w h i t e w a t e r • r i V e r • s e a • m u l t i s p o r t ... - Canoe & Kayak

Land of fire and ice?
Baptism of fire?……
by Justine Curgenven
Kamchatka is a wonderful 900 mile long jagged peninsula
in far East Russia, with a backbone of active volcanoes,
turquoise crater lakes and steaming geezers. Another woman,
Hadas Feldman, and I hoped to kayak 400 miles north from
the capital Petropavolvsk to the next town, Ust Kamchatsk.
It was an ambitious plan as this stretch of coastline contains
no roads, very few people and 10,000 hungry brown bears.
Not to mention the pounding surf. Our expedition would be
the second one ever to kayak this coastline.
As this wasn’t challenging enough, the authorities insisted we must have
a Russian ‘guide’ with us at all times. The only problem was that no-one in
Kamchatka can seakayak so we’d be taking a complete novice with us.
22 year old Alexey Sitnokov was an expert kayaker by Kamchatka standards
– he’d kayaked on flat water twice and he held his paddles the right way up.
He spoke only pigeon English. “tank – yoo” he grinned when I told him he
had the job, and I couldn’t help thinking how quickly that would be wiped off
on his first surf landing.
Before the expedition I took Alexey for a few days kayak training. As we
pulled up at the top of an endless golden beach my heart sank. Instead of the
small introductory waves that I had hoped for, 4 or 5 lines of whitewater were
battering the shore. I glanced at poor Alexey who was smiling a wide smile
of ignorance and trust.
The practice session didn’t start off very well. The young Russian capsized
practically the first time a small wave hit him, and swam 3 more times in a
hour. Back on dry land, he was optimistic to say the least.
“For me, this expedition is crazy. But, I do it anyway.”
Early the next morning, we launched from Petropavlovsk in mist and drizzle.
Hadas is used to a somewhat different climate in her home of Israel and she
wore 3 hats to combat the chill! Even so, we all had beaming grins on our faces
as we pushed off from the shore into the unknown. I felt my whole body relax
as the safe rigidity of land was replaced by the dancing unpredictability of
the sea.
We crossed the sheltered Avacha Bay and turned north into the open ocean.
Immediately we could feel the dormant power of the Pacific ocean as we rose
and fell on the swell. I lost sight of Hadas and Alexey when the crest of a wave
came between us. Landing through the surf would not be easy.
After 8 hours paddling and 30km under our belt Alexey was flagging. It was
time to take on the surf. I went first in what I hoped was a break in the sets. It all
went well until I was within spitting distance of the shore. A small wave started
to break right behind me and turned my kayak sideways violently. Suddenly
cold water hit my face and my ear was in the sea. I felt a sense of inevitability
– the certainty that I’d now have to try to roll alone here in the breaking surf.
But while my mind was trying to work out a strategy, my body kicked in with
natural reflexes. One hip flick and I was upright again – no roll necessary.
With the panicked eyes of a wild animal, I bullied my way gracelessly to
the beach. Once ashore I was shaking with cold, relief and nerves. This was
only day one and Hadas and Alexey were still out there. I couldn’t see them
anywhere. 10 minutes passed. 15 minutes. I cringed at the possibility that I’d
have to fight my way back out through the surf to find them. Finally after about
20 minutes I caught sight of two yellow kayaks coming towards the beach.
Alexey did brilliantly and was almost on shore when one last wave hit him
and capsized him. He walked the last few metres to dry land with his kayak,
but he was smiling. Hadas excitedly told me that Alexey had been capsized
by an unexpected breaking wave way out to sea and she’d had to rescue him.
So he’d swum twice on his first day!
We’d only just set up our tents when the peace was shattered by the rattling
engine of a battered old tank plowing across the dunes in a cloud of sand. It
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