Topic: T.R. - EJ week at OKS

[cdbkayak2008]

Hi everyone!
I too recently came back from a fantastic week at OKS!
I was in the beginner/novice group the week of July 14.  This was my second time there, having done the same course last July. I think there were 12 adults in the group and I was in a group of 5 with the same instructor as last year, Jarrett.  He took 4 of us who already had some experience and one young guy who was quite keen and a fast learner. The other people split between 2 instructors but stayed together as a group. They were total beginners and they all progressed very quickly too.

Highlights:
- I did learn to roll, but not every time. So there is still work to be done there.
- I was more comfortable in the Jackson Fun than I have been in any other boat and just bought my own last night!! It is yellow and for those keeping track of such things for future photo opportunities - yellow helmet, red pfd, green H2O paddle.
- An obvious highlight - bumped into Colin at lunch spot at Garvin's!
- Also chatted with EJ at lunch. He is quite nice. He was teaching the keeners that week.
- Last year I had a perfect record at Sattler's. This year, let's just say I saw from a different perspective. Like upside-down.
- Upper No Name is far more terrifying than Lower No Name for me because I actually have to use various skills to get through it and not continue directly to the lower part.
- Whereas Lower No Name is more of an event. Point kayak and hope for the best!
- On one run of Lower No Name I got stuck surfing halfway down for the longest 6 seconds of my life followed by someone in my group clipping the back of the kayak and flipping us both over for yet another terrifying underwater adventure. But if that is the worst it will get for me for awhile, then I am ok with it.  After the swim and rescue by either Jarrett or Ryan - both? - it is a bit of a blur still - I wanted to go back and try again! (Only partly because I knew EJ had witnessed the whole thing.)

Overall, if you're looking for a fun week, all-inclusive activity, I think you'll have fun at OKS.  Get a cabin, not your tent. It rained a fair amount, but I was much happier dry, able to stand up inside and sleeping in a bed.  I like the fact that being Monday to Friday I had 2 weekends to myself to relax before and after.  There were lots of intermediate paddlers from the USA (Appalachian Mountain Club) who go every year for a week, so you might want to consider going the same week since that adds a lot of adults to the mix.  We also had some Austrians learning English in the evenings and the teenaged girl started as a total beginner and by the 4th day had a whitewater roll that she used at Phil's and Lower No Name (I have it on video along with my adventures too!).

For those who remember my knee cuts from paddle with the pros weekend, they healed up quite nicely.  Turns out Ryan got poison ivy from having to do the first aid on me so 2 weeks later when I turned up for novice week he remembered me quite well!

Now that I have my own gear, I'll start seeing you on Thursdays!

Terry

[Steve Harrington]

I just got back from taking the Eric Jackson week at OKS with my son. It was great. Highly recommended. My son who is 13 started out with the EJ group but after a couple days the instructors and I agreed he would be better off with the teen group. They switched him over to teen camp with no hassles. We both had great instruction, great customer service and a lot of fun.

I was the least skilled in the EJ group but not by enough to hold the group up. The lines you think you know are probably a very limited subset of the possible fun you can have on the river. Now I have no fear of McKoys - run it straight through Sattlers, straight through Phils, surf Phils, probably my last choice would be the thread the needle line that most people want to do. I might modify this this after getting worked in Phils at lower levels but at 9 or so, these are way better choices. Visited Vampire hole in lower no name multiple times, both right side up and upside down. Ran Iron Ring, Garvins. Amazing. Iron Ring is straightforward. Bad line at Garvins won the carnage of the week award for the luch time crowd. Did it again right after lunch just to prove to myself I could do better. Second time was good. I probably won't do it again any time soon but I am glad I did it. Surfed Waikiki at a level I would previously have thought was way to big for me. It was great fun. Made it down Coliseum no problem. I took the easy line but for more fun try and surf the huge waves on the way down. Only two swims the entire week, one at Garvins and one other that simply served to remind me why rolling is better than swimming. EJ was a great instructor with individual tips for everyone and what I thought was an appropriate level of trying to get people to push their limits.

My son had fun with the teen camp and can now back deck roll and hand roll. Runs McKoys and says it is easy  - straight through Sattlers or Phils. Wonders how I can flip over so many times and laughs at me. He will be back for more teen camp next year.

I haven't made it out for any CDB trips yet but my son and I will be out on the river with the club sometime this summer. Looking forward to trying out my new skills and hoping I can talk some people into trying the new lines I learned.

There were people on the course from Ireland, Israel, northeastern and northwestern U.S. Overall I thought it was a great course and will be doing it again.

Steve