Trying out New Kayaks

I'm spending a couple hours today looking at kayaks. If I'm going to be giving beginning kayak lessons in Portland Oregon with Northwest River Guides I might need a better fitting kayak.

Portland Oregon Paddling with Northwest River Guides

I've taken up part time guiding/teaching kayaking Northwest River Guides. Believing that introducing beginner recreational kayakers will broaden the sport and satisfied clients will take up lessons to further their skills, NRG is offering kakaking trips on the Willamette River. For starters, we're offering a one-two punch. Partnering with Next Adventure, people can take beginner kayak lessons and demo a kayak from Next Adventure Sundays at 9:00 in Sellwood Park throughout the summer of 2009. You can call NRG at 503-772-1122 to reserve a spot.

Learning to be a Kayak Instructor

I co-chair the Portland, Oregon based meetup group PacificNW Sea Kayak . Since we have led 80+ kayak trips since early 2008, it seemed prudent for myself and Jessie, my partner in crime, to get some more skills and leadership training. And along the way I started working with Sam Drevo and Dave Hoffman of Northwest River Guides helping them with guiding and marketing.

Sooo, we spent three days at "Kayak Instructor Camp" at Ilwaco, WA. Officially it's called an American Canoe Association Instructor Development Workshop. To put it mildly it's brutal. Three days starting at 8:30 a.m. and ending past 10:00 p.m. Each day is jam packed with rescue practice, paddle stroke refinement, video recording and analysis, indoor and outdoor presentation, group management exercises, and rough water paddling exercises.

It is a lot of work, and a lot of fun. I came away very humbled. And absolutely exhausted. Everyone needed work on their paddle strokes - especially torso rotation. The last day we were taken out to the surf zone. It was my first time sea kayaking in any surf - and it wasn't big by any means. I got tossed around, and Jessie got thrown down on the sand. But we came out of it smiling. That's why we got our best scores for "gnar factor" or "Grace Under Pressure!"

Smith & Bybee Lakes Paddling Portland, OR

Helped guide a tour with Northwest River Guides. We took a family out kayaking in Portland, Oregon to Smith & Bybee lakes. These lakes are situated in the north end of the city and are a restored wetland.


Kayaking Portland is something worthwhile. This Pacific Northwest city is full of nearby opportunites. But few realize there is a significant wetland right in the city - and it's packed with wildlife viewing - especially birds!




We met our group at 10:00 a.m. First Dave Hoffman gave an orientation to kayaking, and then to the area we were about to paddle. Next a short introduction on the boats and paddles.





Then we launched on what was to become a relaxing paddle. It's amazing all the creatures making their homes right in the city. The wetland reminded me of places far away I've experienced like SE Asia or the Everglades. Floating vegetation. Submerged trees. We saw adult and immature bald eagles. Ospreys, red winged blackbirds, coots, gold finches, swallows, great blue herons, and some very big fish.



When done, it was only 20 minutes back to town!

Timothy Lake Meetup Weekend

Took my PDX Sea Kayaker group to Timothy Lake, Oregon this past weekend. We braved a thunderstorm forecast and reaped huge rewards! We were prepared with dining canopies. It rained about 3 hours Friday night and we simply enjoyed dinner under them.

That was the extent of the rain. The remainder of the weekend it was fairly warm and there were frequent periods of sun. We paddled out across the lake for lunch. Then up the arm of the lake that extends to a wetland where we witnessed spectacular shows of ospreys fishing.

Now it's off to guide with Northwest River Guides for a trip around Smith & Bybee lakes near Portland.

Roll Session with Team River Runner!

I've started doing some guiding / teaching with eNRG Kayaking in Portland, OR. A couple of weeks ago, we volunteered some time to give kayak lessons in Portland, OR to members of Team River Runner. Team River Runner was established back in the Washington, DC area as a means of physical therapy for wounded veterans. Its success led to expansion to other regions and to veterans in general. There's a growing branch in the Portland, OR area.

We met up at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham. After some stretching, we got into the pool. Sam Drevo is an excellent instructor. He took us through high braces, low braces, draw to the hip, sculling, and then on to rolling. By the end, everyone had rolled at least once. We tried to do some hand rolls, but that didn't work for us this time. Maybe next time!

I look forward to working with the team this summer.

Guiding in Nehalem Bay with Sam Drevo

In late May, I helped Sam Drevo guide some paddlers on a private tour of Nehalem Bay. The area is about 95 miles west of Portland.

The town sits right on the Nehalem River. You can do a car shuttle paddle from 6-10 miles upstream into town. Paddling in Nehalem Bay offers tidal conditions protected from the ocean by Nehalem Bay State Park. There’s also ocean kayaking and surfing. Just the weekend before, my meetup group had spent three days at Nehalem Bay State Park. We paddled the bay and did one of the car shuttle paddles on the river.

Today guided Bob and Pam, two friends from Boise on a three-hour float of the bay. They had been paddling with Sam several days that week, and this was their last outing. We also had two others along - Max, our intern, and Barney - a digital videographer from Portland.

Leaving early from Northwest River Guides headquarters, we managed to arrive exactly at the pre-arranged spot at 11:00 a.m. in the town of Wheeler, also on the Nehalem River. Bob and Pam seemed to be in high spirits as the day’s weather looked perfect.

As the tide was dead low and coming in, the idea was to launch out at Nehalem Bay State Park boat launch, out in the bay, and ride the incoming tide into the river and end back in Nehalem. After an initial briefing on the bay, safety considerations and boat orientation, we headed off. Looking out into the bay, one could see buoys tilted toward Nehalem, away from the bay - indicating an incoming current. The speed of the current was evident by floating objects moving with it. The tide was still very low, exposing much of the mud. We explored the north side, checking out the mud islands and the narrow rivers of tide running between, filling up the gaps. Before long, tiny wave trains of tidal rush sprang up. Fauna included crabs, hundreds of clams, fish, ospreys, bald eagles, and great blue herons. While there is a herd of Roosevelt Elk on the north side of the bay, we didn’t see them. As we neared the town of Wheeler, we took a side inlet which cut off our route from the main river. We hoped the rising tide would lift us enough for passage around one of the islands.

Exploring the inlet was great fun. It did in fact lead to a way out to the main river at the end, and since it was below the headland, it was protected from the ever increasing sea breeze. It was warm and relaxing in this area. You can’t witness this natural setting in a motorized boat - it’s just too shallow. Once in the main river, we could see we weren’t far from our take out.
We had a great paddle with Bob and Pam at Nehalem Bay!