Over the river and through the surf....

Jen led another BCU 4 star training class on Sunday. Six of us meet at the shop. We hauled our boats across the street to launch via the San Diego River. After a quick intro (most of the faces were the same as last week), Jen put me in charge of organizing the boats and bodies down to the water's edge. I scouted a reasonable path down to the rocks. We put four on a boat and walked them down to the river's edge. I put Jane in first since she had a dry suit on and I knew she would be capable of assisting from the water side. We all launched with no issues (yeah!).

As we paddled down the channel discussing the pro-cons of where the group's leader should position themselves. Here's the recap:
In front:
PROS: Can control the pace. Can spot hazards early. Paddle signals can be seen.
CONS: Need to turn to check the group every 30 seconds. Hard to hear the group. Hard to observe how a paddler maybe doing. Must do a 180 to help another paddler.

In middle:
PROS: Can observe some of the group easier. Able to better hear some of the group.
CONS: Can be blocked by other paddlers if they need to offer aid. Still need to turn back to check the group.

In the Back:
PROS: Can see the entire group
CONS: Less able to see harzards. Communication with the group harder (paddle signals aren't going to work).

The general feeling, was it depends on the skills of group, the water conditions, the type of paddle as to where to position one's self. Jen mentioned that she like to paddle in the middle but off to one side at the start of a paddle. That enables her to start to assess the skills of the groups in a quick fashion.

Soon we reached the end of the river, and the start of Dog Beach. The plan for the day was to become comfortable in the surf conditions. To start with Jen had each of us paddle in a simple box, allowing each of us to find their comfort zone as to the size of the surf. The surf was fairly small, I would say 1-2 feet, with a larger set once in a while. There were periods of extented calm, in fact I was able to return to the starting point from the outer maker we were using with ever dealing with a wave.

Through out the morning Jen had us doing 360s in the surf zone, out and backs across the surf zone. It felt really good. In debreifing with Jen, she said that it looked like I was handling the boat very nicely out there. We had a few folks go swimming, but no real issues. We landed for lunch and discussed how we were feeling paddling there. We opted to stay at Dog Beach working our various surf skills rather than head down Sunset Cliffs.

Not long after I returned back into water, I got dumped. Not sure why the brace failed, but it did. I started to try a roll, but my elbow was beat and did not want to risk an injury. Jen had Jane and I try a rescue in the surf zone, but I didn't have the arm strength left to pull it off, so I swam the boat in.

After returning to shore, I repositioned my tendon brace and head back into the water for a bit. I wanted to just hang out just past the surf zone, just working on some light strokes in the swells. But the morning's fun was starting to take its toll.

I did catch a few very nice rides on the waves during the day, the one at the end was a lot of fun. Soon, the whole group was feeling sore and tired, and it was time to call it a day. We opted to paddle around the jetty back to the shop rather than haul the boats up the rocks. The return trip was nice and easy. We loaded up our boats and wished eveyone a happy holidays.

These two classes have been great. My elbows are still sore from all the abuse they took. Nothing too worrisome, but a lot of Advil, ice, and massage throughout the week (and no Guitar Hero).

Happy Holidays to all!

4 Star Training

The certificate barely arrived in the mail, and I've already started working on my 4 Star award. Last Sunday, Jen Kleck, America's only 5 Star coach, lead a full day course focusing on 4 Star and 4 Star Leadership awards. 6 of us meet up at Aqua Adventure's docks. The day was brisk from the storm that just past through. Driving down to Mission Bay, I could see the snow upon the mountains. Since a high surf advisory was still in effect, we were limited to some degree (along with the water quality).

The day started with a review of what each of us was looking for. I'm focused on just becoming more comfortable in bouncy water. We spent a fair amount of time, talking over gear and general leadership topics. Having been a student of Jen's for almost my entire paddling career, it is a real pleasure to see her teaching skills really start to shine!

Once we warmed up, we went through a series of towing drills. This was a new skill for some. It went really well. I paired with Jane as we took turns towing each other. Slowly we worked out way out the channel. We continued our discussions of risk assessment and leadership dynamics in groups.

The swell was sending some nice sets into the channel, just short of breaking. We punched through and took a break near the bouy. Here we chatted about what happens in groups as they round a point. Think, cutting corners and straight lines leading to danger......

Earlier in the channel we were given the task of trying to figure out if we could land at Dog Beach. But that was on the other side of the jetty.....hummm.

We split into groups of 3. Our group rafted together, and Joe was then able to stand up with our support to look over the jetty. The other team also employed the same tactic. Jen also took a look. The basic concensus was about 3-5 foot surf. It might be landable.

As we neared Dog Beach, we continued our discussion of landing: water quality, river out flow vs. tides. etc. We opted not to land. Jen then had us return back into channel. This time letting two members of the group manage the return.

Once safely inside the channel, and riding a little of the sweel in, we were then challenged in landing along the south side jetty for our lunch break. One by one, we nudged our boats near the rock (plastic first). The boats were lifted on the flats, and we ate our lunch.

Jen then walked us through what items she carries with her when guiding a trip. More on this in a later post.

We lowered our boats back into water. Jane was first. She swan out with her boat then scrambled back in. Ah, to have a dry suit.

Jane, Joe and I had to head back to the docks as it was nearing 3. The rest headed back out into ocean for some more fun.

Can't wait for next weekend....