WKCC Safety Weekend
April 30- May 1
By Jason
See the photos here.
The seventh annual WKCC Safety Weekend was held recently and I had an opporunity to represent eNRG Kayaking and Next Adventure as an instructor. I was a little nervous at first, being a very green instructor, but with the friendly participants and great organization I ended up have an incredibly fun time.
After an unnaturally early start on saturdy, the Portland contingent arrived at the campground just past Sweet Home, for registration. After introductions throughout the group, we learned there were people of all skill levels and backgrounds: advanced whitewater kayakers, beginner boaters (boating for one month!), canoeists, rafters, and even some people from Alaska. There were several firefighters to help teach the rescue and first aid portion of the weekend, and even one Scoutmaster who was an expert in knots. All in all, a very diverse and interesting group.
The organizers did an amazing job with the schedule, and things ran surprisingly smooth. And the food- amazing!
Over the weekend, we learned, and more importantly, practiced, warm-up and stretching, throw bags, knots, first aid, wading and river crossing, and team structure. And that was all in the first day! We also practiced vertical pin scenarios.
That night was a great time with the crowd, eating (again) an awesome meal, then getting to really know each other over our favorite beverages.
Sunday was putting all the knowledge to action, and we practiced actually un-pinning a boat, bagging swimmers, and swimming through and over strainers. One fun part of the weekend was experimenting with the Crossline Reach system in different scenarios. It is an interesting tool, and really needs some study and practive to be effective, but is very much worth becoming familiar with.
All in all, it was an incredible weekend. I would highly recommend anyone, regardless of your level and experience, to check this out next year!
