Sea Paddler Training December 2014

Alba, Mario, Monica, and Morgan joined us from various parts of Baja and New York City for a Sea Paddler Training a couple weeks ago. Maddie, Yuri, and Patty all came to observe and help coach, and Marcos and I ran the show. A great fiesta it was!

Like most of our Sea Paddler Trainings, we started in the Sea of Cortez with some safety training, and playing with various different paddlecraft. Then we migrated to the Pacific to play with some surf. As usual, this was the most popular day.  We also had a successful afternoon of one-on-one roll coaching.

Happy holidays to all!!

Sea Paddler Training in Baja

Tropical Storm Simon brought excitement to the Sea Paddler Training this year.

From the thunderstorms of Loreto to the Pacific surf outside Isla Magdelena, we felt its distant presence.

“Flexibility is the key to greater air power,” says my fighter pilot brother-in-law.  It’s true of kayak courses as well. The conditions were always good for something.

Venues got creative enough to include the pool and meeting room at Tripui Resort, and more standard fare such as: a hot calm morning off Rattlesnake Beach for paddling a variety of craft, refreshing rain by Punta Coyote through which to refine slicing strokes, 12-knot winds crossing Bahia Magdelena where we got to use navigation skills to see whether the wind or the current was drifting us more, 7ft Pacific swells and using other paddlers to measure the height, and 1-3’ surf on a long sandy beach where there wasn’t much we didn’t do.

Jill from Seattle, Kate from the Yukon, and Matt from Georgia joined Maddie, Marcos, Ramon, and me. We could brag that there was not a drysuit to be seen.  Not even a wetsuit!  Even in the rain and surf we were comfy in single layers.

People will do dramatic things to get to good surf. All we had to do was load the kayaks on Marcos’ panga, launch it in front of our hotel--Mar y Arena in San Carlos, motor across the bay, drive it up onto Delia’s waiting trailer, get hauled across a sandy strip of Isla Magdelena (by a valiant Ford pickup), and arrive at a deserted surf beach with a panga-full of surf toys on a trailer! And then play until we were utterly exhausted and ride panga-trailer-Ford back again to the steps of our hotel.

Anglesey Sea Kayak Symposium

Ginni Callahan recently checked in from the field as she attended the 2014 Anglesey Sea Kayak Symposium hosted by Sea Kayaking UK and Celtic Paddles.  From April 28th - May 11th, some of the worlds best paddle sport coaches and brightest students gather for beginner through advanced courses in the world's second best sea kayaking playground (Baja is the first!).

Over a dozen countries were represented at the event this year and a cacophony of languages filled the dining room at mealtime.  One can learn to say 'Thank you Nigel' in many different tongues just by attending the traditional curry dinner.

A very strong group of BCU 4-star sea leader candidates took their assessment with 11 of the 13 passing!  A group of Dutch club leaders all passed and returned home with big smiles.

Between catching up with old friends and meeting new ones, Ginni had the chance to give a presentation on Baja paddling as well as her Pacific crossing via sailboat and kayak.  If you aren't familiar with that trip, ask her about it on your next SKBM Expedition with her.

SKBM attends Baja Kayak Festival

Over 1,000km north of Loreto is a wonderful Baja paddling destination on the Pacific Coast called Punta Banda.  Situated just south of the point is La Bufadora, a small coastal village that boasts one of the largest marine geysers in North America.  Being close to Ensenada, it's popular among tourists and becoming more and more popular with paddlers each season thanks to its incredible rocky coastline, caves, arches, waves, pocket beaches and marine life.

Victor Leon runs a paddling company called Baja Aquatics out of La Bufadora and together with Jen Kleck of Aqua Adventures in San Diego, they organize the Baja Kayak Festival.  Baja Kayak Fest joined the West Coast symposium trifecta in 2013 with Lumpy Waters on the Oregon Coast and the Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium in San Francisco.  The three events share characteristics encouraging rough water play, safe exploration and leadership.  You'll run into many of the same faces at each event and all three are leading the way for sea kayaking on the West Coast.  As a company, Sea Kayak Baja Mexico tries to attend these events as much as possible to coach new students and further train current staff.

This year Ramon Arce & Marcos Simental attended Baja Kayak Festival for Sea Kayak Baja Mexico and had a great experience.  Marcos passed his British Canoe Union Four Star Sea Leader assessment with flying colors and became one of very few Mexican 4* sea leaders.  That is a very worthy accomplishment for any paddler and should be a goal for many.  Congratulations Marcos!

Ramon furthered his leadership training and is ready for BCU four star assessment soon.  Great job Ramon!  Marcos & Ramon round out the SKBM expedition guides with Ginni Callahan & Santiago Berrueta.

4 Star Sea Leader and Sea Kayak Baja Mexico Guide Marcos Simental 

Carmen Island Circumnavigation

Our season kicked off this year with an intense 5-day BCU 4 Star Sea Leader Training in Loreto & San Carlos with a diverse group of 9 Mexican & American paddlers.  Just two days later Santiago Berrueta departed, in the pouring rain, for a 10-day Carmen Island Expedition.  Once the rain stopped and the sun came back out, they had a great trip with pictures to prove it.