Spring Paddling

It's been a fun spring of paddling.

MWA Whitewater clinic -- Two amazing days on the Saint honing our skills.  Zack's still tentative in the kayak from his mishap a year ago, but he did better on day two.  I decided that I needed to get him a duckie so I could get him to keep coming with me and so we could do the MWA southeast beginner trip.

First paddle with the duckie -- Zack did great his first time down the Saint in the duckie.  He missed an eddy in Cat's Paw, but got through everything ok.  I chose a bad line at Double Drop and ended up taking a swim after taking a rock to the face.  After the black eye I now understand the notion of a face shield.  Zack got too far right on dam breach and got spun, but quickly learned the duckie could fill with water, but wasn't going to sink.

Late May on the Saint -- Zack and I went down for the day for a little work before the southeast trip.  I had also bought a used Hero and wanted to give it a go.  We did two laps (one with Zen and one with Hero) with some open boaters.  I don't have the Hero sized for me well enough quite yet.  It paddles differently than my Zen so I missed some lines.  Zack did better handling the duckie.

We missed several weekends for work around the house, but pleased that we've been able to enhance our skills.