The Eskimo Roll. A kayaker tips over with head underwater. Just as you wonder if you should call 911, up they pop, magically and seemingly effortlessly. If you've ever seen it done in a river or sea kayak, you may think that it's really difficult and advanced. Not so says Mike Young, Co-owner, along with brother Max Young and expert kayak instructor Lyle Phetteplace of Renaissance Adventure Guides, the kayaking instruction and adventure travel firm based in Lakewood, CO.
"An experienced kayaker makes the roll look easy, but we know from experience that when you're trying to learn, it can be frustrating and confusing," explained Mike. "It's a counter-intuitive movement. That's why we break it down into steps, build all the pieces, practice the motions to establish neuromuscular patterns, then put it all together. With our instruction, beginning kayakers will be practicing the roll in their first on-lake or on-river class."
Renaissance Adventure Guides (RA Guides) provides kayaking instruction at all levels, from beginner pool classes in winter and full-day lake or river classes in summer months, through intermediate rolling and playboating to advanced river rescue and large volume kayaking. In all, the RA Guides Kayak School for whitewater kayaking includes 31 courses. Several of their courses are taught at Chatfield Reservoir.
"We have the broadest scope of classes on the Front Range, and we have the best qualified staff of any kayak school in the area," Mike commented. "Whatever a kayaker wants to learn, from whitewater to sea kayaking, we teach it." All RA Guides Kayak School trainers are American Canoe Association (ACA) certified instructors. Courses are offered in numerous Front Range locations including: Chatfield Reservoir, Boulder Reservoir, Union Reservoir in Longmont, the Colorado River in Glenwood Canyon, Golden Community Center, and the Englewood and Carmody Recreation Centers. They have even taught a course at Colby College in Colby, Kansas at the college's request.
People get into the sport of kayaking for a number of reasons. They've seen kayaks in lakes or rivers and want to see what it's like. It's a way for them to enjoy the summers in Colorado and be able to exercise and cool off at the same time. "Kayaking is definitely very good exercise," chimes in brother Max. "You build up your arms and your core strength muscles - you use your abs hugely.
"People who have been river rafting often try kayaking as the next step in their experience of a river," Max continued. "You can play a lot more in a kayak than in a raft. It's like surfing in the ocean except that the water under you - the river - keeps moving and you stay in one place and play rather than moving with the water." Playboating can involve staying in one spot in a standing wave, making the boat go back and forth in the "surf", turning cartwheels, doing loops, catching some air, and positioning the kayak vertically.
Not surprising with all these extreme and cool moves to be had in kayaking, one of the growing trends Mike and Max notice is parents enrolling their teenagers in kayak school for the safety training. As with any sport, there is an inherent risk in kayaking. That risk goes up tremendously when one jumps in and starts down the river with no training. RA Guides offers two-, three- and five-day youth kayaking camps throughout the summer at three locations: Boulder Reservoir, Union Reservoir in Longmont and Chatfield Reservoir in Littleton. Instructors patiently and methodically teach beginner kayaking skills including some safety instruction. Students practice these skills until they're ingrained.
"This summer we have seen a lot of families come in as a unit to take the classes or engage private instruction in preparation for a trip together," Mike elaborated. It's not a sport just for the young, he continued. In fact, the majority of RA Guides' Kayak School students, aside from the teenagers, fall in the 35 to 55 age range. "Most people who start the classes say, 'Kayaking is just something I've always wanted to try.' It's such an individual sport," he remarked, "and students gain a real sense of accomplishment when they get in the river to paddle and play. Through our classes they gain the confidence that they can handle the situations that are likely to come up."
Kayaking season in Colorado runs from about mid-May to mid-September. Starting in November, RA Guides' adventure travel kayaking trips to Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Panama can keep die-hard paddlers busy. "We don't let the kayaking season end," boasted Mike. "When it's the fall/winter mud season in Colorado, we'll take you to where world-class kayaking is at its peak, and you can enjoy the rich, indigenous cultures of these countries."
RA Guides began as Renaissance Guides in 1999 as an adventure travel company offering adventure kayaking trips to locations like Costa Rica and Ecuador and trekking trips to places including Kilimanjaro and Machu Picchu. The company began offering Kayak lessons in the Denver Metro area in 2002 and has since expanded to offering 31 courses with 16 instructors all along the Front Range from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs. As the company grows and expands to instruction in more adventure sports, it has been transitioning to the name RA Guides. RA Guides is the exclusive agent in North America for Water by Nature trips which are offered year-round. Aside from Kayak School and adventure travel trips offered in the fall, winter and spring, RA Guides also promotes instruction in backcountry skiing, backcountry snowshoeing and avalanche tracking during winter months. Future plans call for courses in rock climbing, mountain biking, trekking/hiking, telemark skiing, GPS navigation, ice climbing, crevasse rescue and alpine climbing.
Renaissance Adventure Guides/RA Guides is located at 2109 S. Wadsworth Blvd.
Lakewood, CO 80227. They can be reached at (303) 988-2943 or by e-mail at
info@raguides.com. For more information, see the website:
www.raguides.com.
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