The annual Surf Sirens women-only surf kayak clinic took place on September 26 – 28 this year, and it was the Best Clinic Ever (I see you, Trina!) We missed top coach Jameson Riser because she was kayaking down the Grand Canyon, but we enjoyed having a new instructor from Iceland, Anula Jochym. Welcome Anula! […]
Top Dog, Hot Dog: On-Water Communication for Group Kayakers
by Kenny Howell with John Lull Editor’s Note: Kenny has been paddling for 47 years and has decades of both sea kayak and white water experience in every type of conditions. Today he is the West Coast sales and marketing rep for Epic Kayaks. He is also an Honorary Tsunami Ranger and as a frequent […]
Sacramento River 2.0 – Jungle Cruise
Editor’s Note: A big shout out to the people who helped me with last year’s Sacramento River trip, whose love and encouragement and tall tales and helpful hints supported this trip as well: Paul McHugh, John Weed, Gwenn Bezard, and my dear brothers-in-law Marc and John Soares. I bow in gratitude to you all. Of […]
Reef Madness, 2009 – by Anders Landin
Editor’s Note: For various reasons, 2005 was the last official Tsunami Ranger Sea Gypsy Race, but the very next year the race returned as Reef Madness. As Eric wrote in his book, Confessions of a Wave Warrior, “an anonymous consortium of brave and cunning paddlers on the San Mateo coast resurrected the race, minus the […]
Hand Signals for Sea Kayakers
Editor’s note: On-water communication can be challenging. When conditions are mild, communicating with your buddies is generally pretty easy, but add distance and it’s harder. Add wind, waves, boomers, and/or crashing surf and it can be almost impossible. Having a useful “sign language” to communicate effectively makes all the difference between a bunch of random […]
The Devil’s Teeth – A Review
Nature, red in tooth and claw – Alfred, Lord Tennyson Editor’s Note: Recently, TR Don Kiesling sent me a copy of The Devil’s Teeth, a book about the Farallon Islands, a group of islands and sea stacks in the Gulf of the Farallones off the coast of San Francisco, California. Published in 2005, this book was […]
Surf Sirens 2024 – Banzai!
Editor’s Note: Surf Sirens rocked the rocks and the waves this September with 30 students and 11 instructors and assistants. Thank you so much to everyone who took photos this year! Kudos to Kristy Dahlquist, Wendy Wenrick, Alisha Bube, Helen Davis, and Deb Volturno for their contributions to this article. Surf Sirens 2024 was all about […]
History of the Tsunami Rangers Sea Kayak Race – Part 8
Editor’s Note: This is the story of the 1995 race, written by Kent Barber who was introduced to the event by Tom Cromwell, a kayaker from Washington State who had raced before. This was Kent’s first time participating in the event, and he did it justice in his article, which appeared in Bay Currents, the […]
History of the Tsunami Rangers Kayak Race – Part 7
Editor’s Note: This article about the 1994 race was written by Paul McHugh, a frequent competitor in the Tsunami event. Here’s his bio: Paul McHugh has been a paddlin’ fool for nearly five decades now, and counting. He’s also been an outdoor sports/environment/resource/adventure journalist for about that long, 22 years of it as a feature writer/editor […]
History of the Tsunami Rangers Sea Kayak Race – Part 6
Editor’s note: This is the second article in our Race Series this month. It’s about the 1993 Viking’s Day race. It was published in Bay Currents, the BASK (Bay Area Sea Kayakers) newsletter. We didn’t have a select batch of photos from this particular race so we’ve inserted representative photos from other 90’s races for […]
History of the Tsunami Rangers Sea Kayak Race – Part 5
Editor’s Note: Last May, in honor of the long run of the Tsunami Sea Kayak Race, we published 4 consecutive articles chronicling the beginnings of the race at Rodeo Beach and Pacifica. The last article covered the “Devil’s Dare” race in 1991, which started at Pacifica State Beach and ended at Michael Powers’ house at […]
Sacramento River Summer Solo
Backstory: In spring of 2021, Jeff Kay and Jason Montelongo offered an introductory two day clinic in Redding, CA, to prepare prospective participants for California River Quest. The first day was a basic intro to river dynamics and skills for paddlers. The second day was a paddle from Sundial Bridge in Redding to Rooster’s Landing, […]
History of the Tsunami Rangers Sea Kayak Race – Part 4
Editor’s Note: This is the fourth and final installment of our race articles for Race Month 2024. Later we’ll take up the story at Michael Powers’ home on Miramar Beach, where the race continued under various names and over various routes for almost 30 years. Since the racers in 1991 were too busy racing to take […]