WINTER KAYAKING

It is starting to get a little colder out on the Bay as winter approaches. The air temps are right around freezing so we only paddle on the bay now when it is sunny and the winds are light. And with the water temperature getting down close to 35 degrees we avoid going into the water.


We are still able to practice our bracing and rolling techniques in the high school pool thanks to Tom Pogson and his Alaska Kayak School. Tom offers a series of pool classes from beginner level to advanced rolling and bracing during the winter months and then leads classes and trips out on the Bay during the warmer times of year.


In the pool sessions we use shorter river boats so there is plenty of room to manuever. Tom brings out the much longer sea kayaks for rescue practice but they are difficult to paddle and turn in the limited space of the pool.


I took our Olympus waterproof camera (click for review) to the pool the other night and filmed some of the crew practicing different techniques. This session was for paddlers who have trained with Tom before and want to practice what they have learned. It is a good chance to learn from other paddlers and observe each others methods. As you can see everyone puts their own slant on rolling...

Tom supplies all the boats and other equipment for these practice sessions plus he circulates around the group and gives everyone advice and makes sure we're being safe. It's a fun activity...

BTW- the above was taken with the same Olympus 1030SW camera. It's a pretty good little camera- about the size of a deck of cards- uses xD card memory and seems to really be waterproof. See it here. The video seems grainy here on the blog but is much better when viewed in full digipot at home.