Kayak Skills Session - ADK Members at Plum Point

Don Urmston and his wife taught a kayak skills session at Plum Point on Saturday June 19. There were about 15 people there with varying degrees of skill and experience from beginners with rental boats to experienced long time paddlers.

We started on the beach with the basics of kayaking equipment and safety and then worked our way up to basic strokes and then how to enter the boat without capsizing. 

The river was a little rough with a fairly strong breeze so we headed south to avoid the worst of the wind.  We practiced basic strokes and then worked on turning. 

After lunch we went out to practice low bracing in very shallow water so you could reach the bottom with you paddle or hand if you started to go over.  Next we worked on both assisted and self rescue methods.  We used a 2 boat assisted recovery for both a planned demonstration and an actual rescue when someone capsized.  We also demonstrated the "Cowboy" and "Paddle Float" self rescue methods.

Don used Lou to demonstrate what is was like to paddle boats full of water when they had 2 bulkheads, 1 bulkhead, 1 bulkhead with a floatation bag, and no bulkheads.  This was very entertaining.

The class finished at 2:00 with everyone wiser and tireder.

Thanks Don and Andrea for a GREAT day.