Whidbey Sea Kayaker

This is one of my favorite camping trips. Our trip leader, Becky, is a very experienced and well-prepared leader. She picked June to do this trip so we enjoyed very nice weather. We wheeled on the ferry from Anacortes to Sidney, BC. The Canda Custom officers were very polite and efficient. After a short walk, we reached a public boat launch south of Sidney Port. This is our put in. We stayed in the best campsite on the north of the island,  Arbutus  Point. The other two campsites don't have the privacy and scenic views that we had. I love the view after dinner. So beautiful. There is a paved central trail, which can access to a  4 mi loop trail follows the shoreline and link to the three campsites (Shell Beach, Princess Bay, Arbutus Point). This hike requires approximately three hours to complete but can be shortened by taking the central forest trails. Some sections of the loop trail are very primitive but you won't get lost. ...

After I had solid Greenland Standard Roll, I started to practice Reverse Sweep Roll which is a forward roll. I borrowed a DVD, This is the Roll (1), from our paddling club and watched it more than 30 times. Again, there are too many things to remember. Fortunately, I figured out Chest Sculling very soon, so it gave me a good foundation.  The DVD was really helpful especially the troubleshooting part. The hardest roll among the three tolls is the Storm Roll. I had failed again and again. At a point, I was hesitated to capsized because I knew I would fail and sink. It was very frustrating and the idea to quit came to my mind. After all, I had two rolls and that's good enough to bail myself out when needed. Soon after that, I had progressed and gotten better little by little. Finally, I learned Storm Roll from the right side. It took me another three months to be familiar with both sides. Since I had failed so many times, so I had to use Standard Roll or Forward Sweep Roll a ...

After my club members helped me to get my first standard Greenland roll, I practiced again and again, tried to build up muscle memory. However, at the next pool session, I had only a few success rolls, failed most of the time. At a point, I thought to quit. How could  I lost it? Again, my buddies cheered me up, encouraged me to refine my gesture. There are so many tiny bits need to be connected in a smooth sequence. The only way I could do was to practice many many times so some of the move I just did without thinking. At the third pool session, my success rate had more than 80%. I have regained my confidence.

It is not that easy as people said. I was 55 at that time. Did not have good flexibility. I took a class from a famous kayak school. The lady gave me a walk around of their facility and answered my  questions, "90% of our students have a roll in that class". I thought I could do it and I did have ONE roll. Well, I had no idea how I made it. Everything happened so fast. Two years later, I took another rolling class by a world famous kayaker. Well, he is very good for sure but other students all had a solid basic roll and they practiced advanced roll over there. I failed again. Fortunately, my paddling club friends encouraged me to try again and helped me in the pool session. After three sessions, I finally learned how to do standard roll. I am grateful that I met some friendly members who have very good skills and passion. A lot of videos from paddling club and Youtube gave me a better idea to fine tune my skills. I like to thank those fellow kayakers who have...