Do It!!!

If your new years resolutions are to get in shape, learn a new sport, improve your skills, or paddle more - let's do it!!! One of the best ways that we have found to stick to resolutions is to set a goal and to recruit a friend, training partner, or coach to work with you toward the goal.

Here are a couple of ideas for kayaking goals for 2012.

Make it FUN - What ever the goal or resolution. Find a way to make it fun and it will be more attainable. This is where recruiting a fun-loving friend, coworker, or family member will help.

Learn proper skills and technique. Some aspects of kayaking are intuitive; however, there are many nuances and tricks that one can learn that will make kayaking more efficient and more fun for paddlers of at any skills level. We (and many other instructors) often share tips on twitter, facebook, and in our blogs, but, the best way to develop proper technique is to work with an instructor or coach who can give instruction and feedback. Kayak symposiums are a great way to meet different coaches to find that right mentor. Two of our favorite west coast symposiums are the Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium in February and Lumpy Waters in October.

Try a new discipline of paddling. The skills that you learn with a different type of boat or paddle will improve your overall skills in all disciplines. If you like to paddle a sit on top kayak, take a sea kayak lesson in a decked sea kayak. If you like to sea kayak ocean rock gardens, try a whitewater river class or rock gardening in a whitewater kayak. Jeff and I are expanding our paddling skills this year to include Stand-Up Paddling (SUP).

Sea Kayaking - Pick a BCU Star Award to work toward. The BCU system is a well organized guide for skill progression. It gives a paddler a way to assess their skills and plan for improvement. Trainings and assessments are available throughout the US and in many other great kayaking destinations (Baja, anyone?). If you are new to the BCU, consider taking a 2 Star Assessment or 3 Star Sea Training this winter or spring. Here's a link to LFK's BCU schedule.
Whitewater River Kayaking - Make 2012 the year that you style the river rather than survive it. Perfect your eddy turns and ferries and dial your wave surfing by a few minutes of focused practice on each of your river trips. Either with a class or with friends, see who can ferry across the river with the fewest strokes or time each other on surfing waves.


Surf Kayaking - How about training for an event? The Santa Cruz Paddlefest is March 16-18. See some of the best kayak surfers in the world as well as have a chance to surf at Santa Cruz Steamer's Lane. Here's our video from 2011.


Have a Reliable Roll - For the safety of yourself and others, you need to have a reliable roll if you are paddling challenging waters. For most of us, this takes a lot of focused practice and often some good coaching. Often there is one little thing that we can do or focus on that will improve the success of our rolls. How do we find that one little thing? Usually it involves feedback from a coach or friend who analyzes your roll. That one little thing can be as simple as making sure you finish ( Creating a Reliable Roll by Phil and Mary Dereimer) or using an active leg drop (Shawna Franklin's tip in Adventure Kayak Magazine) or just relaxing and taking a moment to relax before rolling.


Improving your fitness - We of course advocate cross training. Cardiovascular training will make long paddles or slogs through a headwind easier. Hiking, mountain biking, and swimming are our favorite cardio exercises. Recruit a friend, family member, or coworker to power walk, hike, bike, or swim 2-3 days a week. Set a schedule with specific times and days and try to stick with it.

Strength and flexibility are equally important and will help with injury prevention. I am a reluctant yoga participant, but Jeff has been rallying me to regularly practice. We do our strength and flexibility workouts first thing in the morning so that they get done and we feel great the rest of the day. It is best to work with an instructor, but I have a hard time getting myself to the gym or studio and prefer to practice at home. My two favorite yoga workout dvd's are Yoga for Cyclists and Anna Levesque's Yoga for Kayaking.

Be prepared for emergencies - Prevention, prevention, prevention is our motto; however, it is important to be prepared for the unexpected. CPR and First Aid are a must for anyone. This year, we have recruited Sierra Rescue to come to the Mendocino Coast to teach a Wilderness First Aid Class for the outdoor enthusiasts in our area. If you are playing in whitewater, a swiftwater training is a must as well. If you have had training, rally your friends to practice scenarios and to maintain a dialog of contingency plans.

Part of our emergency preparations includes our OSB's (Oh Shit Bags). These are part of our kit on all kayaking trips and include essential first aid, communication, and repair materials.


Most important - DO IT and make it FUN!!!

2011

Wow!!! What a year it has been with lots of fun adventures shared with lots of great folks. Thanks to all who came out and played with us in 2011.

We have reviewed our photo galleries and come up with our favorite photos of 2011. Here's a link to our 2011 gallery. Let us know what your favorites are and if we are missing any.

In my Woman on Water Blog, my summary of 2011 is titled "A Series of Unexpected Events." We definitely have some tricks up our gaskets for 2012 and are certain that some unexpected ones will occur.

Thanks for playing and we hope to see you on the water in 2012.

Christmas Bird Count

For 112 years, bird enthusiasts have been participating in the Audubon's Christmas Bird Count. Last year was our first year participating as the Mendocino Coast Audubon Society organized a preliminary Fort Bragg Count. Of course we volunteered to count birds on the Noyo River which is only birdable by kayak. It was a fun challenge (link to our tale of last year's count).

This year our inland neighbors of Ukiah's Peregrine Audubon Society recruited us to kayak and count birds on the Russian River. We recruited our whitewater boating buddy and birder Jerry to join us as well as Geoff - a Ukiah area birder who helped us count on the Noyo last year.

Getting in the spirit of the season, we loaded up red and green whitewater kayaks. The red was an Eskimo Topo Duo which is a tandem whitewater kayak which Jeff would be paddling with Geoff in the front seat tallying the birds that we saw. The green was my Eskimo Kendo.

Of course, we truly felt the spirit of the season with frosty temperatures and ice in our boats as we met at the put-in at 7am.

We had never paddled this stretch of the Russian River and enjoyed the opportunity to enjoy its beauty. It was not an easy trip. It was a long day with 7 hours on the water which included picking our way through mazes of willows and strainers and portaging shallow areas to complete the 15.4 mile run. The water flow was only 167 cfs which was not particularly swift but the deeper water channels tended to be where the willows and alders grew and hung over the river making it potentially treacherous. Jeff of course makes it look easy as he maneuvers to avoid a strainer.

We were happy with our whitewater kayaks. Their flat bottoms take very little water to float, they are very maneuverable, and are narrow and low enough to squeeze through tight spots. In this photo, Jerry smiles for the camera as I squeeze through a tunnel of willows.

This wrapped raft shows the potential hazard of the willows and strainers of the run.

The character of the Russian River has changed over the years due to man's attempt to control her flow and meandering ways. In addition to identifying the birds that we saw, we tried to identify the hundreds of classic automobiles that form the banks of Russian.

We enjoyed the warmth of the sun but its position in the southern sky impeded our vision as we scanned for birds.

We didn't see any rare or unusual birds but enjoyed many of the common birds of the river including pairs of colorful wood ducks and lots of chattering kingfishers. The tandem kayak was key as it allowed Geoff to use his binoculars to get a good look at birds while Jeff held the boat in place. Jerry and I had a difficult time keeping our binoculars focused on a particular bird as the current pushed and spun our single kayaks.

It was fun to join up with the rest of the Ukiah area CBC participants at their evening compilation dinner. It was fun to share our results and tales of the day with the rest of the birders. It also made us a little bit bummed out that we will have to miss our local Fort Bragg CBC this year.