Southwest Kayak Symposium: Wrap Up

Finally getting around to writing up about the Southwest Kayak Symposium. I headed down to Campland for the Friday night kick off. Enjoyed some nice food and drink with many good friends from near and far. The obvious highlight was Jake's recap of his sojurn.

Saturday was my one class: Intermediate/Advanced Skills. Once the instructors finally showed up, the group broke into two. The guys went with John Carmody, while the ladies paddled off with Paul.

We first spent some time looking at body positions and rotation. This was great because that is an area I am looking to improve over the coming year. The group then headed into the waters off La Jolla Shores. John had us do some quick rescues of himself. We then worked on edging and some boat control. Lunch was had on back on the beach. One of our paddlers did not have a lot of experience landing in the surf, so I spent some time talking him through the how to's.

The afternoon was spent rolling and rescues. A new thing for me, I actually over rolled! I had made my earlier roll with no problem (yea!), but my second attempt went so well, I kept on going. Since we were setting up for some rescue work, it was not an issue, as I needed to go swimming anyway.

We cruised down to the caves to take a look from the outside, too rough to slip into them. I had a bit a water still in the boat, that was making it a bit tough to control. Not as bad as during my 4 star, but enough to make me work my hips.

We landed without a problem, and had a quick debrief.