The Life Lessons Gained Through Kayaking: A Personal Reflection

Today (9/08/23) I just got back from a 5 day kayaking trip in Washington. I bought a kayak last week, practiced at least an hour a day and bought a sea kayaking online course to devour.

At the reservoir by my house, the longest paddle I had done was an hour and fifteen minutes on completely flat water. I could paddle, rest, look around and resume paddling.

Once I got to the ocean, it was different. You're now dealing with tides, waves, currents, winds, motorboats and pedestrians watching and taking pictures of you. Can't stop paddling then!

On San Juan Island I put in at Eagles Beach and paddled all the way around the lighthouse at the southernmost point. Not only did this paddle take 2 and a half hours, but I did not anticipate how much more effort it took paddling in the ocean.

On the way to the lighthouse, I used the techniques I had done on the reservoir. Paddle hard, rest, paddle hard. I was so exhausted that I had to pull up to the beach after passing the lighthouse. I still had to make it back. Alone, with no food or water and the sun beating down on my I felt light headed and at moments felt dizzy from the waves and exhaustion.

What I realized in these moments though was that I needed to maintain the boats momentum at all times. Starting and stopping was too much effort in those conditions. Instead of strong powerful strokes, I built up the boats speed with light strokes with the form I had learned from the online sea kayaking course. I used my legs and gained the muscle memory of rotating my entire body with every stroke. It no longer became an arm exercise, but a leg exercise and I didn't stop.

For over an hour straight, I did not stop the momentum of my boat. With easy, gliding strokes, I let the boat work how it was designed and glide through the water.

Simple correct actions performed at a consitent steady pace maintain momentum; and momentum is the thing that truly takes you where you want to go.