Updated: Dec. 11, 2003
If you are one of our former students, this is where you will learn about invitations to paddle with Kayak Academy staff on private (free), unguided (swim & paddle at your own risk), non-instruction (talk to us about anything besides kayaking), fun trips. We may post other news and special offers too.
One of the original goals of the Kayak Academy was to increase the number of skilled paddlers WE could have fun kayaking with. In the past we've occasionally phoned former students to invite them to join us on trips, but life is too short to call everyone we know each time we go paddling. Now with the Internet we can inform and invite all of you with this one message page, and so we hope to do it often and see a lot of you. We'll do our best to keep this page up to date (during the busy summer it may go a while between updates, but in winter we do more fun trips anyhow), so check back frequently to see what's coming up.
We would enjoy your company on one of these trips. There is no fee. You simply need to have the appropriate skills and equipment (you are welcome to arrange to rent kayaks and/or buy accessories which we may be able to bring to the put-in for you) for the trip so that you are not a liability to the group or a burden to us (this is our time to have fun, don't spoil it by showing up unprepared...of course you need to have buoyancy in BOTH ends of your kayak, wear your PFD and wet suit or dry suit -- DON'T EVEN ASK if it's necessary). However, if you offer to bring us food, home baked treats, or buy the beer after the trip you might get invited on more trips.
If you do not have your own gear, rentals can be arranged at our standard (non-lesson discount) competitive rental rates.
kayak@kayakacademy.com
Kayaks needed: Surf or whitewater kayaks only
Description: Should be good sized surf
Possible car pools, email George if interested.
kayak@kayakacademy.com
Kayaks needed: Surf or whitewater kayaks only
Description: All the right ingredients for excellent surf
Possible car pools, email George if interested.
kayak@kayakacademy.com
Kayaks needed: Surf or whitewater kayaks only
Description: Could be BIG surf
Possible car pools, email George if interested.
To see our new selection of kayaks and paddles click
Kayaks
Supplemental tidal data (Mean Tide Levels, useful for dealing with tide flats) for our pocket "Puget Sound Tide and Current Tables" is now available here, Mean Tide Levels for Puget Sound, WA Print this page and tuck it into your tide table book.
Updated Dec. 3, 2003
The 2004 Puget Sound Tide & Current tables are in. You may pick up a free copy if you stop by, just call or email me to set a day and time to meet. George
Updated November 4, 2003
Many of you have been in lessons with me when I've pointed out towering and other mirages commonly seen on or near the water, and often the subject of Green Flash has come up while we have been camping on overnight and longer training trips. Here is a link to a web site that gives the most detailed and scientific explanation for both these phenomia that I ever found anywhere. It includes some similated video/cartoons that show what to look for and what to expect. If the text gets too deep for you, skip on to the links of the Green Flash similations and just watch. Enjoy
Updated Aug. 30, 2003
Our 2004 course schedule is now posted on this website.
The 2004 Exposed Coast Training Expedition to Sitka, Alaska will be
July 28 - Aug. 6, 2004 Click here to read about the
Ocean Swell and Exposed Coast Training Expedition
If you are interested in next year's Alaska Expedition, we have a video of the trip that you can watch to get an idea of how beautiful the area is and the fun we have. Call or email George if you are interested in barrowing the tape (We will mail it to you free in the US).
The long promised Kayak Academy course plotter (protractor tool) is finally available. It will retail for $20.00, but for now any of our alumni may order one for $10.00 plus tax and postage ($1.27 postage, in Washington state tax is $0.88)
The new Impex Assateague sea kayaks are in stock and available to demo (a George size kayak!).
Our free kayak demo day is coming up soon, Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, May 24th 2003 at Lake Sammamish State Park.
Updated Jan. 31, 2003
2003 course schedule is now posted on the "Course Schedule" link.
Our once a year High Wind Training (Columbia River Gorge)
in scheduled for Tue. June 17th, 2003, $198.00 Read about it by clicking on the link above.
Our second annual Kayak Demo Day will be Sat. May 24, 2003 Read about it by clicking on the link above. We'll have several new sea kayak models for you to try, and of course it's free.
Last spring I created a new policy for repeating a course:
From now on alumni may repeat any course for 50% of the current course fee.
To that I'm now adding a lower rate for private lessons for alumni who have completed our 5-day
Training Camp or Leadership Training & Trip Experience courses. See the "Course Fees" link.
Check out the new/updated "Tips" link. I've recently added tips on buying a sea kayak,
to the previouse articles on chosing flashlights for sea kayaking, selecting dry bags and dry
boxes, replacing gaskets
on dry suits and dry tops, and customizing kayak seats. I'll be adding more topics to this link
in the future so keep checking in on it.
Tips
Our "Used Equipment" page has several used sea kayaks, including Coasters, we also have a few new kayaks with blems available at a discount (call us for details). Also see our selection of new kayaks and paddles, click Kayaks
Winter kayak lease program, take one of our rental kayaks home with you Oct. through March 30th, 2003. Unlimited miles for $350.00
Trade-in dry suit offers:
Want to upgrade from a coated nylon dry suit to a new Kokatat GoreTex dry suit?
If the suit you are trading-in was purchased new from the Kayak Academy, and it has
the metal tooth Swift Entry zipper, we will give the original owner a $175.00 trade-in
allowence (toward a new GoreTex dry suit purchased from the Kayak Academy) as long as your
trade-in suit is in usable condition.
If the suit you are trading-in was purchased new from the Kayak Academy, and it has
the plastic tooth zipper, we will give the original owner a $125.00 trade-in allowence (toward
a new GoreTex dry suit purchased from the Kayak Academy) as long as your trade-in suit is in
usable condition.
If the suit you are trading-in was purchased used from us, we will give you our alumni owner
$100.00 trade-in (toward a new GoreTex dry suit purchased from us) as long as your trade-in
suit is in usable condition.
If the suit you are trading-in was purchase somewhere other than from the Kayak Academy,
we will give you the same offer as above less $50.00 (toward a new GoreTex dry suit purchased
from us) as long as your trade-in suit is in usable condition.
If you have a GoreTex dry suit that you purchased new from the Kayak Academy and would like to
trade-in for a new one with an overskirt (Meridian model) and/or woman's drop seat call us.
----- from last spring------
Free updated handouts for any pre-July, 2000 alumni of our weekend Training Trip or 5-day
Training Camp. Send us a note with your address and $2.20 postage and we'll send you the
improved, vastly expanded new handouts for the course.
Lots of new gear has come out in the last year, and once again we are proud to be one of the
first dealers in the NW to offer many of these items.
Impex sea kayaks, with three new models for 2003
7 LED headlamp by Essential Gear
New larger sizes of replacement neck and writst gaskets for dry suits and dry tops.
Floating waterproof 6x30 Brunton Monocular
LED waterproof all around white light by Essential Gear, perfect for attaching to back of PFD or top of hat so others in your group can see where you are at nigth without blinding their night vision. Bright enough to read chart or hand compass in a pinch. Perfect for hanging inside tent too. Recommend everyone have two.
Gear news from 2002
Remember those long narrow dry bags I loaned you for packing your clothes through the small front hatch on our overnight training trips? They're hard to find in stores aren't they? Now we offer a custom made improved version (a few inches longer, a hair wider, and stronger). We also sell the custom liner stuff sacks that you need to get the most out of these X-long skinny dry bags (the stuff sack allows you to pack more into the dry bag, extends the life of the dry bag because the stress is on the stuff sack not the dry bag, and makes it easier to bend the dry bag when packing it in through a hatch). We now carry a complete line of dry bags from the also hard to find XS on through S, M, L, and two sizes of tappered bags with purge valves that let the air out so the bag will pack in the kayak more efficiently.
Barometer/wind meter/thermometer/and more. The new Kestrel 4000 pocket weather station with the best graphic display of any waterproof barometer. $329.00
Knot meter (speedometer) for kayaks by SpeedCoach. Has a magnetic pick-up so there's no need to drill holes through the hull. Digital display of your instantanious and average speed in knots. $235.00
Primus Himalaya Multi-fuel MFS stove, the most multi-fuel stove available. Use white gas, kerosene, or Primus pressurized fuel canisters. $95.00
Primus Alpine Titanium Stove w/ Piezo ignition - only 2.99 oz. ! The lightest stove available, and since it it Titanium it is also the most corossion resistant stove (uses pressurized canister fuel only). $125.00
Tent, tested on our 2001 Exposed Coast Alaska Expedition which had lots of rain and wind - an excellent one or two person tent for the NW coast and Baja, self-supported 2-man, 3 season, one door, one window, alumimun shock corded poles, 88”x56”, 5 lb, No-see-um-proof netting on door and window can be zipped shut to keep sand out, seam-taped fly & floor, sand color, comes with compression bag and a sack for poles, Coleman Onyx2 $125.00
Sleeping Bag, ideal for the NW coast, +20 deg. F, synthetic, slightly roomy mummy w/ hood, comes with unique compression sack that compresses the sack's diameter rather than length - the way to go for fitting in dry bags and kayaks, by Slumberjack, regular length (up to 6' 2") or long size (up to 6' 6"), Left or Right zipper (with one of each a pair can be zipped together), dark green, $90.00
LED flashlights and head lamps (no bulbs to burn out and several times the battery life of flashlights with bulbs). And now we offer some very small (about the size of a watch) waterproof LED lights that are perfect for night paddling - carry them in the pocket of your PFD just in case. Some of these LED lights are only $12.50 and that includes the batteries.
Last year we introduced the new short sleeve Goretex dry tops by Kokatat. Now we also have arm warmer sleeves to go with the short sleeve top to make it convertable! The arm warmers are made of a stretchy rubberized fleece material (like the Kokatat skull caps you may have used in our lessons) that insulates even when wet and can easilly be pulled on and off while in your kayak to adjust for the air temperature. The arm warmers are small enough to be stashed in a pocket on your PFD. When wearing a wet suit, the combination of arm warmers and Short Sleeve Goretex dry top make the most versital system for rolling, surfing, river kayaking and, by adding a neck ring, sea kayaking.
We offered them for years but many of you may not be aware that we stock Gasket replacement tools for dry tops and dry suits. These factory tools make it easy to replace gaskets yourself. If you are going on a long expedition it's a good idea to take these tools and spare gaskets with you.
Old gear news from 2001:
Surf kayaking helmets by GATH, red or mustard S-XXL, $99.00
Earplugs you can hear with, that stay in well, unique design has different plug for left ear and right ear, sizes S, M, L, XL, XXL, Doc's ProPlugs, $10.00
"J"-saddles for carrying kayaks on their side like George has done only nicer than his home made rack. Fit most rack systems.
Compass mount for Ritchie Sportabout compass (like used in our Training Trips) has a clip to hold the compass and bungies to clip it to the deck. Compass slides in and out of mount
Aquapack waterproof bags for car key electronic devices, cell phones and VHF radios. They're easier to seal and more durable that others. $30
Sealskinz waterproof/breathable socks with a seal at that top so water won't get in if you step too deep
Tights, Powerstretch pile, by Kokatat, black S-XL $69.00
Bibs with woman's drop seat, Powerstretch pile, by Kokatat, black Woman's S-L 99.00
Sun/wind hiking pants loose enough to wear over long john, Khaki, S-XL, & W S-L 71.00
Sun/wind shirt, UPF 30, Khaki, White, Olive, S-XXL 73.00
Gift certificates available for lessons & equipment from the Kayak Academy. M/C and VISA welcome.
Miscellaneous Information Boating safety courses are offered by the U.S Power Squadron and other organizations. For information, call 1-800-336-BOAT in Washington or (503) 378-8501 in Oregon. Please let us know if you have a new address or phone number, or if you want your name deleted from the Academy's mailing/phone list.
© George Gronseth 2003, all rights reserved.