Taking on Jeff's Joy Get the Family Kayaking ... - Canoe & Kayak

Feature
Kayaking the Mortar in a
Family. by Peter Townend
Tighe & Bryn working well together.
Getting wet is half the fun!
I t i s
often said by my
older friends and family “the way to keep a family
together is to play together”, and “keep the kids busy and
you will have few problems”. So with this in mind this
summer I am refocusing my normal busy working life to
slow down and spend more time with the family. I intend to
spend days and weekends teaching my son Bryn (11), with
a bunch of his mates and their dads, how to have fun on
our Cool rivers.
We will start in the local pool with ‘Confidence routines’ to build their
skills so when they capsize, they can Eskimo roll or make a controlled
exit.
It is then off to the sheltered waters of Browns Bay learning paddle
and boat skills. These are forward and reverse power strokes, sweep
strokes, low braces, stern rudders and rescues. Once these skills are
solid, we will progress to control of the boat rails (tipping the kayak on
its side) for playing on surf and entering/exiting eddies.
When confidence and ability have been achieved on flat water
we’ll move onto small surf and local tidal moving water, develop more
technical skills and use these in increasingly hard conditions.
Then excitement will build as we drive to beautiful Taupo to tackle
the Waikato and the Mohaka Rivers.
I’ll keep you informed of our progress.
24 ISSUE FIFTY Three • 2 0 0 9
Thomas and Mark developing
new skills together.