Leon met Shawna 21 years ago in a kayak rolling pool
session at the University of Minnesota, where they were both studying biology. “The instructor told us to find someone with the same length legs,” remembers Shawna. “This way we would not have to keep adjusting the foot pegs inside the kayak we were sharing.” This turned out to be fine dating advice. The two then worked as guides for Shearwater Adventures,
a kayak tour company based on Orcas Island, Washington. While there, they developed an instructional program, which they ran for six years before breaking away and, in 2001, found- ing Body Boat Blade International. “When we first started instructing at Shearwater, we found
the BCU and started training in the BCU system,” says Leon. “We like the BCU because its curriculum and assessments help students set and achieve goals. It has an outstanding coaching program that teaches how to most effectively deliver programs and teach current best practice.” I’d say their teaching style is one of coastal learning. They try
everything once. If it works better than what they are currently teaching, they work it in. I felt encouraged to do the same. I asked Leon about this. “Why keep doing the same old thing, if there is a better way?” Why indeed.
« » W
e begin the course with what Leon and Shawna intro- duce as a speed launch. Speed launch, what the hell is
that? I wonder. All of us line up on the beach, our boats floating, pointed
towards the open water. I have the stern toggle of my boat in my hand, not sure what’s going to happen next. “GO!” Like sprinters out of the chocks, the group charges into the ocean, sliding their boats ahead of them. They run as fast and as far as they can and then dive clumsily onto their kayaks. With a leg on either side of their cockpits, they drop their butts into the seats, slip their legs inside and reach for their skirts. This was obviously not everyone’s first Body Boat Blade course. I thought back to my first sea kayak expedition. What con-
trast. I spent 45 days gingerly entering and exiting in a farmer john wetsuit, booties and wool socks, just as the ice went out on Lake Superior, afraid to so much as get my feet wet. If I did, I’d be cold and miserable the rest of the day.
D
Every one of us in this Body Boat Blade currents class had
on a full dry suit. “Cold people don’t learn,” says Leon. “Dry suits allow our students to get into the water without getting too cold and wet. It gives them more confidence to try things like rescues, bracing and rolling.” And yes, the speed launch. If I hadn’t brought my own dry suit, I could have borrowed one from the well-stocked Rubbermaid they carry with them in their truck. “We make a huge effort to ensure our students match
the level of our clinics,” Shawna says. Body Boat Blade now offers 26 classes a season—foundation courses, BCU assess- ment, rolling, safety and rescue, performance paddling and this one, officially billed as Ocean Currents II: Two Days at Deception Pass. “The speed launch is fun. It helps teach people more about
balance and assists them in practicing some of the moves for the cowboy scramble rescue,” says Leon. “It helps them get their 10,000 hours.” As easy swell rolls against the rocky coastline, we snake our
way along, rubbing shoulders and boats with barnacles. “Get- ting you paddling right along the shoreline shows us something about your technical abilities, your confidence and your will- ingness to try new things,” says Shawna. “All of this information helps us to decide the best plan for the day and if we actually want to bring you into the Pass.” I wonder how I’m doing. I decide it best not to ask and wait to see where we end up.
« »
eception Pass State Park is a winding 20-minute drive from our hotel room in downtown Anacortes in north-
western Washington State. It’s a 4,000-acre marine and camp- ing park with 77,000 feet of saltwater shoreline. Deception Pass connects Skagit Bay, part of Puget Sound,
with the Strait of Juan de Fuca. From the launch at the Bow- man’s Bay campground, it is a short paddle to Canoe Pass, a more intimate lesser-traveled, 25-yard channel below the Deception Pass Bridge, between Whidbey Island and the tiny Pass Island. Today, Leon and Shawna have timed our launch with slack tide. We arrive at ebb tide as water begins to spill back toward
www.adventurekayakmag.com 49
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64