Keeping Kayaking Fun
We’re addicted to sea kayaking, and are always grateful for Victoria city’s easy access to the sea. The variety of conditions between here and Sooke alone provide everything from calm to chop, small currents to tide races, flat lakes and ocean swell, clapotis, caves, not to mention a plethora of curious marine wildlife like eagles, sea lions, seals, ducks, starfish, and so on.
We each came to kayaking from very different beginnings as mentioned in our biographies, but can’t imagine our lives now without paddling. The surrounding seas are a paradise but they’re also wild, and dispassionately demand respect. That’s where combining good seamanship with paddling prowess can drastically change your relationship with water.
To us, rolling in particular is both a meditative art and incredibly practical, requiring commitment, flexibility, choreography, body-kayak connection and a calmness of mind. Learning how to roll efficiently and safely takes continual fine-tuning, so it’s extra important to practice the proper techniques. When you nail that you’re keen on, that utter feeling of satisfaction and confidence is wonderful.
Our goals are to empower others to experience this flow and confidence, one step at a time, because with these skills you’ll find that whatever the waves throw at you, you can relax and just roll with it.
Kayak rolling will...
Build Confidence
Expand Limits
Keep you Dry
Beyond learning good kayak seamanship, learning to roll is essential in building confidence on the water. With so many ways to roll up, all with their own grace and physics, we can start or continue to build on the basics with you.
Rolling confidently on both sides opens up new opportunities for paddling in currents, surfing and rough water play. Capsizing is simply a part of all these activities but with reliable rolls, you'll want to stay out longer and will gain valuable experience.
...Not necessarily your humour but definitely your body. Paddling on the west coast of BC, and many other places, mostly calls for a drysuit. Although there is no substitute for well-practiced self rescuing, with rolling you'll be able to come up more quickly, conserving energy and keeping you relatively dry.