River Safety Tune Up Day

With all the local rivers frozen or dry and spring paddling just around the corner February was a perfect time for Western Canoeing and Kayaking along with Purple Hayes School of Kayaking to throw their first ever "River Safety Tune Up Day". WCK uses Purple Hayes for whitewater kayaking lessons and "River Rescue" courses.

The idea behind River Safety Tune Up Day was to give an opportunity for newer paddlers to learn some new skills and give experienced paddlers the motivation we all need to practice our skills that for the most part we don't practice enough, and hopefully never need.


With around 25 canoers and kayakers ranging from rank beginner to expert there was a good mix of teachers and students. Kay was stuck doing the always exciting knots station while the rest of us floated around the throw bag and more technical rope skills section. Moving the Hyundai with the Clipper Canoes delivery truck anchor was my favorite station.






To wrap it up we had a throw bag competition with 1st place taking home a $50 gift certificate to WCK.Were hoping to run two Safety Tune Up days next year so stay tuned for dates next winter, and don't forget, you don't need an event to practice safety techniques. How much more efficient would we all be at rescuing if every time we waited for a shuttle or late paddler we practiced our rescue skills?

Ryan Bayes