The course was run by Valley Mills Kayak. The two instructors were great and made sure to cover things from the very basics and doing it in a way that had us first work with the instructor and then practice with a partner. We first started off getting wet by practicing a wet exit. You may ask what that is - well the wet should be a good indicator. This technique is used when you roll your kayak so you are underwater, you have lost your paddle and there is no one close by to help. As you can imagine this is an important technique and I decided I would be the first to try it so the first thing I did in the water was to intentionally flip my kayak without a paddle. The first time the instructor flipped me back just so I could get a sense of what it was like to be anchored in the kayak but upside down in the water. Once she rolled me back over I gave it a real try and rolled and exited. It is straight forward and surprisingly easy but I can see how some people would panic quickly. Of course we did this on flat water - I imagine in fast moving water it is a different experience.
So after I did this Sam followed and nailed it - which was pretty much what she did all day. We ended up practicing another rescuer technique which saw us also flip our kayaks intentionally and I managed to do it all on my own - not quite intentionally.
The course ended up being 3 very wet hours but was great. I think myself and Sam will do the level 2 course - maybe in the winter where they do it a pool. After we finished Sam slipped into some drier clothes and we ran out to grab a bite - but even in the mid-70s Sam still found it cold - as you can tell from the picture.
It was a fun day and lots of fun to do with Sam. I have a lot of practicing to do to get the paddling of a whitewater kayak down but I also have access to some great flat water to practice. I will just try to do it without flipping :-)
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