Sea kayaking knowledge

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 waste that ends up in wild places is a hot topic. This is the Tsunami Rangers’ take on waste in the wilderness.

Lt. JG Nancy: Coincidentally, just before I started putting this post together, I read Tim Cahill’s book Pecked to Death by Ducks. Apart from being another of Cahill’s brilliant, witty, and hilarious travel books, this particular one contains a chapter aptly titled “The Throne of Terror”. Here’s Cahill: “Around home, bad bowels are an embarrassment best kept hidden… But oh, develop the most minor irregularities on a trip, and everyone gets to hear about your symptoms. In nauseous detail. The more remote the campsite – the greater the perceived distance from home – the more clinical these descriptions become. This is Cahill’s first law of bowel babble.” (p. 22.)

It’s true. Last year the Baja expedition was the furthest afield I’ve traveled with the Rangers and boy, did we talk about poop. We talked about poop before the retreat and after the retreat. During the retreat we literally drove a couple of our team mates away from the Batwing because some of us couldn’t leave the topic alone. And so, under the Batwing, a blog post was born.

It’s always fun to start with a story, so here’s Captain Deb “Tortuga” Volturno with her contribution:

Capt. Deb: Human waste in the wilderness is always a consideration, and it’s always worth having an action plan for the speciﬁc environment we’re in. There are diﬀerent methods of handling human waste in diﬀerent environments. Kayaking in Baja demands a human waste action plan that is suitable for the uniquely fragile desert environment. Poop that’s simply buried on land doesn’t decompose since the ground biome doesn’t host what it takes for decomposition. Burying poop in the intertidal zone is an acceptable solution in little use areas, but often that zone is not easily accessible except at the pristine beach where we’re camped – yuck! So hiking or paddling around the corner in the rocks is required to be able to bury human waste in the intertidal zone. That can be challenging in some places. Arguably the best way to deal with poop in parts of Baja is to have a system to carry it out – and there are many reliable, sanitary systems available.

Capt. Deb indicates an ideal fling vista

My all time favorite way of dealing with my own poop is the ‘Fling with a View’ method. Remote coastlines in Baja oﬀer excellent opportunities for this method. (Only recommended in remote areas!) Especially along the isolated coastlines in the Sea of Cortez, we tend to camp in sublime, protected coves with hills, bluﬀs, or headlands that wrap around the cove. That oﬀers favorable topography for the above mentioned poop process method.

In Baja, my preferred morning walk is up from camp to a high point overlooking the sea, and obviously away from the camping cove. Coﬀee in hand! The view will be predictably stunning, and especially so with the ﬁrst light of the day on the Sea of Cortez! With my vista above the sea selected, success follows in the details! I need to ﬁnd the perfect rock, which is rarely diﬃcult with the Baja geology. A ﬂat rock is essential, and it must have an ample surface area to hold the the amount of waste that will be deposited upon it. This will be diﬀerent depending on the individual, so the perfect ﬂat rock is an individual decision. The chosen rock must be able to be lifted in order to ﬁnish the project.

So to begin, take good aim, deposit your poop onto the rock, and when all is ready, my favorite part follows – ﬂing it con mucho gusto out from the bluﬀ into the sea! Keeerrshplasssshshh – and voila, the poop is broken down into very small parts! Quite satisfying! And the cycle of processing the organic waste continues – in the environment that has the wherewithal to decompose it. As mentioned above, this method is only suggested in remote areas. Other details? Before you ﬂing, be sure that nothing can be hurt or damaged in the water below you. Make your toss from a safe spot not too close to the edge. And toilet paper? Do not leave TP anywhere, or think it will go away if you stick it under a rock – super disgusting! It will not just go away on it’s own! Either carry TP out in a sealed zip-lock bag, or at some point, have a safe and legal burn below the tideline. And ﬁnally, never forget to wash/clean your hands – everytime!

Lt. JG Nancy: Awesome advice. As always, Capt. Deb is so on point. Now here’s Vice Admiral Jim Kakuk with his tale about waste in the wilderness:

Admiral Kuk: We arrived in Loreto a few months ago to kayak around Carmen Island for the Tsunami Ranger Retreat. One of the first logistical discussions we had was on the topic of pooping. Carmen, now a National Park, has restrictions on how to poo. Of the several options mentioned the method I decided on was to “paddle and poo”.

I remember a time many years ago in Pohnpei, Micronesia, when swimming through the giant coral heads with schools of colorful fish schooling around I dropped my drawers and delivered a plume of yellow and brown mixed with bits and pieces. I recall several fish swimming in to take a look and one in particular that took a bite and then ejected it with a sideways glance, took another taste and then spit it out before swimming reject-fully away. Most of the other fish were curious but kept their distance from the brown plume.

The mysterious ruins of Nan Madol in Pohnpei

On Carmen one morning, with coffee cup stowed in my crotch, I dutifully headed out to a place down the coast a short ways to a private spot to toss my chunky monkey (several days of consuming all sorts of mixed camp food makes for some interesting excrement).

About half way to my destination I realized I needed to “flatten the curve” and started looking for another rest stop right away. Along the blank rocky cliff, I spotted a small ledge just above the low tide line that looked like a miniature Rivendell. I seal landed and quickly dropped my togs while a covey of crustaceans scampered into the crevices. The buildup was intense and after the ass blast I turned around to see the scattered brown chunks on the landing, then noticed the crabs hiding in the rocks with wide eyes looking at the seismic event that had just landed in their front yard. But then they are crabs that live on dead things so maybe, I was thinking, “not a problem”.

Admiral Kuk and the crab — Admiral Kuk and the Baja Krab

After jumping into the salt water bath and washing up real good (no toilet paper needed) I hopped back into my kayak. Paddling away, I could see the crab colony emerging and shouted out, “Uber eats, Baja Fresh”. Thinking that maybe they had a good breakfast, I returned to camp to make mine.

Lt. JG Nancy: Prior to departure on the Baja trip, Capt. Deb informed us that our destination, Isla Carmen, is a National Park and therefore off-limits to pooping. My enthusiasm waned. No pooping on the island? Wtf??? But Capt. Deb was taking it all in stride and told us she and Paula were bringing Wag Bags, and that keeping the Park pristine for others was the Right Thing To Do. Still, I found the constraint depressing.

Pooping below the tide line at this camp on the Lost Coast was not a problem

But then I remembered a backpacking trip I took with my son up the Lost Coast of Northern California in 2014. All went well until the last campground, just before we hit the Mattole River. It was nearly impossible to find a place to poop even though the campground was quite large. The place was a zoo. Normally I would have pooped some place below the tide line, but when I walked over to the beach there were what seemed like fifty people hanging out, watching the waves. Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide. I went back to camp and scouted around. In the first likely spot I began to dig I promptly encountered fresh poo. Ugh. Same at the second spot. I don’t remember where I ended up, but by the time the ordeal was over I was totally grossed out. I came away from the trip A. never wanting to go there again and B. recognizing that the Lost Coast has been officially found. It sucks because I remember backpacking that coastline in the 70’s and not meeting a single soul.

Thinking about that experience I understood the need to protect wild places. Times change. Till now it’s never occurred to me that I can’t just dig a hole, drop my pants, and poo when I’m out in the wilderness. But there it is. What to do? Emails went back and forth, and when I understood that while pooping on land is a no-no, pooping in the ocean is ok, I started to see light. With that, here are a few methods for disposing of poop in the wilderness, from the most basic to the most high tech.

As it turned out, some of our campsites were small pocket beaches where proper poop disposal was critical — As it turned out, some of our campsites on Isla Carmen were small pocket beaches where proper poop disposal was critical

The Swim and Poo Method Once we were on the island I started implementing a variety of waste management methods. First I tried swimming out a good way from the beach and pooping in the water. Easy peasy and the water acts as a natural bidet. By the time I swam back to the beach I was all clean. The only problem was the surge pushed the bits around and it was initially bit of a challenge to avoid them. If you try this method I recommend swimming further out to sea after elimination and giving your dispersing poop a wide berth as you swim back in.

The Poop and Scoop Method The next method I tried was pooping on land and scooping it up with a plastic bag. You put the bag over your hand, pick up the poo, turn the bag inside out, and knot the bag, just like you’d do for your dog. Each morning when we put in for our next destination I’d place the bag in the small hatch in front of me. When an opportune moment arose, I’d pull the bag out, dump the poop in the ocean, rinse the bag, and put it back in the hatch. This method worked pretty well but it wasn’t always opportune, and sometimes I had to wait till we made camp for the night and then take a special poop drop paddle.

The problem with the In-Water Method is that the tight quarters in the pocket beaches mean the poop can come right back to the beach, so dropping the load out to sea or along a series of cliffs is a better option — The problem with the Swim and Poo Method is that the tight quarters at pocket beaches mean you have to swim out a fair ways or the poop can come right back to the beach.

The Poop Flinging Method This became my favorite method of poop disposal, but I had to do it a little differently than the Captain described above. This method works great if you have leisure to take a stroll before go time, but the first time I tried this method it didn’t go as planned. When nature calls me, it’s urgent. It comes on quickly and demands instant action. So I pooped in the sand behind my tent and then found a flat rock and used my U-Dig It shovel to cover the poop with sand and then scoop it onto the rock. Then I picked up the rock and began trekking to the top of the bluff. It was a good 20 minutes up the rough, rocky slope while evading thorny shrubs and saguaro-like cardons. Along the way I got into this weird mindset that I was like some kind of Mayan priestess carrying a scatalogical offering to the gods. It was sublime yet ridiculous. Here I was, with both hands holding my excrement on a large, heavy rock like a platter carrying it up and up into the sky…

The U-Dig It tool. The sheath got lost but it's still a great addition to any camping trip! — The U-Dig It tool. The sheath got lost but it’s still a great addition to any camping trip!

When I finally reached the bluff top, I found I couldn’t just fling. The act seemed to require more gravitas. The point at the end of the bluff beckoned, and tired as I was, I hiked on for another couple hundred yards till I got to land’s end. Standing there I said a silent prayer for the benefit of our expedition and then flung as hard as I could. The rock sailed into space and plummeted out of sight. Three…two…one…foom! I heard the rock hit the water with a healthy splash. It was strangely satisfying. I walked back to camp feeling lighter both physically and spiritually, and highly entertained.

“Kevin” This method is a share from TRs Cate Hawthorne and Jeff Laxier. It’s also used by the Boy Scouts, but I bet they don’t give their PVC pipes names. “Kevin” is a section of PVC capped at both ends. Cate and her lovely husband Jeff carry it with them on wilderness trips. They use it to pack their poop out, and dump it at an RV station when they return to civilization. For more info on Kevin, here is a link to Cate and Jeff’s video on How To Pack Out Poo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2PODtBeCfQ&feature=youtu.be

Kevin the Poop Tube — Jeff and “Kevin” the home made Poop Tube

TR Jeff Laxier: Here [is] Kevin II the poop tube. This was checked during permit process with BLM prior to getting on the Rogue, and fulfills BLM standards, and guidelines. I will modify again with a 4” main pipe. This makes it less messy for dropping and cleaning. The use of doggy bags (corn starch) is no longer best practice. Burrito Wrap poop in sturdy napkin(s) and drop into Kevin.

The Wag Bag Some of us used Wag Bags on Isla Carmen. Wag Bags are high tech bags to pack your poo. Each bag is puncture-resistant and contains a hand sanitizer packet, NASA-developed solidifying agent, “poo powder” to de-stink your poop, and some TP. Rather than repeat what others have done so well, here’s a link to a great article on Wag Bags, where to use them, how to use them, and why to use them. Check it out at https://thedyrt.com/magazine/gear/wag-bag-camping-waste/ You can get Wag Bags from a variety of sources in a variety of prices. Just google “wag bag”.

All kidding aside, this is a serious issue. Human waste is everywhere, and I don’t mean litter. Think about Mt. Everest. Pristine, sacred Qomolangma, the Holy Mother, now polluted with tons of human excrement. Humans leave an estimated 26,500 pounds of feces on the mountain each season. Leave No Trace ethics regarding human waste are as follows:

Minimize social and esthetic impact
Minimize water contamination
Minimize the spread of disease
Minimize decomposition

This last is important because it’s estimated that human poo can take up to a year to decompose, especially in desert and high alpine environments. Coprolites, or fossilized fecal matter, stick around for a Very Long Time. Dried human excrement from Oregon’s Paisley Caves has been dated to 14,300 years old. And with the coronavirus ravaging the globe, disease should be on everyone’s mind. Our water sources are already contaminated by giardia. I remember the days when hikers could drink water in the wild without having to think about it. No one does that now without taking a risk of infection. We don’t need to exacerbate the problem. Lastly, if all other reasons don’t move you, consider this. You get to a seemingly pristine place, set up camp, and look around for a potential latrine site. You find the perfect spot, dig down a few inches, and encounter a big fresh turd. This happened to me on the Lost Coast. I’ll never see wilderness the same.

What are your methods for pooping in the wilderness? Let us know by clicking below!

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!

When he's not out kayaking, John plays with the South City Blues Band or jams at the Old Princeton Landing — When he’s not out kayaking, John plays with the South City Blues Band or jams at the Old Princeton Landing

It’s an exciting experience to sit in the eddy just outside the massive concrete base at the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge during a six-knot ebb. The current rushes by on both sides and a dull roar testifies to the powerful tide rips nearby. The eddy is a boiling cauldron full of small whirlpools and conflicting currents. Whenever I’m in this eddy, I glance up at the bridge looming overhead and wonder what the tourists think of these “maniacs” in tiny kayaks below. But all stray thoughts disappear upon peeling out into the main current in search of waves to surf.

After turning to face the current, I’m poised on the crest of an oversteepened swell; a brief battle ensues between the force of the current, trying to pull me out to sea, and gravity, trying to pull me down the wave face. Gravity wins, assisted by a brief flurry of paddling, and my kayak slides down the wave, momentarily defying the drag of the current. Riding these waves, ferry-gliding back and forth across the current, is exhilarating. This is known as “riding the rips” and it ranks as one of the ultimate thrills in sea kayaking. With the appropriate skills and knowledge, it can even be done safely.

Tide rips (not to be confused with “rip tides” which occur in the surf zone) form during periods of strong tidal currents. These currents form in response to the rise and fall of the tide, usually in estuaries and inland waterways which are connected to the open sea. Tide rips range in scale from small ripples and dancing water to huge breaking seas. The rough water results from the release of energy when the current meets obstacles, traps waves, or flows against other forces such as wind or cross currents. Places to watch for tide rips include shoals, areas off points of land, the mouths of constricted channels, and areas of colliding currents (i.e. the down current side of an island). Whenever a strong wind blows against the current, the wind waves are slowed and steepened, creating large, confused seas.

TR John Lull, calm and relaxed in large confused seas

Many sea kayakers regard tide rips as dangerous water to be avoided whenever possible. For the inexperienced or novice paddler, this is certainly true. But for the kayaker who has good bracing skills and experience in rough water (especially surf), tide rips are an excellent place to train and have fun at the same time. Obviously, it is important to start out in relatively mild tide rips at first and work your way up to more extreme conditions as you get used to dealing with currents, eddy lines, whirlpools, and standing waves.

There is an important distinction between playing in tide rips and running them. Running a tide rip is simply a matter of paddling or bracing your way through while being swept downstream. Playing in a tide rip involves paddling in an upstream direction and surfing the waves directly into the current or ferry gliding across the current while holding an upstream angle. A substantial tide rip with fairly steep waves is necessary for surfing. This usually means a current of three knots or more. Playing implies fun, but these maneuvers can also be serious business if you are trying to cross a raging tidal stream and want to avoid getting swept out to sea. The ability to play in tide rips will give you the confidence and skill necessary for paddling safely in areas with strong currents. The following techniques outline how to play in tide rips in a safe, relaxed, and controlled manner.

Using waves to make progress against the current

Preparation

Before venturing out into strong currents, learn as much as possible about the area in which you plan to paddle; find out where the strongest currents and largest tide rips are likely to be and the location of nearby eddies or escape routes. The really monstrous tide rips are well known to local fisherman and other boaters. Most of my experience with tide rips comes from paddling during spring tides (during new and full moons, when tidal range is greatest) in parts of San Francisco Bay and at the Golden Gate. The amount of water flowing through the Golden Gate is six times the flow of the Mississippi River—about six hundred billion gallons every 24 hours, and ebb tides (outgoing current) can reach up to 6 knots. Local knowledge of the currents where you plan to paddle is very important.

Consult current tables and charts to determine the direction, strength, and timing of currents. Treat these figures as estimates; times predicted in current tables can be off by as much as an hour and current strength is affected by runoff and wind. Nautical charts show the location of major tide rips, but rarely indicate anything close to shore that won’t affect larger vessels. The chart can be used to predict possible tide rip locations by looking for the features mentioned above (shoals, etc.) Keep in mind that the strongest currents generally occur in deeper water and constricted channels. The current is much weaker in shallow water close to shore.

Eddies (areas where the current reverses direction) occur in embayments close to shore and on the down current side of obstructions such as points of land, rocks, small islands, and bridge abutments. It is extremely important to locate eddies, because they can be used as resting places or as a means to travel opposite to the main current direction. It is often possible to use an eddy to move back to the upper end of a tide rip.

Basic Skills

The first step is to work on some of the basic skills needed. Surfing skills are essential; you need to be able to surf and handle breaking waves. Try to get some practice in the surf zone before attempting to play in large tide rips. If surf is unavailable, then practice surfing boat wakes and wind waves. Learn to control the boat while surfing by using boat lean and stern rudder strokes. Practice bracing strokes, using a combination hip snap and slap brace. Also practice bracing sideways into breaking waves. Make sure your rescue skills are reliable; you might need them. An Eskimo roll would be very handy, especially if you intend to progress to big tide rips. Finally, many of the skills used in river kayaking (crossing eddy lines, downstream lean, etc.) are applicable to paddling tide rips.

Once you have located a tide rip that looks manageable for your skill level, try to gain some perspective on its dimensions (from shore, if possible). Determine how far the area of rough water extends and how wide the tide rip is; does rough water fill the entire channel? Keep in mind that conditions will change as the current strengthens or diminishes. Make sure the current won’t carry you someplace you wouldn’t want to be. Locate a convenient eddy or area of slack water nearby where you can rest without being swept down current.

Boat Lean

Maintaining the proper boat lean is important whenever you get broadside to the current or cross eddy lines (see below). When broadside to the current, keep the hull on a planing angle by leaning the kayak slightly down current. Lean the boat, not your body. Do this by tilting the boat with your knees and thighs, keeping your upper body over the boat. This can be practiced in flat water; practice tilting the boat sideways (by pushing up with one knee) and hold it in position without a using a paddle brace. It is also important to lean the boat into breaking waves. Because the current carries you into the waves, you will also be leaning down current.

Crossing Eddy Lines

An eddy forms where the current reverses direction, usually on the down current side of an obstruction. The shear zone between the reverse current (in the eddy) and the main current is known as an eddy line. Eddy lines can be sharp (narrow) and fairly obvious or broad zones that are not so obvious. They are sometimes marked by floating debris. Wherever you suspect an eddy, note where the current changes direction to determine the location of the eddyline. This is important because when you cross the eddyline, you must make an adjustment in boat lean in order to prevent capsize. The basic rule to remember is this: When traveling with the main current and turning into an eddy, lean into your turn as you cross the eddyline. The opposing current will grab your bow and swing it around into the eddy. By leaning into this turn, you will be presenting the hull at a planing angle to the opposing current in the eddy. When the currents get confusing, just remember to lean the boat in the direction the bow gets pushed.

With a well-marked eddy and sharp eddy line, the best way to make an eddy turn is the same as on a river. With the bow pointed downstream at about a 45 degree angle to the eddy, power across the eddy line, using a sweep stroke to initiate your turn into the eddy. As you cross the eddy line, lean into the turn while planting a high brace in the eddy on your turning side. You can also ferry (see below) into an eddy if the eddy line is not too extreme. To exit the eddy, reverse the procedure: Facing into the main current, power out of the eddy at about 45 degrees to the eddy line. As the current grabs your bow, lean into the turn on a high brace, pivoting around into the current. If you wish to exit the eddy into ferrying position, use a smaller angle into the current and paddle hard. As the current grabs your bow, use a sweep stroke on the down current side. This prevents your bow from being pushed down current.

Punch the eddy line at a 45 - 60 degree angle — Punch the eddy line at a 45 – 60 degree angle

Ferrying

Ferrying is a technique used for crossing currents. By paddling upstream at an angle to the current, it is possible to move directly across without getting swept downstream. Practice ferrying back and forth across the current. The faster the current, the more you will have to angle upstream into the current. Watch the shoreline or use a range (line up two stationary points) to determine your direction of movement.

In strong tide rips with waves, the only way to ferry without losing ground is to surf the waves while ferrying across. This is known as ferry gliding and is a very efficient (and fun) way to cross a tide rip. The trick is to set a ferry angle, paddle hard, and surf across the upstream wave faces. Adjust the ferry angle so that you continue to move across the current while surfing.

Use a ferry angle whenever you want to move laterally in a tide rip. When tired or if conditions get too difficult, don’t panic; just ferry over to the eddy or slack water which you located ahead of time. If you have trouble holding a ferry angle and find yourself fighting the current going nowhere, point more toward shore, paddle hard, and accept some down current drift. This way you will at least make progress toward shore.

Surfing

Tide rips tend to “trap” waves. As wind waves, ocean swell, or boat wakes flow against the current, they are steepened (sometimes to the point of breaking) and slowed. Where the current flows over obstructions, standing waves can form. The steep upstream faces of these waves can be surfed. To catch the waves, paddle in an up current direction and ferry over to the waves. As your stern is lifted, lean forward and paddle hard. Once on the wave face, use stern rudder strokes to steer. If your bow digs in, lean back. When you lose the wave, be ready to catch the next one. Ferry back and forth until you find the best waves. If you get swept too far down current or out of the rip, ferry over out of the main current or into an eddy (if one is present) and paddle back to where you started.

One trick to catching waves in tide rips with choppy, confused seas, is to watch for wave troughs under your bow as you paddle up current. When a trough appears under your bow, lean forward and paddle into it. While surfing, steer and paddle into consecutive wave troughs to keep the ride going.

Surfing can be used as means of resting or holding position in a tide rip. To “rest” while facing against the current, save energy by easing up on your paddling while on the wave faces and otherwise paddling just hard enough to maintain position. If the waves are not standing still, but are moving up current (this is often the case), progress can be made against the current by surfing each wave as long as possible. When you lose the wave, keep paddling and catch the next one.

Surfing upstream on steepened ocean swell

Rolls and Rescues

In strong current, it is easier to roll up on the down current side. If you try to roll on the up current side, you are forcing the boat up against the current. But it is too disorienting when upside down under water to know which way the current is flowing. One way to handle the situation is to try to roll on your “strong” side first, then switch sides if the roll fails. Another option is to wait a few seconds until boat speed matches current speed, then roll up.

Everyone paddling in tide rips should be well-versed in deep water rescues. If someone capsizes and bails out you will be faced with a rough water rescue. This should not be a major problem if you have practiced rescues under varying conditions. In some cases it might be prudent to wash through into calmer water before doing the rescue, if that option exists. It is very important to hang onto your boat for dear life if you end up swimming in current on a windy day. If you let go, the boat will go with the wind and you will go with the current and “never the twain shall meet.” It is probably a good idea to set up a buddy system in case a rescue is needed. But you should also have the ability to do a self-rescue if necessary (re-enter & roll, paddle float rescue, or with a sit-on-top kayak, remount).

Summary

Paddling in tide rips is a great way to improve your kayaking skills and learn to handle strong currents. It’s also a lot of fun! But be sure to prepare yourself with the appropriate basic skills and knowledge. Start out training in small tide rips before trying the stronger ones. Don’t tackle “hellhole rapids” at maximum ebb during the full moon the first time out. With practice, you can play safely in moderately strong tide rips and learn to use the current and waves rather than fight them.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this informative article by TR John Lull. For questions and comments, please click below. Thanks!

Certification – What’s the Point? The Tsunami Rangers Take On Sea Kayaking Certifications

Tsunami Rangers Gordon Brown takes his test in Cathedral Cave on the Oregon Coast, 2000 - photo by Michael Powers — Tsunami Rangers Gordon Brown takes his test in Cathedral Cave on the Oregon Coast, 2000 – photo by Michael Powers

Editor’s note: This topic arose during one of our Tarp Talks on the Tsunami Retreat in November, 2019, and we’d like to share our thoughts on this very important subject. In the past, the Rangers have been vilified as a bunch of chest-beaters, careless, crazy, dangerous, whatever. Nothing could be further from the truth. For one thing, we count one of the highest-level certified ACA instructors in the country as our Captain. For another, the main reason the Tsunami Rangers came into existence is that Jim and Eric knew they couldn’t go to the places they wanted to go and do the things they wanted to do safely without a team of like-minded kayakers. We hope you enjoy our little discussion, recorded on Jim’s iPhone, and that you’ll chip in with your two cents in the comments section at the end of the post. Thanks!

Tarp Talk, November 14

Jim: My attitude toward certification is I always thought, oh that’s for Herberts, and for people who just want to get the badge and aren’t really invested in the sport or the environment, but my attitude is changing about that a little bit because I realize now as Tsunami Rangers we do have our own form of certification, we just call it rank. But there are advantages and disadvantages to everything, and in the kayaking world there’s a lot of disagreement on what certification actually means. Now, I am not knowledgeable about the different certification ranks or different certification schools and classes, what all that means, so we’re going to have to develop that into a very descriptive couple of paragraphs so that we know what we’re talking about…

In the Tsunami Rangers we’ve always scoffed at certification and I think that that was probably a little bit of an ill-conceived attitude because I think that certification is useful and this is what we’re trying to decide now.

The only certificate you'll ever get from the Rangers, if you survived their race. — The only certificate you’ll ever get from the Rangers, if you survived their race.

Nancy: Why do you think it’s useful?

Jim: Well, um, I don’t know but here is Captain Tortuga to talk about why certification would be useful.

Deb: Why is certification useful? Well, in the Tsunami Rangers that certification has to do with your experience, your decision-making, your risk management, and as that develops more you earn a higher rank. And there’s a lot that’s similar to other certification systems and the most familiar would be the American Canoe Association, the ACA, and the British Canoe Union, the BCU. And there’s also now a certification system in Canada, I think in parts of Europe and New Zealand, something that’s a work in progress, with that same idea. Now I’m very familiar with the ACA because of being involved with the American Canoe Association for many years, and I’m an instructor at a Level 5; I’m an instructor trainer-educator at Level 5 which is the highest certification offered by the American Canoe Association, and at this point I’m the only woman who holds that in the country.

I think certification is a great thing. I think where there’s a lot of sort of controversy or discussion is because what does a certification buy you? And that a lot of people think that it’s just a badge and in some ways I think that it can present itself to be just a badge, but what it does is each level shows that you have the paddling skills and the group management ability and the leadership ability in those conditions so Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4 and Level 5 in coastal kayaking, and Level 5 being the highest, and now there’s no upper end of the conditions so there’s no remit at Level 5, so it’s all about judgment in those conditions.

We know TR Dandy Don Kiesling is in the safe zone. He's got good judgment. — Looks scary but we know TR Dandy Don Kiesling is in the safe zone. He’s got good judgment and good positioning.

But what happens is instructors go through this process, and that’s what they do, they teach kayaking and they don’t necessarily get out in the real world and get the breadth of experience, the broad spectrum of experience in all different environments, and not just their home environment, but other environments in other parts of the world, cold water, warm water, all of that.

Jim: The downside?

Deb: The downside? The downside of certification is that instructors or whoever go after the certifications as a badge of honor or it’s a badge to achieve rather than gain the other experience that goes along with it to make you a good leader, a good safety officer, a good group manager, a good risk assessor, good risk management in all different environments so you get a small window of your assessment and if you pass that you are awarded with that level of certification. And I think where the discrepancy is that there’s a lot of discussion about is whether that certification is just a badge, and then how do you use it in the real world, because the real world is where it matters.

Tsunami Ranger John Lull in the real world, scouting the zone at Pillar Point

Nancy: Okay, so I have a couple of questions. As a low man on the totem pole in the Tsunami Rangers I’m really honored to be a member. It has done something for me, the rank, I suppose like the certification, has helped me in that it has actually made me feel better about my kayaking; it’s made me feel like I have some skills, because as the person that I am, and I think women tend to do this, is we tend to doubt ourselves, and so when you get something like that you go oh okay, I’m good enough. And that’s something, you know, that gives you some spirit, that gives you some power. At the same time I think for some people it can give you a sense that you know everything and I remember my late husband Eric saying that women are competent but not confident, whereas men are confident but not competent and I think there’s a lot of truth around that and if you’re giving the same certification across the board which obviously you have to, people take it differently. And I know that as a novice I could go out with the Tsunami Rangers and feel that I would be totally safe. It didn’t matter what their rank was. They were Rangers. I was safe being around them.

When you go out with a person who’s certified, and I’ve read accounts of this type of thing happening, you should expect to be safe, but sometimes people lead classes, expeditions, whatever, and bad things happen because they make poor judgment calls regardless of the fact that they are well-certified so how do we deal with that?

Jim: I think what Nancy’s talking about is the “duckling syndrome” where the person with the badge goes out there and leads a trip and all the little ducklings just go along because they figure that person has their certification so they know what they’re doing. And I think that that is one of the real errors in the system is that it’s hard to qualify someone on all levels and you can’t just take a six-week course, even an extensive one, and still be competent on all levels because there’s situations that you can’t predict until you get into them so you have to be able to have good judgment based on skill sets rather than classroom exercises, and so I think there’s a distinction between knowledge of the environment and knowledge of a system, and I think there’s room for a discussion on that.

Jim instructing a kayaker in surf — Jim Kakuk instructing a kayaker in surf

Deb: And adapting to a dynamic environment. You can’t learn that in a classroom and you can’t learn that as you’re climbing a ladder. You’ve got to get out in the real world and experience that, and I think that’s where the Tsunami Rangers have gone into that dynamic environment, created a hierarchy of assessment for their officer rankings, but working together as a team, and then that’s where you adapt to the environment as you need to because it’s not in a book. There’s so much goes on as conditions ramp up that it’s counter to everything that you’re gonna read in any of the literature; you’ve got to adapt with your bag of tools.

I have no conventional certification in whitewater kayaking, or sea kayaking either, but her I am navigating Argo on the Rogue River in 2018 — Adapting with the toolbag – transferring ocean skills to whitewater – photo by Liz Meheve

Nancy: Yesterday we had the conversation that skiers and mountain climbers and river runners initially, well, certainly skiers and mountain climbers, don’t get certified. On the other hand, rivers and ski slopes and mountains all have route rankings, so that if I tell you that I can kayak in a Class 1 and Class 2 you automatically know where I am regardless of whatever certification I might have. Same if I tell you that I can ski a green slope or a blue slope or a double black you know what I can do. Same if I tell you what kind of pitch I can climb; if I can do Half Dome free climbing, you know I’m a really good climber. So those people don’t have to be certified but their routes are certified and that gives you a real sense of what that person can do. All you have to do is take them out there and see what they do. Like my martial arts teacher used to say, I don’t care what your rank is; get on the mat and show me what you can do. And I think that’s what the Tsunami Rangers do, we all know each other very well, we all know what we can do and what we can’t do, and so we work really well together, but when you’re advertising yourself as certified this way or that way it doesn’t necessarily mean anything to somebody who’s never met you before. You might be really good. You might not. We don’t know what you’ve done; we don’t know where you’ve been; we don’t know what kind of pressure you’ve been under, and that can be an issue.

A typical day on Mt. Ashland. The slope is rated and cautions are marked but this isn't always the case with the ocean. — A typical day on Mt. Ashland. The slope is rated and cautions are marked but this isn’t always the case with the ocean.

Jim: I want to say one thing about rating a river or a climb in that it’s a fixed rate whereas on the ocean it’s really hard even with the Sea Conditions Rating System that Eric developed it is just about impossible to predict all of the conditions that you might be in and it’s a big variable that is rarely addressed in the certification systems.

Steve: One thing I want to say about skiing certification is that I know ski instructors, those who work with disabled skiers and/or other ski instructors, go through a certification system which most mountains know exactly what that means in terms of your skill level for teaching.

Jim: Excellent. Anybody else?

Deb: I think one of the differences that Jim brought up between rivers and mountains is it’s very linear and mountains if you get into high alpine, it’s extremely dynamic, unpredictable, yet you can always hunker down, dig a hole, and wait it out. The difference with sea kayaking going back to the quote that Eric Soares made that rivers really are linear, a rhythm of rock n roll, predictable rhythm, and the sea on the other hand is trying to dance to improvisational jazz.

Capt. Deb dancing to improvisational jazz on the Mendocino coast

Jim: Exactly.

Deb: So it’s extremely dynamic on so many levels, and I say it’s at least four dimensions, maybe five. So it makes it much harder to earn certification that can be boxed at that level when you’ve got the most extreme.

Nancy: What would those four dimensions, maybe five be? Tell us what they are.

The dimensions of sea kayaking - photo by Steven King — Some of the considerations of sea kayaking: rocks, waves, other kayakers, cold water – photo by Steven King

Deb: Well, it’s in liquid, right? So you’ve got length, width, height, time, and the change of dynamics. The movement through those things I would say is the fifth dimension, because they come together to create a whole other dimension of its own.

Jim: So it’s left, right, up, down…

Deb: Left, right, up and down, depth, time, and then the blending of all those things…

Nancy: And animals…

Deb: Well, and the sea critters…

Well, we didn't expect that! - photo courtesy the Tutukaka, NZ Herald — Whooee, we didn’t expect THAT! – photo courtesy the Tutukaka, NZ Herald

Jim: The difference between the Tsunami Rangers and most certification systems is that certification systems typically give the assessment to an individual whereas in the Tsunami Rangers as a team we are assessed based on the skill sets of the whole team and to distinguish that from the individual Tsunami Ranger certification, and their rank is based on their skill set as it is in the team. Something else to add to that?

Nancy: Yeah, I want to talk about how Deb uses her experience with the Tsunami Rangers when she certifies people because it adds so much to her understanding of what is needed especially for really high level people. Deb, you wanna talk about that for a little bit?

Deb: Not really. Just, as you get into higher level certification when the conditions are… the standard or remit is above 25 knots, 4 to 6 foot seas, anything above that goes… anything over 4 to 6 foot surf goes… it’s managed with many parts, so it’s not just group management, it’s about communication, it’s about understanding the group, it’s about taking a group in that environment and being a good enough leader that you can assess the group, assess the individuals, and know whether to bring them into that environment or not so it’s a very difficult level to assess, and what I bring from the Tsunami Rangers is the years of working together as a team and understanding where the strengths are in a team.

One of the unofficial Tsunami assessments - can you pack, carry, and drink good tequila? — Strengths in a team – one of the official Tsunami assessments: can you pack, carry, and drink good tequila? Cate Hawthorne aces her test.

And the communication that we use because when you get into big conditions you’re not gonna be able to say, “Hey wait a minute, come on over here, let’s talk about this”. You need to be able to signal and go. You need to be able to work together as a tight team and the tight team comes from skills yes, but basically good communication, good decision making, and adapting as you go, as things are changing.

"I'm okay!" one of the many hand signals covered in the Tsunami Rangers' SCRS to aid on-water communication — “I’m okay!” one of the many hand signals to aid on-water communication covered in the Tsunami Rangers’ DVD Kayaking Ocean Rock Gardens.

Nancy: So as far as I know, and Deb can correct me on this, people are not necessarily certified based on judgment and Deb was mentioning that she uses the Sea Conditions Rating System developed by the Tsunami Rangers when she certifies her beginning level people and that’s really important because one of the things about the rating system is that it helps you judge what kind of conditions you really want to go out in because you can look at things and then you can add something like cold water and the level becomes more difficult or you can add rocks and suddenly it becomes more difficult whereas previously it didn’t look that bad, and that judgment thing can follow you all the way through your certification process if you do well. But if you don’t do well you can go all the way through the ranks [of conventional certification systems] and still have really poor judgment and yet have a really high level certification and that is not necessarily a good mix.

The Northern California coast at Westport - assess the conditions using the SCRS. Would you or should you kayak here?y onditions using the SCRS - would you and should you kayak here? — The Northern California coast at Westport – assess the conditions using the SCRS. Would you or should you kayak here?

Jim: Yeah, okay, my comment is basically process versus end result. You can have all kinds of processes and systems but it’s the end result that you actually want and so this is a question for Deb, actually, in your experiences in teaching your ACA certification classes, how do you reference the Tsunami Rangers in how we do things versus how the ACA does things?

Deb: Well, Admiral, that is top secret. I can’t divulge that, but I do adapt Tsunami Ranger methods in my work mentoring and working with other instructors and certifying other instructors in the ACA system. And I’ll just leave it at that.

Jim: It augments your skills.

Deb: Yes.

Afterthoughts: On Judgment

Deb: Engage the brain from the beginning, ask the right questions, and make effective decisions. Empower students and instructors to engage in their reality, monitor their reality, and adapt in a safe, timely, and hopefully even a fun way. Judgment is skill development for the brain, which is arguably the most important part of paddling. If you’re putting yourself and your students in a highly dynamic liquid environment, you better have good judgment. The best judgment comes from your own experience.

Experience. Ain't nothing like it. — Experience. Ain’t nothing like it. – photo by Michael Powers

Judgment is always part of the instructor assessment. As the assessor I must provide opportunities for the instructor candidate to show their stuff – but it’s a very big picture, not limited to one individual or one environmental condition. I add layers to the tasks, and elements of the unknown which is realistic. The big problem is that the window for assessment is small, usually three days, so you can imagine that there must be as many layers to assess as possible.

Again, this highlights the issue with assessment. If the instructors are not getting out regularly to paddle in a variety of environments, keeping up with playing in dynamic conditions, keeping up with challenging themselves outside of the certification world, they are selling their students short – and in my opinion merely using the certification as a badge.

Nancy: So it sounds like at the highest levels of sea kayak certification, judgment is the most important skill, really a quality, that instructors need to have, and it is also the most difficult to teach and to assess. As Deb says, the best judgment comes from experience. Acquiring good judgment on the water takes time. Assessing good judgment also takes time, probably more than three days. For example, you can know someone for years and think they have good judgment and then one day…

Jim? Your thoughts?

Jim: Positive side – certification classes help create a network that develops into long term contacts and can evolve with time.

Negative – puts students in a classification of safe “box” that is good for the moment but when things change can be a restriction.

Nancy: Mulling this over I remembered that without certification people can’t teach and make money. Many of our friends own kayaking companies that offer classes teaching people not only how to kayak but also advancing students’ skills with regard to surfing, rock gardening, and whitewater in both sea and rivers. Certification allows people to get insurance to cover themselves and their businesses in case of a lawsuit. Being a kayak instructor is a preferred way of life for lots of people and without certification that wouldn’t be possible. So in the sense that certification creates a niche in which kayakers can make a living doing something they love, it’s a good thing.

The Rangers at play in a Mendocino rock garden. — The Rangers at play in a Mendocino rock garden

Well, that’s it, folks! We hope you enjoyed our discussion. Please join the conversation by adding your comment below. Thanks!

Alert! Help the Paddling Community Save Lives With the COLD WATER SAFETY FUNDRAISING DRIVE

By Moulton Avery

Editor’s note: Moulton Avery is an expert on heat and cold stress. He gave his first public lecture on hypothermia in 1974. He was executive director of the Center for Environmental Physiology in Washington, DC for ten years, and is the founder and director of the National Center for Cold Water Safety. He is a former ACA Sea Kayaking Instructor and Instructor Trainer. You can see his Golden Rules for Cold Water Safety on this website by entering the key words cold water safety in the search window to the right and below, or just click on this link.

Fellow Paddlers and Friends! My decision to create a National Center for Cold Water Safety happened eight years ago when two young women died off the coast of Maine because their kayaks were blown offshore and they capsized in cold water. They were the same age as my own two daughters, and their deaths changed the course of my life. In the wake of that tragedy, I was unable to find a single organization that provided accurate, detailed information on cold water safety. Instead, what I found was a lot of confusing misinformation.

There’s nothing easy about starting a new organization, but with the help of some good people, the Center was incorporated in 2012, and seven months later we were granted our non-profit 501 (c) (3) tax exempt status by the IRS. Our web site, www.coldwatersafety.org, went live six years ago, and today it’s a respected source of information read by paddlers all over the world. This past year, we posted over 30 articles on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/coldwatersafety/, routinely reaching thousands of paddlers with detailed information that wasn’t available anywhere else on the internet. For example, our 2018 report on the Apostle Islands kayaking tragedy in which the father and three kids died reached over 25,000 paddlers.

As a result of our internet presence, a lot of people think that we’re a big outfit. We’re not. We’re a small organization, run entirely by volunteers. That’s why we’re asking for your support. We’re also the only organization in the world that makes educating people about cold water safety its sole mission.

Investigating close calls and fatalities is both complex and time-consuming. For example, when OARS kayak guide Tim Conan capsized and died while rescuing a client on Yellowstone Lake in 2017, our investigation included phone calls, emails, weather and geographic research, filing a Freedom of Information Act request with the U.S. Department of the Interior, reviewing their documents, and writing our report – which directly reached over 17,000 paddlers. That’s just one case.

Despite the knowledge that we’ve made available, there’s still a lot of misinformation out there on the internet, including information from the US Coast Guard, the National Weather Service, and the American Canoe Association, as well as some leading kayaking magazines, paddling web sites, and equipment manufacturers.

Some people think that if you just pick up the phone or send an email explaining their error, other organizations will welcome you with open arms and make the necessary corrections. Unfortunately, that never happens. Nobody welcomes criticism, and large organizations are particularly resistant to even admitting that they’ve made a mistake, let alone correcting it. So, again, it takes a long time and a lot of effort to persuade them to change.

A word about funding: I’ve been teaching people about hot and cold weather safety for over 40 years, and as a matter of principle I’ve never charged anyone for that kind of instruction. Similarly, the National Center for Cold Water Safety doesn’t endorse products, accept advertising or charge anyone for access to our web site because we feel that doing so would compromise our mission.

There’s a very good reason for being careful about accepting funds from business and government – psychological studies demonstrate over and over again that it undermines your independence and objectivity, and makes you hesitate to criticize things that you know are wrong.

That’s why the best source of funding for an organization like the National Center for Cold Water Safety comes from individual contributions by people like you.

Please help us make our fundraiser a success by sharing this article and making a contribution – even if it’s only a small amount each month – because every little bit helps us to save lives.

To Contribute: On our website www.coldwatersafety.org, select the “Get Involved” tab and click Donate. On Facebook www.facebook.com/coldwatersafety/, click the Donate button.

SCRS – The Sea Conditions Rating System

My good friend Moulton Avery of the National Center for Cold Water Safety mentioned recently that perhaps it was time to revisit the Sea Conditions Rating System (SCRS) on this website. Since the sea is dangerous and unpredictable, I think he’s right, so here’s a post introducing the Sea Conditions Rating System.

Rate These Conditions! TR Misha Dynnikov working a cascade. — Rate these conditions! TR Misha Dynnikov working a cascade.

River kayakers have the River Difficulty System which rates rivers from Class I (moving water with a few riffles) all the way up to Class VI which is extreme conditions with violent rapids requiring an expert team. Sailors have the Beaufort Scale, but neither of these rating systems apply to a small kayak in surf, caves, or rock gardens. To remedy this, Eric came up with a rating system for sea kayakers, and it works really well. You can access his article about this system in the link entitled “Articles” at the top of our website.

The most important thing to know about this system is that its primary function is to encourage kayakers to take time before setting out. Eric recommends accounting for the worst case scenario when using the scale. It’s worth pointing out that while your put in may be calm and mild, around the corner there could be big winds and/or seas. Or your take out may have breaking waves. This is what happened to us when we went on retreat last year. One should also account for the passage of time. For example, the tide ebbs and flows, and winds and swells typically, but not always, pick up in the afternoon. Fog can roll in, and if you’re out for a long time, fatigue can become a factor.

There are ten factors to consider when using the SCRS. The first is water temperature. You add one point for each degree below 72 degrees Fahrenheit up to a maximum of 40 points. Water temperature starts at 72 degrees because that is a temperature most people are comfortable swimming in. Cold water is the number one killer of paddlers, so it receives a lot of weight in the algorithm. You also automatically add twenty points if you’re paddling in rocks.

This scenario is rated Class according to the SCRS — This scenario is rated Class 5.9 according to the SCRS. Looks really benign, but there are a lot of factors to consider: the water is cold, there are no breaking waves in the photo but there will be at the beach take-out, they are paddling through rock gardens and caves, their boats are fully laden, and swim distance to safety could be up to a mile if they’re where I think they are.

Each factor should be addressed thoughtfully if you’re solo; if you’re in a group the factors should be discussed as a team till consensus is reached. When you’ve totaled the points for each factor, add them up and divide by twenty to get the class level.

In the SCRS article, Eric offers a detailed exploration of each factor. He gives a sample scenario so you can see how the system works, and he also uses the scale to assess his own experience kayaking across San Francisco Bay in storm sea conditions. When all the factors are considered those conditions rated a Class 6! He probably shouldn’t have been out there that day. But he lived, and went on to create the SCRS so others can avoid preventable life or death experiences.

Hobuck Beach in September, 2017. This beach would be rated Class 3.7. The three factors bringing it up from Class 2 are: breaking waves up to 4', cold water at 52 degrees F, and the presence of other surfers. — Hobuck Beach in September, 2017. This beach would be rated Class 3.7. The three factors bringing it up from Class 2 are: breaking waves up to 4′, cold water at 52 degrees F, and the presence of other surfers.

Eric winds up the article with some caveats and encourages people to take the time and effort to assess the complex factors which affect us on the unpredictable sea. It’s true that we are often eager (nervous?) before we launch and it’s easy to look out and go, oh yeah, great day, let’s go! But maybe you were scouting from a bluff, and things look a lot different, i.e. bigger, from the beach. Or maybe you just watched the ocean for five minutes or so and you didn’t see the gynormous set that came in right after you turned your back.

Please check out the SCRS. Share it with your friends. You’ll enjoy this article!

We’d love to hear your feedback on the SCRS! Please tell us your thoughts by clicking below.