Good paddlewise folks, I have been meaning to write this all week, but have been rather busy. Quick stats... 27 years old, paddling for six years, BS physics, MS in geology (ALMOST). Paddle sea kayaks and whitewater up to class IV. Own a Pygmy Arctic Tern sea kayak, a Mega Jester Rio surf kayak, a Pyranha Storm rodeo kayak, and a New Wave Bigfoot squirt kayak. I actually started kayaking in 1986 at my high school in Los Angeles. Five days of river paddling on the Kern River was enough to scare the dickens out of me. I didn't start paddling again until my junior year in college when the outdoor program I was working for bought four whitewater kayaks. My friends and I taught ourselves how to roll, and headed up to Kern to learn rivers. Another friend with one year experience got the three of us into a lot of trouble in some class IV on our second day on the water, and I learned a lot of respect for the river and the proper way to approach teaching rivers to others. All told, I probably have six years of paddling experience, with the most experience coming in the last three since I moved to the blessed state of Washington, with year round paddling on the rivers and the sea. Coming to the University of Washington was a blessing as well, since I got heavily involved with the University Kayak Club (http://students.washington.edu/~ukc/main/UKCmain.cgi). This is where I gained a lot of experience teaching others all facets of kayaking. The UKC also has been a great resource for friends and kindred spirits. You old farts would be wise to send your paddling offspring to the UW. :) About a year after moving to Seattle, I joined the Wavelength list, where I soon became friends with George Gronseth. I remember he was getting flamed for his stance against rudders, and I stood up for him. I thought his ideas were so logical and intelligent, that it makes perfect sense that we get along well as friends and teachers. I have learned much from George. This is going to be my third season as the whitewater instructor for his school (http://www.halcyon.com/kayak), and I am excited to incoporate new instructional concepts that I have developed over the winter. I think I have developed some skill at teaching whitewater, and it is something that I truly enjoy. I tend to get kind of bored with paddling on flat water. I want my sea kayaking to have some wind and waves, although I am perfectly happy to put up with a little flatwater to spend a weekend camping in the wilderness with good friends. Sea kayaking is my preferrend way to get some quality camping time. I really enjoy paddling trips in the San Juans that combine strong currents with island camping. Still, for all my interest in the sea, I find that rivers are the more powerful attraction. However, I do believe that too much emphasis is placed on the distinction between river and ocean kayaking. There is so much overlap in skills and knowledge, but there is not much overlap between the participants of each. There is much to learn from each, and I consider myself simply a kayaker, not a whitewater kayaker or a sea kayaker. One last thing before I get back to work. I am currently finishing a masters degree in geology at the University of Washington. My area of interest is periglacial geomorphology. I am also working part-time at the US Environmental Protection Agency, and I will be working there full time after graduation. At the EPA, I am a computer modeling expert, and I am currently working on a temperature model of the Columbia River. This model will be used to help make decisions regarding the management of the river and the protection of salmon. Once I am out of school, I plan to devote some time to designing a surf kayak and a sea kayak, and also to writing an instructional book on kayaking. Hope to see you out there on the water! Kevin Whilden ___________________ / Kevin Whilden \ |Dept. of Geosciences \___ |University of Washington \ |kwhilden_at_u.washington.edu| \________________________/ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:32:56 PDT