ECCKF

I had an absolutely fabulous time at the festival and I am so glad I went. I was a little put off by the first two classes I took as they seemed really low level to what I could have handled but I think I still picked up some skills. Friday was a relatively quiet day for us as we got registration out of the way, then launched some boats. We went to the supper event afterwards to enjoy some company as well as listen to someone talk about their big adventure up in the Canadian Arctic. It sounded great and I had a good time catching up with some people I knew.

The Saturday class was an absolute blast and I realized I really like the relaxed style of Nigel Foster. He really is an excellent teacher. I wish we had had more time with the class, considering we got stuck in traffic on the way to the venue. I am not sure I could have done too much more then the one hour we did end up getting. The class was an intro to short boat surfing and I took my white water boat out on the ocean and surfed some waves with it. I was knocked over once near the beginning but otherwise I had a great time. The waves were a nice height that us as beginners were not too intimidated by them. I was initially a little intimidated as they are much bigger when you are sitting in a small boat, but after my first run I had too much fun after that to be scared of the waves.

Sunday proved to be my big day. I had a morning class on the ocean for advanced open water skills. This was fun as we got to go out and explore a light house plus we did a bit of surfing of the swells and quartered some waves. Then I had another ocean class that afternoon for long boat surfing. I hadn't surfed yet with the long boat and found it was very different from the short boat. I still had a great time but I found it to be more of a challenge as the long boat isn't as maneuverable as the short boat. The goal of the class was to end up broach to the wave, then to turn the boat out of the broach position. At first I had an easy time with it, then I started having trouble. I am not sure why but initially I was trying to follow the instructions and turn the boat back to face out to the ocean and the boat kept swinging around to face shore. After that the boat would simply crest the wave then I have to turn it before another wave came along. One time I was bowled over twice by a wave before managing to roll back up. The instructor was sitting right there watching me and was impressed I had the where with all to roll back up the last time. I had a great time and really can't wait to get back out on the water this year. I did learn that I need to keep my eyes open when I crest a wave, plus I need to learn to spit the salt water out of my mouth better, rather then spitting it on myself. I was absolutely exhausted that night and didn't sleep really well. The drive back was uneventful except for some showers up near DC and some traffic from an accident. I wish I didn't have to go to work tomorrow. We ate out tonight so we wouldn't have to deal with food prep. Plus it is becoming tradition.