Monday, May 12, 2008

BACK TO SCHOOL

Let me start out by saying that I made it through the 3 day symposium with nary a misstep, despite being the oldest in my "pod." It was a great learining experience as well as a good refresher on handling a kayak in different conditions. Lots of time was spent on learning rescue techniques. Apparently once you enter the water of Prince William Sound or one of the other popular kayaking destinations, you have a limited time to get our before really bad things start to happen. So self rescue and or group rescue is an important skill. Really enjoyed the cold water immersion and Wind Weather and Wave classes. On the other hand, the knot tieing class brought back memories of church camp, with similar success. What can I say, I'm not a spatial thinker.

All in all a fun weekend. We even had a moose stick her head in one of the lectures although I doubt I'll be seeing her on the water anytime soon. Champ got to attend but spent most of his time sleeping in the truck. During lunch and on breaks he got to visit the dog park nearby and play with the other mutts. There must have been well over a hundred dogs of all types out as the weather was really nice all weekend. A little windy Sunday but no rain.

Hats off to my instructor, Bjorn. An ex California Tsunami Ranger, Bjorn is thought to be one of the top ten paddlers in this state.

I now know enough to be dangerous.

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