tip of the Homer Spit, back to Beluga Slough on a bearing of 290º magnetic, a total of 76 minutes exactly on the money. But this didn’t mean we were sprinting, we had plenty of time for photo ops, wildlife watching and enjoying the stunning scenery. We saw Scoters (all 3 species), Long-tailed Ducks (aka Oldsquaw), a small flock of the rare Steller’s Eiders, Common Loon, Horned Grebes, and a fair number of Sea Otters.

The fast hulls of Valley and Nigel Dennis sea kayaks were great vehicles for a weekend of moving water and open water training and practice, we covered the 3.8 mile open water crossing while paddling on a bearing in the predicted 76 minutes. We practiced paddling on a bearing in calm conditions to develop “trust” in the compass on a day with great visibility, so we’d have the skills (and confidence) to follow a bearing at night or in fog with limited visibility.

It was a wonderful and rewarding weekend, big tides, mild weather and stunning scenery, plus the array of winter wildlife gave it that extra something to burn the event into memory.

Having spent 2 days paddling in tidal streams, and practicing open water navigation planning, and paddling on a compass bearing, these 2 fun-hogs begin to contemplate their return to the reality of work, and the pressures of living in 21st Century America. But I’ll remember this weekend for the stunning weather and high tides we were graced with as well as the fabulous people that came to enjoy the weekend. May there be many more like it. Speaking of which , we have several other winter weekends planned for 2010, so check the website: http://alaskakayakschool.com/calendar/index.html#winterweekends. Hope you can make it down for one of our winter sea kayaking soirees. Can’t guarantee the weather we had on 30-31 January 2010, but if we all say our prayers, we might get blessed by Poseidon and his Zephyrs. See you in Homer !!

Eskimo Rescue & the paddle presentation, practice in sea conditions

TomPogson — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:28:04 +0000

The Eskimo Rescue involves maneuvering your kayak to a trapped paddler so they can right themselves without exiting their boat by rolling up off of your boat or paddle. A missed roll, a lost paddle, or even an entrapment might require you to act quickly to help a fellow paddler on the sea. Once the paddler is over, they signal for a rescue by banging the upturned hull with their hands in beats of “3″ to attract attention. While underwater in their boats, the capsized paddler needs to be completely tucked forward so that their hands can be up in the air – targets for the would be rescuers that are paddling in to provide assistance. Obviously, you have to be paddling together, preferably talking distance.

While the paddler is upside down, staying completely tucked forward enhances the arms’ reach into the air to search for the rescuer’s boat, calm and patience definitely a plus for the victim. In truth, most rescuers have only 5-7 seconds to get to an Eskimo Rescue victim in cold water, unless there is lots of trust in the rescuer’s perfect boat control. It’s important for the upside down paddler to move their hands along the kayak in a wide arc up in the air while keeping their hands perpendicular to the hull – this can protect the hands in the event of an out of control rescuer.

Rolling up off the bow of the rescuer’s boat is the “classic” Eskimo Rescue, but other options include presenting the stern (if the capsize victim is behind you) or gliding alongside and placing the victim’s hand on your paddle shaft, aka “paddle presentation”. In this way they can roll up between the boats off of the paddle shaft that is lodged across the two kayaks.

As the rescuer, you can slow yourself down and maneuver with a light reverse-sweep/low-brace turn, but ultimately grabbing the victim’s wrist to place it on your paddle shaft seems to be what stops your boat right next to the victim’s kayak. The secure feel of the shaft on the boats provides an easy recovery for the victim by rolling up between the boats.

Everybody smiling at the end of a session, all practiced in a 4 knot tide race, to bring the session to it’s apt conclusion. Now we just have to paddle back across the bay, a 3 mile crossing, to get back to the put in.

Other than the really big, 20+ foot high tides, it’s a screamingly calm afternoon, and the paddle back is a bit surreal – for late September at latitude 60ºN Latitude in coastal Alaska.

The team assembled at the take out. Paul, Nigel, Ryan, Mark, & Tom.

For 2010 Sea Kayak training opportunities, contact us, alaskakayakschool@gmail.com, (907) 235-2090, or view our calendar of events current through October 2010 on this blog or on our website’s calendar, www.alaskakayakschool.com/calendar.

Trapped Paddler Rescue – not just for sea kayak guides

TomPogson — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:49:40 +0000

When a paddler capsizes and doesn’t wet exit from a closed-cockpit kayak – this is a serious matter since it can lead to drowning. Perhaps a sudden capsize into cold water, perhaps some other health threatening event, or perhaps a paddler is simply trapped in their cockpit unable to wet exit, for any reason. If you paddle kayaks regularly, you need to know this rescue – the trapped paddler rescue. In a nutshell, you use leverage and speed to bring the paddler’s head back to the surface within seconds of their unplanned capsize.

First, you need to come along side the capsized kayak, preferably opposite the trapped paddler. Then you need to reach over to the far side of the capsized hull while pressing down on the near side of the hull with the heel of your other hand. This starts the kayak rolling back up.

Pulling the far side of the trapped paddler’s kayak towards you with your far hand, while pushing the hull under seat away from you rolls the trapped paddler’s head towards the surface, this step needs to happen quickly, the paddler is unable to breath under water.

The next move can vary, but it’s the final push to get the trapped paddler’s head out of the water. While grasping the deck-hull joint and pulling it towards you, throw your upper body weight over the edge of the kayak; you are now pushing down on the underside of your forearms as the hull continues to roll away from you and back down into the water, thus bringing the trapper paddler farther out of the water. Grabbing the trapped paddler’s PFD strap or any secure clothing near the shoulders, such as a drysuit, gives you a firm grasp of the victim’s torso, and is excellent leverage for bringing your wet paddler back to the fully upright position.

Once the paddler is upright, a buddy hug can stabilize both of you, and help you to keep the wet and possibly disabled paddler in a safe and stable upright position.

After the rescued paddler regains their composure and you’re sure they are O.K. (preferably smiling) it’s time to separate and get on with the business at hand: enjoying another fabulous day of paddling. You might suggest the trapped paddler does some wet exit practice or work on their rolling/bracing/balance skills. Seriously, this rescue is a life saver, literally. Learn it !!

Want to learn the trapped paddler rescue? Call the Alaska Kayak School, 2010 American Canoe Association Day Trip Leader Assessment Course, Halibut Cove, Alaska, May 13-16, 2010. www.alaskakayakschool.com/calendar, 907.235.2090, alaskakayakschool@gmail.com

NEW HV Aquanaut in glass, Valley Sea Kayaks new stallion

TomPogson — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:17:56 +0000

HV Aquanaut by Valley Sea Kayaks, 2009. The newly re-designed cockpit for the Valley Sea Kayaks’ HV Aquanaut in composite construction is stellar for taller paddlers. Excellent Valley construction, new 2009 seat arrangement, and great packing space in easy to access oval hatches. Expeditions and day trips will take on a new shine in this fabulous ride. Easy to operate, and new in 2009, skeg deployment system makes this boat the perfect tripper for stronger paddlers with a larger frame. Very user-friendly. Larger cockpit allows for very easy re-entries and launching from a floating location. East to sit first and then fold the legs in. Great re-tune on a tested hull design, very well executed.

It’s the enlarged cockpit that allows larger paddlers enjoy the sleek 17′10″X22″ hull with easy launching, landing and self-rescue options. This glass layup has a rugged construction without being “heavy”.

Lots of dry storage in the larger compartments of the HV Aquanaut from Valley; smaller bear-proof food staorage containers fit in either the cockpit in front of the feet, or in the stern compartment.

Even loaded for a trip with a larger paddler, still has a dry ride and plenty of free-board.

High quality finish of all Valley Sea Kayaks ….. you must enjoy the ride, demo a Valley today. Many other models to choose from …. Aquanaut, Nordkapp, and more. see www.valleyseakayaks.com.

Valley Sea Kayaks – 4 plastic British Sea Kayaks

TomPogson — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:25:19 +0000

This is a rare image of 4 out of 5 of the Valley Sea Kayaks triple layer plastic sea kayak models, in order from left to right: Avocet RM, Nordkapp RM, HV Aquanaut RM, and LV Aquanaut RM. Missing from this image but included in a separate image is the Aquanaut Club RM, see

below.

HV Aquanaut RM in action recently in Kachemak Bay.

Valley Nordkapp RM in action.

Surfing an HV Aquanaut RM in Homer, Alaska.

Valley Nordkapp RM surfs too !! Homer, Alaska.

The profile of the Nordkapp is a classy thing of beauty, no?

Check out www.valleyseakayaks.com

Romany, Romany Surf, Romany XL cockpits

TomPogson — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 03:56:07 +0000

Cockpits of the Romany Surf, Romany and Romany XL.

2010 Skills Instruction Calendar – Spring Flings, Symposia and more

TomPogson — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 01:47:08 +0000

Alaska Kayak School, Homer, Alaska

2010 Paddling Skills Courses

January-March • April-May • June • July

August • September • October

January-March

Winter Sea Kayak Weekends in Homer – Jan 30-31, March 20-21

Golden Gate Sea Kayaking Skills Symposium, San Francisco – Feb 26-28

Pool Kayak Training – Homer, Soldotna, Anchorage – January through April

April-May

Last 2010 Winter Sea Kayak Weekend, Homer –Apr 17-18

Sea Skills Weekends in Halibut Cove, Homer – Apr 30 – May 2, May 7-9, & 21-23

ACA Day Trip Leader Assessment Course, Halibut Cove, Homer – May 13-16

2010 Immersion Sea Skills Symposium, Halibut Cove, Homer – May 28-1 June

Pool Kayak Training – Homer, Soldotna, Anchorage – April

June

Whittier Whiplash – Immersion Sea Kayak Skills Weekend, Whittier – June 5-6

Kachemak Bay Instructional Sea Kayak Tour, Homer – June 11-14

Sea Kayak Skills Weekend, Homer – June 18-20

Sea Kayak Safety and Rescue, Homer – June 23

Sea Kayak Level 3 Training Weekend, Homer – June 25-27

July

Introduction to Sea Kayaking Weekend, Homer – July 3-4

Introduction to Sea Kayaking, Homer – July 7

Sea Kayak Level 3 Training Weekend, Homer – July 10-11

2010 Kodiak Summerfest Immersion Sea Skills Symposium, Kodiak – July 17-20

ACA Coastal Kayaking Level 3 Instructor Training, Kodiak – July 24-28

August

Kachemak Bay Instructional Tour, Homer – August 7-11, & 21-25

Sea Kayak Level 3 Open Water Training, Homer – August 14-15

Sea Kayak Safety and Rescue, Homer – August 18

Sea Kayak Level 3 Tidal Training, Homer – August 28-29

September

Sea Kayak Level 3 Open Water Training, Homer – September 4-6, & 17-19

Sea Kayak Level 3+ Tidal-Surf Training, Homer – September 10-12, & 24-27

October

Sea Kayak Tidal-Surf Training, Homer – Oct 8-11, & 22-24

Sea Kayak Level 3 Open Water Training, Homer – Oct 16-17

New Year’s Day 2009 Sea Kayak Shlurfing

TomPogson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:19:17 +0000

frozen eyebrows after winter surfing New Years Day, Homer, Alaska Nothing starts the new year out right for a sea paddler in Alaska like a New Year’s Day paddle, no matter what the weather. The cold snap that set in just after Christmas 2008 was deepening, and when I arrived on the beach near 1 PM, AKST on 1 January 2009, the air temperature was +5ºF. It was sunny, but there was a 5-10 knot breeze, which sent the windchill plunging to the minus ºF Zone.

Ths fun of the New Year’s Day sea kayak schlurfing was lost on most Homer paddlers – it was sub-zero windchill, we all wore “storm cags” over our dry suits and our warmest fleece and underlayers, and we still froze up pretty good. Plus, the battery on the camera instantly died as soon as we got very far out on the water. The fun part for us was: 1) to sea kayak surf on New Year’s Day, completing the annual New Year’s ritual, 2) there was slush in the surf, so we were sloshing about catching the waves and paddling back out. Funny part was, that in the “surfing zone” where the waves were breaking, the wave action cleared the slush out of the way to allow pretty easy and fun rides.

We didn’t surf long, maybe an hour and 45 minutes just long enough to all suffer numb fingers and get a few good rides. But although I’m writing this entry a,most a year later on November 19, 2009, I can still feel the joy of the success of not letting the conditions defeat our need to paddle and enthusiasm for sea kayaking year round here in Homer and Kachemak Bay. I really should be working, but want to get the blog stated up again and could not for the life of me remember how to do it. In the 2009-2010 winter we’ve started a winter sea kayaking program here at AlaskaKayakSchool.com, and you can find a “report” on our home page of the first winter weekend, Halloween 2009, which I’ll hope to blog on in the near future.

In case I decide to do my work rather than blog on about winter sea kayaking here in Homer, you can look up the Halloween report here: http://alaskakayakschool.com/news.htm#2009halloween. But it was such a stellar event, Halloween sea kayak paddling and training in surf and open water, you can expect to read all about it here in the Alaska Kayak School Journal, which I now want to update for all of 2009. It was a stellar year for us, so look for some after-the-fact updates. But before signing off, check the iced up deck and frozen in place deck bungees on my Romany Surf.

Funniest moment of the day was when we realized Mike’s eyebrows were iced up long after we go off the water, and oh yeah, I had to put the Optio W60 over the Subaru’s heater to bring the battery back to life to shoot a few “after” pics since the camera battery went to “zero” after being exposed to the near 0ºF temps while we were gearing up.

Check back often for more adventures of the Alaska Kayak Schools fun-loving paddling clowns. Thanks for tuning in.

April Sea Kayak Surfing, Homer Spit, Alaska

TomPogson — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:32:24 +0000

Here in Homer, on the western end of the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, we never know when the winter surf season will end. Of course this is when Cook Inlet, the Gulf of Alaska and Kachemak Bay stop sending swell our way for winter kayak surfing fun. When we see breaking waves on the Homer Spit anytime in April, it’s time to drop everything and hit the beach. As with most fun these days, it all starts with a few phone calls.

Sea kayak surfing conditions here in Homer can be especially fun when its been blowing westerly or southwesterly, pushing waves 50-100 miles out of lower Cook Inlet. The period is short, but that makes it fun and exciting, as the breakers are quite close together. When the westerly swell punches against the tidal streams that flow out of our local lagoons here in Homer, there is some whitewater fun to be had – sea kayak style. Add some westerly waves to a series of spring tides (the highest tides of each month) and you take it up a notch at the beach as long as you surf in front of the slough entrances.

It’s hard to get good photo documentation most days since we’re all too busy fun-hogging it in our sea kayaks in the surf, and there’s not a wave to be missed. But if you like to have fun, staying on the beach or standing in the surf with a camera, although useful later is, well, booooring !! One of the funnest parts about sea kayak surfing is controlling the kayak in the soup, and the main move is the sideways run to the beach in front of the foam pile of the breaking wave, the “bongo slide”.

The low brace turn is a handy maneuver since every now and then you get to climb the soup and drop back down in front of the foam pile.

As April winds down, I can only hope the surf cooperates and makes its appearance after I get my taxes done (I had to pass on some stunning waves this morning, curses !!). The waiting for waves all ends until the next blow brings some white water to our font yard, the Homer Spit. So keep your gear packed and your surf skills sharp.

Blowin’ SE 15-30? Time for downwind sea kayak surfing run along the Homer Spit, Alaska

TomPogson — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 06:50:19 +0000

Days are getting increasingly longer and the air temperatures seem to be mellowing as March plays out here in Homer on the southwestern edge of the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. There’s still lots of snow on the ground at our home base at 1200′ elevation (yeah, like 4-6′ worth of snow pack), but at sea level on the shores of Kachemak Bay, the snow cover is thinning quickly and there are even a few small puddles (very small). If you’re a sea rat like us, we’re always looking for an excuse to have some salty sea kayaking fun, and a SE 15-30 forecast means only one thing (besides an excuse for a drysuit toga party): Downwind Sea Kayak Surfing session from the tip of the Homer Spit NNW back to town (we took out @ Bishop’s Beach yesterday 30 March 2008).

The downwind sea kayak surfing run starts with a carry down the beach to launch and a rounding of the tip of the Homer Spit. With a Southeasterly blowing off our port shoulders, we’re sweeping to port and paddling forward to starboard, even with a little skeg down. I’m paddling my older NDK Explorer (2001 vintage), and the skeg’s a little funky, so I”m edging to windward while sweeping-stern drawing into the wind. We head out towards the green can, a large green buoy (no. 3) that marks the edge of the shipping channel 0.7 nautical miles west off the tip of the Homer Spit. This way we can get far enough west and we can end up at Bishop’s Beach, 5.5 nautical miles NNW, and the location of out proposed take out (at least that’s where we parked the shuttle rig). This is not typical Alaska sea kayaking, which seems reserved by most for “summertime only” but it’s warm today @ 38ºF when we put it in on the Spit @ 1310 hrs. and 43ºF @ 1430 hrs. when we arrived at Bishop’s Beach. Will, Charlie and I are all wearing cold water and cold weather PPG (personal protective gear) so we were cookin’ while paddling and my feet were sweating. Once we turn downwind, we immediately start trying to catch the wind waves and “use gravity” to help us change latitude as we surf NNW along the west side of the Spit (right hand side in the opening image).

Real time wind speed at our put in was 15 mph when I left my house 30 minutes before putting in, and as we started surfing north the waves were 2-2.5′, and no larger since we weren’t disappearing behind the waves. At times Will and Charlie said they could see the top of my helmet as I caught a wave and surfed ahead, but I wasn’t ever hidden completely from view by the waves. We obviously have not been paddling enough this winter as our abs started acting out from trying to catch the fast waves with such a short period (time between wave peaks) of 3-4 seconds. But we were out, were sea kayaking in Kachemak Bay, and we were surfing !! “Look at me Christopher Robin, I’m surfing” (if you’re a Winnie the Pooh fan, I am).

In certain areas the waves were steeper and slightly larger, but I never got any good “elevator drop” take offs, and it was a bit of a grunt to catch every wave that came steaming under my hull. But no matter, the winter birds are still around, Oldsquaw (Long-tailed Duck if you’re up to date on name changes), Black Scoters, a few immature White winged Scoters, the odd Mew and Glaucous-winged gulls. I tried to get a good look at all the sea ducks bombing around to see if I can glimpse an Eider species or two, but all of the sea ducks with white fronts that I got a good enough look at in flight turned out to be Oldsquaw, not Steller’s or Common eiders, which easily could be seen here, and we’ve seen them many times before. Several Sea Otters periscoped up to check us out as we surfed by, sinking below the cold, dark sea water as we got closer (genetic memories of kayaking otter hunters?). At one point a large dark Sea Otter, obviously in the throes of a good feed, had the company of a Mew Gull that was picking scraps off the downwind side of the otter’s wind eddy. I saw no Harbor Seals and no Steller Sea Lions, only otters – today.

It only took us about an hour to get within sight of the Bishop’s Beach parking lot where we left Will’s truck, the shuttle rig. Although it was sad to have the downwind sea kayak surfing fun come to an end, I was looking forward to getting home to see how Laura and John Paul, my wife and 25 day old son, respectively, were faring in my absence. Other than kayaking skills teaching engagements in local pools, this was my first day on the water since JP joined us earlier in the month. Will and Charlie had a good time, and I vowed we’d try to catch at least one day of surf before summer starts, they’re ready for the breaking waves and I’m itchin’, haven’t been out much lately (a weird shoulder and a newborn in the house will do that to ya’). But hey I’ve been kayak doggin’ it for years, and now that there’s a little kayak prince to go home to, I’m psyched to be at the take out.