First Kayaking lesson at Russell!

On the 23rd of August, the year 7 and 8 students from Glenbrae school, were given an astonishing opportunity to kayak at Russell, which was one of the activities for our school camp.

Our group arrived at the Bay with our Adventure for Good(AFG) leader, Chris, where we met with our kayak instructor, Dan. Dan explained to us what we needed to do before hopping in the water with our kayaks. We received  small, scarlet coloured life jackets which we adjusted so that it wasn’t able to be lifted over our heads. At first, it was quite uncomfortable wearing the life jackets. My life jacket was suffocating me, but as I started to move more, I was able to breathe more easily. I began to feel nervous, but my excitement eased my nerves.

Afterwards, my group was instructed to grab our paddles and make a large circle. Both Chris and Dan stood with us in the circle and started teaching us how to direct our kayaks using our paddles. To turn right, we paddled on our right and to turn left, we paddled on the left side. If we wanted to paddle straight ahead, we paddled on our left and right. They also taught us the correct hand position in which our hands should be placed on the paddles. The most important skill we learnt, was how to raft up, which is when one person gets a hold of a buoy and links up with the other kayaks.

After we learnt how to direct our kayaks, Dan assigned us to our individual kayaks. Many of the smaller built students were assigned the orange kayaks, which were much easier to balance on and were wider. I, on the other hand, was assigned one of the slimmer and heaviest kayaks, the red coloured ones. We grabbed our kayaks and lifted them to the edge of the shore, where Chris and Dan asked us to show them how to sit in the kayaks. We all sat in the kayaks, backs straight in the seat, legs comfortably bent with our feet sitting in foot braces for a tight grip. As soon as we showed we were able to do this, we headed out to the water for some action.

The first thing we did as we got into the water was rafting up. We had to raft up on the buoy, it was slightly tilted in the water. For our first time kayaking, we surprisingly did an awesome job, though it was quite difficult linking with the other kayaks, without tipping. Later, we had to raft up  two more times before we played a game. During those two raft ups, I tipped my boat about three times. I was cold, soaked but as happy as ever!. The game we played was ball tiggy with a tennis ball, a fun but tiring game. To finish off our lesson, we wandered along the buoys and went on a small adventure. We kayaked among the shallow areas where many sting rays swam around. My group kayaked for a long period of time before rafting up one last time. We then kayaked back to the shore, carried our kayaks back and helped Dan by putting away the equipment.

Before Dan left, my group ate biscuits with hot chocolate. This calmed us down and definitely made us warmer. It certainly was a delicious treat too!. After our little tea party, we separated ways with Dan and said our goodbyes. Chris and Miss.Card then took us down to the beach, near the wharf to a small diving platform. Linda, Salote and I raced like horses to the platform where we played games, jumped off and dived off it. The boys followed and we had more fun!. At one point, we all lay on the platform, staring down the sun. It was an astounding view, the sky was painted ombre orange and the sea water glistened from a distance. Before we left we took multiple group diving photos. From there we departed from the beach and headed back to camp.

I enjoyed my first ever kayaking lesson and I know the feeling was mutual. I had an exceptional bonding time with my group and even better, I learnt new kayaking skills. I hope that one day I will receive another extraordinary opportunity to kayak!. It was a great experience!.