Rock Island event was cancelled, so I took the opportunity to visit
with my cousins and their children at The Family Lake House.
The Children were excited to learn to paddle on the lake, and
followed me around the house, and yard gathering the gear. I luckily
had four boats, two paddles, and a set of hand paddles at the house.
Their ages are 10, 8, 6, and 4. The older children, Dean and Tasha,
went out first and quickly became comfortable in their kayaks, and
started learning a strong forward stroke. They were on the water for
the rest of the weekend, and paddling around the entire lake.
The two younger girls, were a bit apprehensive at first. The 6 year
old, Ginger, asked part way through the weekend to try. She did
great, especially with hand paddles.
Finally on the last day , the four year old, pearing from behind her
parents' legs, stared at me and told us she wanted to go out in the
kayak sitting on my lap. Carli is a natural. I was using hand
paddles, and she took them from my hands, put them on and started
paddling us around. Sharing a kayak was an ice breaker, she had been
shy with me all weekend. As she paddled us around she told me all
about pre school.
Their parents did well too. It was very rewarding to introduce this
family into kayaking.
Watch out for these kids on the river in the future!
-Tracy Sage (Fluid Team Paddler)
PS- Be sure to check out the Vaya, the new Fluid kids whiewater sit-on-top. (Available early '06)
