June 6, 2004

Butterflies for lunch

W

When Joan arrived we headed off to Kanes Creek to work on Katie's skills. Katie capsized while practicing her reverse figure of 8 and failed to roll up so I had to help her back in her kayak. The water was chilly so we paddled back in to the creek so she could warm up.

After a short paddle we headed out of the creek and down toward the point south of the put in. The plan was to beach near the point for lunch. Actually, the plan was to get Katie in some waves. She has this strong fear of waves of any size. Small boat wakes often make her panic.

Katie didn't want to paddle around the point, so I agreed to beach right before the point for lunch. Mike's class beat us there, and seeing no boat traffic coming we turned the corner around the point with no waves at all.

During lunch I took a few pictures of the butterflies and bees sharing the same flowers. A picture or two more of our boats and Katie's paddle and then Joan and I went out to surf the wakes of the boats as they crossed the point.

We waited 15 minutes for a tug pushing a barge full of sand, only to be greatly disappointed by the small wake it created.

We went back for Katie, who was playing in the water and quickly rounded the point as some decent size waves came through. Katie was scared and as soon as we passed through them Joan beached her kayak and called Katie over. She sat on Katie's bow and told her to keep her shoulders level while she rocked the kayak. This seemed to help Katie be more comfortable in the smaller waves on the way back to the launch, and she surfed a few after a practice roll.

At the launch I walked out in to waist deep water so Katie could practice her offside roll. After a few total failures I was ready to call it a day but Katie wanted to try a few more times. I had her go over and back up on the same side, and it took her 3-4 times to figure out how her paddle should move.

In this video, you see one of her early attempts. She sets up, almost makes it and falls back over. You can see the camera drop in the water as I go over and roll her kayak back upright (the camera was tethered to my pfd and the last image you see is my hand righting the boat).

But she finally did get it, so we tried the 360 degree roll on her off side. She struggled a few times but finally rolled up! (Notice the little victory
cheer at the end) It wasn't pretty, but this is her off side - I'm sure it will get better over time. A few more practice rolls on both sides and we finished before she could get too tired.

Joan practiced a few rolls and we went to shore and took a few final pictures before heading home...

Woody