Editor’s note: This essay on the Four Prerequisites to Ocean Swimming is the second in our four part series on Ocean Survival Swimming. It’s opinionated, funny, and informative. Enjoy. STAY WITH THE BOAT An old mariner’s maxim. This rule is true in most boat capsizes, where sailors will be rescued by the Coast Guard or […]
Tsunami Ranger Retreat 2014: A New Ranger!
Captain Kuk: When Eric and I first came up with the idea of a kayaking team in 1984 we wanted to have a system for rating the skills of the paddlers that we planned on inviting to join us. Eric proposed that we use naval ranking. Having been in the U.S. Navy he was familiar […]
Ocean Survival Swimming – A Sea Kayaker’s Guide to Staying Alive in the Water
Editor’s Note: Tsunami Ranger Commander Eric Soares wrote this detailed thesis illustrating the Tsunami Rangers’ emphasis on ocean survival swimming as a key skill for sea kayakers. We’ll publish his thesis in four parts. This first part is the outline for Ocean Survival Swimming. Note that Eric refers to buoyancy compensators instead of PFDs. It […]
California’s Lost Coast – Extreme Hiking in Southern Humboldt County
In June, my son Nick and I hiked the Lost Coast of Northern California. It’s an extreme hike – there’s no trail for much of the way – and it took us four days and three nights. We started at Shelter Cove and hiked north to the mouth of the Mattole River. Most people start […]
Tsunami Ranger Sea Cave Terms
Editor’s note: Thanks to Michael Powers, Eric Soares, and Jim Kakuk for these fabulous photos. One of the cool things about the Tsunami Rangers is the lexicon they invented to describe the marine environment. Some of these terms have probably become mainstream, but just for fun I thought I’d reproduce the Tsunami Ranger Sea Cave […]
Up a Hot Creek With a Paddle – Sea Kayaking in the Oregon Desert
On a cloudy day in April we headed east. Clear sailing until five hours out and a pronghorn played chicken with the truck so I had to cross into the opposite lane and take my foot off the gas so it could pass on the right and run in front of the truck at 60 […]
Reef Madness 2014 – Sea Kayaking Mayhem Strikes Again!
by Ed Anderson Editor’s note: Thanks so much for this post to Ed Anderson who always does such an amazing job as Master of Ceremonies and Paddler Extraordinaire at Reef Madness. And thanks too to Lars Howlett and Jim Kakuk for all the great photos. Paddle. Party. Piracy. That’s a perfect day! Sunday June 8th […]
Put Yourself in the Picture! – The Armchair Sea Kayaker
Editor’s note: This is one of the topics Eric had lined up for 2012. Some of the featured pictures he picked out himself and he specifically suggested that you “Put YOURSELF in the picture”. I can’t look at a painting of a seascape without evaluating it in terms of my kayak. Could I survive in […]
Fitness for Kayakers – Hips
Have you ever exited your kayak after a long paddle to find your first steps stiff and awkward until you find your “land legs”? When we kayak our hips are mostly stationary at about a 90-degree angle. Apart from getting in and out of the boat there’s not a lot of movement in those joints. […]
Riding Frozen Waves Of Water
By Tsunami Ranger Steve King As winter inevitably yields to spring I escaped to soar and crash down frozen waves of water in British Columbia not far from Revelstoke, Canada. I am not referring to a literally frozen wave of water, such as this image below from one of the Great Lakes during this winter’s […]
Sea Kayaking and Risk Homeostasis
By John Dowd Editor’s note: John Dowd has been sea kayaking since 1961. He is the author of “Sea Kayaking”, a manual for long distance touring. Dowd is also the founding editor and past part owner of Sea Kayaker Magazine and author of a series of marine adventure books for young adults. He is the […]
The Last Sea Kayaker
I received the last Sea Kayaker magazine with mixed feelings. When Eric was alive I didn’t read Sea Kayaker much – just when there was an article about a place I found intriguing. Eric often railed at what he saw as uninteresting content and that put me off. One of his pet peeves was an […]
Sea Kayaking Microwave – Surfin’ Tsunami Style
By Steve King and Scott Becklund Editor’s note: The Tsunami Rangers refer to the wave at Mushroom Rock as Microwave for two reasons: it’s a mini-version of Maverick’s and there’s a naval station with radio and radar on the bluff above the break. Thanks to TR Michael Powers for all the great photos! Steve: About a […]