A Glutton For Punishment – Kayak Skills Course Level 1

On By Widow BadassIn Adventures in Retirement, Badassery, Goals & Dreams, Sea Kayaking

Longtime readers may remember that I took a Basic Kayak Skills course almost a year ago. You can read about that, here. Even though I gained much in knowledge and confidence from that course I knew there was still much more I needed to learn, and further training was definitely going to be on the agenda.

After all, my aim as I am aging and adventuring is to “Be an inspiration, not a cautionary tale!” 😉 🤣

To that end it was a no-brainer to go back to Caroline Ross and her company CrossCurrents Kayak to grow my sea kayaking knowledge and skills.

Caroline Ross, owner of CrossCurrents Kayak – ready to school us in trip planning via a marine chart. Photo taken at Brickyard Beach Community Park in Nanoose.

After Basic, the next rung on the Paddle Canada ladder for skills certification is Sea Kayak Skills – Level 1. In this weekend-long course I practiced all the rescue skills and strokes learned in the first course plus I learned the basics on how to read a marine chart and navigation, where to find weather and tide information and what it means to paddlers, and even more rescue techniques and strokes (including the all-important self-rescue).

All photos from this point forward were taken by Caroline and generously shared to our group.

First day of practice and I am heading to my boat – At Westwood Lake in Nanaimo.
Our group rafting up, including someone you may know on the far left – Jude of the North aka Dr. Sock Writes Here. As you can see, the weather was not ideal (or was it, since we were going to be wet anyways? 🤔). Rain, rain and more rain. Look at how comfortable Greg and Kirsten look in their matching drysuits…hmmmm.
Practicing edging my boat.
Practicing pivot turns.
First of many planned capsizes of the day, while Jude looks on.
Practicing a self-rescue using a paddle float.
Beginning a heel hook re-entry. Thankfully Caroline stopped snapping at this point, leaving the graceless heaving of my carcass back onto my boat to your imagination 😉.

By close to the end of that day, I was a shivering, teeth-chattering mess. And I was starting to think that a dry-suit might not be that fucking damn prohibitively expensive after all.

Second day – Brickyard Beach, Nanoose Bay

Marine chart on deck for navigation, I am heading to Southey Island with our group, for a lunch stop. If I remind you of the Michelin Man, it is because I am wearing a merino t-shirt under a Farmer Jane wetsuit, topped with long-sleeve merino base layer and followed by a full wetsuit topped with a paddling jacket. I did not want a repeat of the previous day’s shivering!
Practicing a contact tow rescue maneuver with Jude.
Going in to rescue Greg.
Securing mine and Greg’s paddle before he practices using a “stirrup” to get back in his boat.
Securing Greg’s boat with my body while he works with stirrup (the yellow band) set up.

As you might have noticed, the weather was much more favourable on Day 2. Even though we were in the colder ocean, I stayed warmer due to all my layers and the rise in ambient temperature.

Once again, I gained a tremendous amount of knowledge and confidence in such a short period of time. I also learned that I’m going to stop at Level 1 Certification. Level 2 involves building skills for activities that I don’t anticipate ever doing – such as choosing to kayak in rougher waters than I’d ever be comfortable in. Level 1 was plenty hard enough on my body and I have the bruises to prove it!

Thanks to this course, on my shopping list as if I didn’t already own enough gear is:

  • a C-Tug kayak cart
  • a paddling stirrup
  • a few more dry bags
  • and, of course – a drysuit!

I can’t recommend Caroline and CrossCurrents Kayak enough. You can find her not only on her website, but also on Facebook and Instagram.

Rock on,

The WB

38 thoughts on “A Glutton For Punishment – Kayak Skills Course Level 1”

    1. It IS fun! When we rounded Southey Island and came upon a group of seals splashing and having fun on the far side, I was reminded exactly why I am doing this. I would never have seen them from the shore. Thanks, Ally 💕

      Reply

  8. Wow. Just…wow. I have always know if I capsized my kayak I wouldn’t be able to get back in. I have, down in AL, an open kayak, kind of a small fishing kayak and I am only in it in the summer in AL, so can’t imagine deliberately turning over in the cold waters of Canada!

    Reply
  9. Joyce van de Water-Balch

    You f’ing ROCK!!! 💪🏻
    Nothing more to say as that says it all!

    So, so proud 🥹 of you! 💕
    Much love 🫂
    Joyce 🌷

    Reply

  11. HI, Deb – Although I already knew about your Kayaking course adventure, I was glued to every word of this post. It is so well written. I found myself admiring, worrying, laughing, and admiring again. Huge congratulations! I completely agree with the other commenters — you totally ROCK! <3

    Reply
  12. hilarymb

    Hi Deb – more to admire … you are courageous … that’s such a sensible thing to do … take the course – now go and enjoy those days kayaking – not sure if Bowser will rest ashore, I guess so! … cheers Hilary

    Reply

    1. I wish I could take Bowser along with me. I even bought him a life jacket. However I forgot that I would need to wear a spray skirt, so no room for a doggo. Thanks, Hilary 💕

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        1. Holy smokes — like everyone else said you rocked it! What a bad ass indeed. I am super impressed. And the weather does indeed look crappy. A dunking on a warm sunny day would have felt quite a bit different. So are you off on an adventure soon?

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          1. No big adventures on the horizon, but I am planning on going on some short kayak explorations along the coastline near where I live. I need to pick up a marine chart for Ladysmith Harbour first, though. Thanks, Bernie 💕

    1. It IS very intimidating!!! But taking courses like these really helps build confidence especially for a shore-hugger (“hand-railing”, they call it in the kayak community) like me. I doubt I will ever willingly cross big stretches of open water by myself and I am wise enough to know that “shit can happen” even close to shore. Now I am confident I can make wiser choices and safely handle that shit, without losing my boat or my life. I recommend that anyone interested in being on the ocean take some courses to learn how to respect its power and to be able to perform rescues. And practice those skills! Thanks, Tracey 💕

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  15. Hi Deb, It is wonderful how you continue to challenge yourself with more kayak skills.
    You are an inspiration! All the photos are wonderful to help share your surroundings. The planned capsize is necessary and painful (cringing with my memories of a safety canoe course – the bruises took a long time to disappear). Btw, I am trying hard to not laugh out loud as you are heaving your carcass back onto the boat. Good on you! (As I read further, I see how you include “bruises.” – all worth it for the education!) 💕 Erica (looking forward to seeing you soon)

    Reply

    1. Thank you very much, Erica 💕 Yeah, I’d rather be bruised than get in trouble should I capsize and not be able to get back in my boat! So earning those bruises by practicing is definitely worth it. Looking very much forward to our get-together as well!

      Reply

  16. On on Deb! You are definitely an Inspiration!
    I am thinking that if it is this cold in the summer, it would take more than a wet suit in the fall

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    1. You are thinking right! The ocean around here never gets much warmer than 10 degrees C so it’s pretty much always a good time for a dry suit. Thanks, Ju-Lyn 💕

      Reply

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