Everything changes, and to both survive and thrive, adaptation is imperative. In 2020, Covid 19 brought changes to the Tsunami Rangers, not least in that for the first time in over 30 years, we didn’t hold our annual retreat. That was a bummer, but we adapted. In 2021 a fully vaccinated Ranger crew met in […]
Sea kayaking activities
Meet the Rangers! – Jeff Laxier
Editor’s note: This is the next in our Meet the Rangers series. Enjoy! And thanks to all the Rangers who contributed photos to this post. Vice Admiral Jim Kakuk: Jeff is a blend of kayaker, explorer, teacher and great camping companion. A natural in his kayak and a good diver and fisherman, you can count on Jeff […]
Prepping for the CAL 100
Editor’s Note: Thanks to instructors Jason Montelongo and Jeff Kay and to all the paddlers who went down the river with me. It was a new experience and a very enjoyable one! Thanks too to Tom (canoeist) and John (sea kayaker) who offered support for our first day of instruction. What is the Cal 100? Actually, […]
Meet the Rangers! – Cate Hawthorne
Editor’s Note: Thanks so much to all the Rangers who participated in writing this post. Another team effort in the bag! Happy New Year, everyone! Lt. JG Nancy Soares: For years there were no women Rangers. Then John Lull sponsored Deb Volturno, who took her test in 1996. For a long time after that, no […]
Salute the Sea! Propitiating the Ocean for Enhanced Sea Kayaking
Sailors are notoriously superstitious. Just as there are no atheists in the trenches of war, there are no atheists in the storm troughs of the sea. Something about the ocean, its vastness, its depths, its many unknowns, cues an ancient, ancestral response in the human breast. In a way, when we launch our boats it’s […]
September Love – A Tsunami Retreat Retrospective
Editor’s note: Thanks to Michael Powers, Steven King, and Jim Kakuk for their photos of past retreats! Thanks also to Dave, Don, Eric, Misha, Steve, Deb, Paula, Scott, Jeff, Cate, Dennis, Michael, Gordon, and Jim who are all represented in these photographs. What a team! The Rogue Valley was blazing and whole neighborhoods vanishing in […]
Rolling on the Rogue! A Women’s Whitewater Clinic
Editor’s Note: This post covers the Womxn’s Holistic Paddling Clinic offered by California Women’s Watersport Collective in tandem with Sundance Kayak School of Galice in the Rogue Valley of Oregon that took place on June 18 – 21 this year. 2020 is my third year attending this event, and I’m so glad I showed up! […]
A Study in Brown – Waste in the Wilderness
Editor’s Note: With apologies to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (A Study in Scarlet) and gratitude to my son Nick Wantz who came up with our title we bring you a discussion of poop in the wilderness. As more and more people adventure farther afield the subject of how to handle the growing quantity of human […]
Playing in Tide Rips With A Sea Kayak
by John Lull Editor’s note: It’s great to have another article by our talented Tsunami Ranger John Lull. Welcome back, John! Thanks for the informative post and for the awesome photos, taken from the Golden Gate bridge by your lovely wife June Legler. Thanks, June! It’s an exciting experience to sit in the eddy just outside […]
The Log of the Sea of Cortez – Tsunami Ranger Retreat November 2019
Surf Sirens Shred 2019! The Sirens’ Annual Gathering in Pics and Prose
What a great weekend! Three days on the water with a great group of badass women. I love this event for many reasons. One, it takes place on one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve seen, Hobuck Beach on the Makah Reservation at the tip of the northwest corner of Washington State. Two, it attracts […]
Tsunami Surf Session at Pillar Point
It’s a wonderful life. On May 13 I drove down to TR John Lull’s house on the Northern California coast in El Granada. Hung out for a few hours catching up and then headed over to TR El Rey’s place in Moss Beach. Had a great salmon dinner courtesy El Rey with his family and […]
Surf Sirens Unite! First Class Ocean Whitewater Instruction For Women
Editor’s note: Thanks to TR Captain Deb Volturno for contributing some of the photos in this post. And thanks to everyone who participated in the Surf Sirens gathering this year. I love this group! The third annual Surf Sirens gathering at Hobuck Beach on the Makah Reservation in Washington State was a big success this year. […]