2/21/15 CCK Fishing Kayak Safety & Rescue Clinic

I'd recommend bringing your own kayak unless your model is the same as theirs. Every kayak is different with how to right the capsized boat, depending in handle design, width, etc. Its best to practice in your own kayak.  I do it every year for each of my new kayaks and I've learned a lot of things.  Like I can't flip a Propel 13 over so I need a rescue line to help.

This is a good point Ben and I couldn't  agree more.

I gave in and I'm bringing all my own gear.  Might as well train as you fight, right?

For those of you going... I'm going to post a Hook Up for after the class.  Low tide is at 6:19 @ 0.23ft.  Let's go hit one of the beaches for perch!  We'll have almost two hours of light left...

Report  back after the class and let us know how it went.

Class was great!  I highly recommend it for beginners and folks that have any concerns about being on the salt.

Sean and Matt were great instructors.  They covered a lot of material from how to dress for immersion, to having a safety kit, to having a non-technological navigation aid (a laminated map).  Lots of one-on-one instruction.

We covered basic strokes out on the water, definitely helpful to have someone correct your form so you're more efficient with your strokes. 

We had an intro to surf launches/landings.  Very informative as to what to look for and where to be in the surf.  It was also very helpful to have a coach in the surf telling you where and when to go for it.  They'll likely put together a more intensive, dedicated surf class in the future.  We'd need helmets for that class.

Multiple self rescue techniques were covered and practiced.  And we ended the day with buddy rescue techniques. 

I enjoyed the class because they kept things moving, and they didn't beat us up with too many practice drills.  We covered a lot in the short time we had and my confidence on the water is greatly improved.

If you haven't taken a formal kayak class, I recommend this one.  It gets right to the meat of what we do.  If you're an experienced kayaker, it might be mostly refresher stuff, but I'm sure you'll come away with a gem or two. 

The next level class L3 covers much the same material, but it takes place in open water (not the protected/calm waters of the harbor).  I'm looking forward to it!

Hopefully the others that took the class will add their thoughts as well.  (Nice to meet you guys today!)

Great to meet you too, Mark, and also Herb and David!

I second everything that Mark said above.  Totally recommend the class for anybody that's not taken any formal classes on kayaking yet.  I've taken one before, and have been paddling/ practicing for about a year now, and got a lot out of this class. 

The surf launch stuff was tremendously valuable, as were the practice exercises for self/assisted rescue.  Just knowing what the difference feels like when paddling solo vs with a full-sized adult either clinging to the nose of the kayak or resting in the tankwell is really useful stuff.

Some of the rescue techniques look like they'll come in handy for crabbing too: paddle float as outrigger, dry/catch bag used as ballast, lashing two yaks together to form a raft..

Mark: wish I'd seen your post about perching after the class, I'd have been down for that!

I was good meeting you all in the class in HMB 2/21.  It was an awesome class.  I recommend all new guys to take the class.  Even some seasoned yaker, as well as guys who don’t think they need self-rescue.  There was so much to learn, such as - in a perhaps hypothermia situation, what to look for.  I totally agree that Sean and Matt are awesome instructors and great individual to learn from.  I think Sean held the world record for crossing the English Channel for a bit, so we have a celebrity here.  I love the idea of using a dry bag full of water as a counter weight.  Also the idea of filling the kayak inside with water to test for leaks.  Sound simple, until you have to try to figure it out on you own.  There was so much knowledge in their bag of tricks, really can’t remember them all.    To make it short, why bother trying to re-invent the wheel, when you can have the wheel invented for you.  I really think it was worth every nickel for the class, and then a whole lot more.  I also got to demo the Jackson Krakens.  What a battleship, I was very impressed.  Tracks very well, even without using the rudder.                               Herb N.

im glad everyone had a great experience at this class. I will have to make it down to one of the net ones.

Thanks for posting up your experience everyone

Attended the CCK course at HMB today with Jeremy (mousemanx).  Two instructors, two attendees, pretty good ratio.  Great class for me.  I learned that my Outback is difficult to right when turned over, too wide, so I am going to have to practice that one some more.  We had some basic paddling instruction and I learned that the Outback is much better using the Mirage drive than it is with a paddle.  Also I leaned that it tracks terribly without the rudder.

Attended the CCK course at HMB today with Jeremy (mousemanx).  Two instructors, two attendees, pretty good ratio.  Great class for me.  I learned that my Outback is difficult to right when turned over, too wide, so I am going to have to practice that one some more.  We had some basic paddling instruction and I learned that the Outback is much better using the Mirage drive than it is with a paddle.  Also I leaned that it tracks terribly without the rudder.

I have some suggestions to make righting the outback easier. Tie a 6' rope with knots every 8-12" and tie it to the handle on one side. If you flip throw the rope across the bottom of the kayak and after grabbing it out your feet on the gunnel then pull the kayak right side up. If you have questions let me know.

You couldn't be more right paddling the outback is the last thing you really want to be doing. This is one reason I went to the Revo.

2 instructors to 2 students.  That’s a private lesson.  What a deal…
When we were out for the class a couple of weeks ago, Mark (eelkram) was using his Hobie Adventure; he was paddling the Adventure with reasonable speed and tracking.  I’ll have to demo the Adventure one of these days.

Attended the CCK course at HMB today with Jeremy (mousemanx).  Two instructors, two attendees, pretty good ratio.  Great class for me.  I learned that my Outback is difficult to right when turned over, too wide, so I am going to have to practice that one some more.  We had some basic paddling instruction and I learned that the Outback is much better using the Mirage drive than it is with a paddle.  Also I leaned that it tracks terribly without the rudder.

We found that out as well. RedRaiderDave was using CCK's '15 Outback, and we had a difficult time flipping it.  For the buddy rescue, I had to help him flip it over because it was TOO stable. And then righting it was definitely a 2 person job.

Herb, yeah, the AI tracks and paddles pretty well without the rudder. I highly recommend it. 

Yeah, the Outback is hard to flip back upright.  I think Rider's suggestion of a knotted rope to pull it over is worth doing for my next attempt at self rescue. But then again, I am an old fart 

Oldfart!  It was good to meet you,  brother. 

He's just being modest. John was flipping his 'yak w one arm. Seeing him in action looked a lot like those discovery channel shows of the white sharks hitting seals from below and jumping completely out of the water!

I really wanted to sign up for the class, but had already planned a tahoe trip. Any more coming up? Maybe next week? I am still very nervous about going ocean so i think i need to take this class. Sounds very fun and affordable.  I'd like to ready myself before therockfish season starts.

   Let's plan half day gig down at HMB to practice what we learned.  We can go out and place the crab traps.  Then come back into the harbor and practice what we learned.  Then go back out after a few hours of practice, go back out to retrieve our dinner. 
   Sean has this idea of using a dry bag filled with water for counter weight during self rescue.  I've check with him about using a reusable shopping bag achieved the same goal with positive response.  I also want to try the paddle float self rescue.  I think we can all learn from each other during such practice session. I kind of wanted to experiment with the stirrup aid in the self-rescue by having a rope attached on both side of the kayak to keep the rolling to a minimum.  Of course, nothing beats having a few buddies around to comment and coaching.  I think we can all use a little bit of practice.  After all, self-rescue should be second nature.