Guide Training 2025…………Always good to get the crew back in the water for rescue review and they nailed it!
We covered a few “oh sheet” moments as kayak guides, self rescues including the standard paddle float, paddle float with a heel hook and one of my favorites to teach, the re- entry and roll!
Good to practice the side by side rescue using those 100 pound amaruk double sea kayaks as well as the T-rescue.
Next training we will review tides, currents and eddies of Elkhorn Slough and more……We may paddle with those giants, the humpback whales as a reward to their dedication.
My first sea kayak camping expedition was during the summer of 1982 with Korinn Saker. We met on a rugby field, an escape from our graduate studies and became inseparable friends. Our adventures together continue, most recently in Belize. Korinn and I were in our early 20’s, wide eyed and ill prepared. We thought we were invincible and seemed fearless. As the adventure unfolded, we learned that we were both extremely lucky and stupid.
Big storm off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina kicked in. We managed to find “refuge” in a flooding marsh isle with a rising tide, made a Bloody Mary and considered our options. On the horizon we saw something coming our way. A good ole southern boy in a john boat appeared, gathered us up, then dropped us off at our destination, Bull Island. Camped next to a gator pond, the night seemed endless. Forget the ripping winds, what about those gators? From my bedroom in the buckeye state, brother Michael and I had raised alligators.
They are not cuddly pets. Daylight across a southern marsh was welcomed.
That morning, the sun was shining and bottlenose dolphins glided by us as we pieced our route back through the tidal marshes of coastal South Carolina. Included below is a photo of us the summer of 1982 as we considered our options.
Its been a great journey and these salty adventures continue.
