BORN TO PADDLE, KAYAKING WITH KIDS

The first river you paddle runs through the rest of your life. It bubbles up in pools and eddies to remind you who you are. --- Lynn Culbreath Noel

"Can I fall in?"

That question is usually unheard of in my adult classes. Just the thought of rolling upside in their kayak would strike terror into them. But, this query came from smiling freckled-face ten-year-old girl with boundless energy and little fear.

"Sure if you want to," I replied.

The girl and kayak in one motion capsize with a plop, gurgle and splash. An instant later, in textbook maneuver, she lowers her head to the bow, pushes her legs and feet clear of the kayak and then drops them to the bottom and brings her still smiling face up alongside her kayak.

It's an annual rite of summer on Lake Natoma near Sacramento Ca., as nearly dozen kids were taking part in Current Adventures Kayaking School & Trips youth kayaking classes. There students learned paddling skills and water safety while developing a deep appreciation of nature.

"Kids love kayaking and most take to it almost instantly," said Current Adventures' Dan Crandall, "We get them smiling at the beginning of class and have them laughing by the end."

Anyone who works with kids regularly knows they come with have short attention spans and aren't to focused on learning the technical aspects of the forward, back or sweep strokes. The key for instructor John Weed is to keeping paddling exercises fun, short and interesting. He used a game of keep-a-way to get the students to paddle and steer their boats. From the shore, it looked like mayhem of bumper boats crashing about the lake, but before long the students are discovering how to propel and turn their boats while chasing a green ball.

Another game Weed used to help kids practice boat control all while having fun was called Sharks and Minnows. He is instructed one kid to be a shark while all the other kids were all minnows.

"I'm hungry!" called out the shark.

"And I'm a little minnow," cried the scattering minnows trying not to get tagged by the shark, because once tagged they become a shark. It kept going until every paddler became a shark. By using these active games the young kayakers were soon making new friends and having fun all while building paddling skills that they can be used on the lake or river.

2018 Current Adventures Kayaking School and Trips Summer Schedule

Kids Kayaking Lessons
Ages: 8-11 yrs.
Prerequisites: none Location: Lake Natoma
Cost: $169 (Includes 10% State Park fee.  Parking is extra.) Time: (3 days) 9:30am – 12:30pm
2018 Dates: June18-20 ( M-W), July 9-11 ( M-W)
July 31-Aug 2 (Tue-Thu)

Junior Beginning Kayaking 
Ages: 10-14 yrs.
Prerequisites:  No prerequisites for beginning classes other than age appropriate.
Location:Lake Natoma & Lower American River (on day 3).
Cost: $169 (Includes 10% State Park fee.)
2018 Dates:
June 18-20 ( M-W), July 09-11 ( M-W)
July 31-Aug 02 (Tue-Thu)
Time: (3 days) 1:30pm – 5:30pm
Progression:  Teen Camp, Touring Classes, Private Classes and for ages 12 and up consider Eppie’s Junior Training program.

Next, it was off to explore. Across the flat-water, the lake offers some special hideaways like “Swampland” and “Berry Pond". As the kids toured the hidden backwaters occupied by turtles, tadpoles, deer and other critters, the wonders of nature came alive to them. Quietly paddling along they became naturalists as they explored and made their own discoveries in the lush wetland.

On day three the Junior class ages 10-14, moved on to the easy moving waters of the Lower American River. On the river, the young paddlers after two days of paddling lessons tested their new skills on moving water. While a little apprehension came over the group at the sound of rushing water, but it was all smiling at the other end after they punched through a series of fast water. Before the day was over the youths are immersed in river reading, river signals, and moving water paddling maneuvers.

"This class leaves them begging for more, said Crandall, "The kids always leave these classes super excited and many come back year after year."
Meanwhile back on the lake, I had pushed the kayak up on to shore and dump all the water out of it with help from the still smiling and a dripping wet ten-year-old girl. I was going to get plenty of practice doing over the next couple days when she asked, "Can I do that again?"

 If you want to go

Current Adventures Kayak School and Trips 
PHONE: 530-333-9115 or Toll-Free: 888-452-9254
FAX: 530-333-1291
USPS: Current Adventures, P.O. Box 828, Lotus, CA 95651
info@currentadventures.com
owner Dan Crandall dan@kayaking.com

This article was originally published in Outside Adventure to the Max July 7, 2017. 

And from the want to get away file
I'm sure all of us wonder if anybody really sees our social media post amidst the constant bombardment on the internet. I'm sure that is what Oakland California's Kevin Wagter thought when he created a Facebook event entitled “Kayaking with Baby Otters,” this past March.
“I’ve been doing this for years and years. I essentially have between eight and 12 people that join me,” he told the Monterey Herald.
The event went viral with over 7,000 had marked themselves as “Interested” in the event, and 273 actually clicked “Going.”
Discussion on the page quickly exploded with excited kayakers and concerned environmentalists, catching Wagter off guard for the leisurely afternoon in Moss Landing with just a few friends he had planned.
He shut down the public event and put up a new, private event after explaining the situation and apologized for the confusion.

Lost and Found
Ever catch yourself saying, "Hey, I'm having such a great time, let's stay out a little longer."
I'm sure that is what James Matthew Soltis of Illinois thought when he extended his already 10-day kayaking trip in Everglades National Park in Florida this past March.
However, his daughter did not. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, she reported him missing when he didn’t return as planned from the Everglades Wilderness Waterway.
The search was quickly launched and Soltis was found camping by a helicopter crew circling from above the next morning.

BORN TO PADDLE, KAYAKING WITH KIDS

    The first river you paddle runs through the rest of your life. It bubbles up in
  pools and eddies to remind you who you are. --- Lynn Culbreath Noel

"Can I fall in?"
That question is usually unheard of in my adult classes. Just the thought of rolling upside in their kayak would strike terror into them. But, this query came from smiling freckled-face ten-year-old girl with boundless energy and little fear.

"Sure if you want to," I replied.

The girl and kayak in one motion capsize with a plop, gurgle and splash. An instant later, in text-book maneuver, she lowers her head to the bow, pushes her legs and feet clear of the kayak and then drops them to the bottom and brings her still smiling face up alongside her kayak.

It's an annual rite of summer on Lake Natoma near Sacramento Ca., as nearly dozen kids were taking part in Current Adventures Kayaking School & Trips youth kayaking classes. There the students learned paddling skills and water safety while developing a deep appreciation nature.

"Kids love kayaking and most take to it almost instantly," said Current Adventures' Dan Crandall, "We get them smiling at the beginning of class and have them laughing by the end."

Anyone who works with kids regularly knows they come with have short attention spans and aren't to focused on learning the technical aspects of the forward, back or sweep strokes.The key for instructor John Weed, is to keeping paddling exercises fun, short and interesting. He used a game of keep-a-way to get the students to paddle and steer their boats. From the shore, it looked like a mayhem of bumper boats crashing about the lake, but before long the students are discovering how to propel and turn their boats while chasing a green ball.

Another game Weed used to help kids practice boat control all while having fun was called Sharks and Minnows. He is instructed one kid to be a shark while all the other kids were all minnows.

"I'm hungry!" called out the shark.

"And I'm a little minnow," cried the scattering minnows trying not to get tagged by the shark, because once tagged they become a shark.  It kept going until every paddler became a shark. By using these active games the young kayakers were soon making new friends and having fun all while building paddling skills that they can be used on the lake or river.

Next, it was off to explore. Across the flat-water, the lake offers some special hideaways like “Swampland” and “Berry Pond". As the kids toured the hidden backwaters occupied by turtles, tadpoles, deer and other critters, the wonders of nature came alive to them. Quietly paddling along they became naturalists as they explored and made their own discoveries in the lush wetland.

On day three the Junior class ages 10-14, moved on to the easy moving waters of the Lower American River. On the river, the young paddlers after two days of paddling lessons tested their new skills on moving water. While a little apprehension came over the group at the sound of rushing water, but it was all smiles on the other end after they punched through a series of fast water. Before the day was over the youths are immersed in river reading, river signals, and moving water paddling maneuvers.

"This class leaves them begging for more, said Crandall, "The kids always leave these classes super excited and many come back year after year."

Meanwhile back on the lake, I had pushed the kayak up on to shore and dump all the water out of it with help from the still smiling and dripping wet ten-year-old girl. I was going to get plenty of practice doing over next couple days when she asked, "Can I do that again?"

 If you want to go

Current Adventures Kayak School and Trips 
PHONE: 530-333-9115 or Toll-Free: 888-452-9254
FAX: 530-333-1291
USPS: Current Adventures, P.O. Box 828, Lotus, CA 95651
info@currentadventures.com
owner Dan Crandall dan@kayaking.com

OVER THE BOW: THE CONFLUENCE OF THE NORTH & MIDDLE FORK OF THE AMERICAN RIVER

We are deep at the bottom of this river of time, caught up in the current of the moment where all the rivers rendezvous.--- Lynn Noel

Over last summer and into fall, the water pouring into confluence of the North and Middle Forks of the American River part of Auburn SRA near Auburn, California, was almost nothing but a trickle. Downstream Folsom Lake stood at its lowest depth in history. As the water dried up, ruins of old towns were uncovered, boating speed limits were set and federal officials were engineering a special pumping system to make sure drinking water would keep flowing to Sacramento suburbs. However, after that long hot summer, the water flows have returned to the upper forks of the American River.

Following a month of persistent rain and snow in Northern California, lake levels are triple what they were in early December of last year. Due to runoff from recent rains in the foothills and Sierra, Folsom Lake rose to 104 percent of historical average earlier this week, with about 529,000 acre feet of water. Lake levels have rebounded so fast, in fact, that after four years of drought, officials at the Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the water in the reservoir are talking about releasing water downstream in the near future to mitigate flood risks caused by a wet winter and an increasingly full lake. "There are legal requirements for maintaining safe space in the reservoir," Louis Moore, spokesman for the Bureau of Reclamation told Fox 40 News. The Bureau of Reclamation is pleased with the amount of space available in Folsom Lake and say because the ground was so dry, much of the water from recent rains has soaked into the ground, giving the reservoir plenty of storage space despite recent heavy rains upstream.

Upstream at the confluence, plenty water means plenty of waves. Underneath the Highway 49 Bridge, after the two streams join, the river bends to the right, jaunts down the bank before smashing into the right edge of the river followed by a sharp bank in a sharp curve to the left. With enough cfs  a recirculating eddy develops offering area boaters an enjoyable surfing wave to either begin or end their journey at this popular put in or take out site.

Over the Bow is a feature from Outside Adventure to the Max, telling the story behind the image. If you have a great picture with a great story, submit it to us at nickayak@gmail.com

OVER THE BOW: THE CONFLUENCE OF THE NORTH & MIDDLE FORK OF THE AMERICAN RIVER

We are deep at the bottom of this river of time, caught up in the current of the moment where all the rivers rendezvous.--- Lynn Noel

Over last summer and into fall, the water pouring into the confluence of the North and Middle Forks of the American River part of Auburn SRA near Auburn, California, was almost nothing but a trickle. Downstream Folsom Lake stood at its lowest depth in history. As the water dried up, ruins of old towns were uncovered, boating speed limits were set and federal officials were engineering a special pumping system to make sure drinking water would keep flowing to Sacramento suburbs. However, after that long hot summer, the water flows have returned to the upper forks of the American River.

Following a month of persistent rain and snow in Northern California, lake levels are triple what they were in early December of last year. Due to runoff from recent rains in the foothills and Sierra, Folsom Lake rose to 104 percent of historical average earlier this week, with about 529,000-acre-feet of water. Lake levels have rebounded so fast, in fact, that after four years of drought, officials at the Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the water in the reservoir are talking about releasing water downstream in the near future to mitigate flood risks caused by a wet winter and an increasingly full lake. "There are legal requirements for maintaining safe space in the reservoir," Louis Moore, spokesman for the Bureau of Reclamation told Fox 40 News. The Bureau of Reclamation is pleased with the amount of space available in Folsom Lake and say because the ground was so dry, much of the water from recent rains have soaked into the ground, giving the reservoir plenty of storage space despite recent heavy rains upstream.

Upstream at the confluence, plenty water means plenty of waves. Underneath the Highway 49 Bridge, after the two streams join, the river bends to the right, jaunts down the bank before smashing into the right edge of the river followed by a sharp bank in a sharp curve to the left. With enough cfs a recirculating eddy develops offering area boaters an enjoyable surfing wave to either begin or end their journey at this popular put in or take out site.

Over the Bow is a feature from Outside Adventure to the Max, telling the story behind the image. If you have a great picture with a great story, submit it to us at nickayak@gmail.com