JOHN JANNEY: Go Ahead, Pull His Arm.

If you want to learn how to paddle creeks and rivers, you contact John Janney. If you want to know how to surf a kayak, contact John Janney. If you want to fit your boat properly, contact John Janney. The man is an encyclopedia of skills. He teaches kayaking for Western Washington University and, lucky for WAKE members, he is more than willing to teach us as well. John was awarded the WAKE Emeritus Award in December, along with Dave Peebles and Jim Graeser, for outstanding contributions to WAKE and the sport of kayaking over the years.

I’ve spent a fair bit time with John on Whatcom Creek but this is the first time I actually sat down over coffee and asked him questions about his past. One thing I learned -- he has an incredible tolerance for pain. Read on:

Dawn: John, you’re like a fixture in Whatcom Creek. How often are you there?

John: Four days a week. It’s my workout. I try to go all the way up to the dam. I call it my stress test. When the water is really coming down I have to paddle as hard as I can to climb above the rope swing. Fortunately I know almost all the rocks. [He laughs.]A friend of mine who is quite a bit older than me always likes to paddle up to the dam. So I have to make it all the way up because I know he’s gonna do it.

Dawn: Do you try that with students?

John: I don’t have to paddle as hard with students. It’s more fun. [He laughs.] I get more of a workout when I’m alone.

Dawn: Do you prefer rivers or the sound?

John: It’s seasonal. In the summer I paddle sea kayaks; in the winter when the water is flowing I do rivers. I like the Gulf Islands. The West side of Vancouver. I paddle a whole bunch of places. But I don’t particularly like open water crossings.

Dawn: Why not?

John: They’re too boring. I prefer to paddle along the shore because there’s more to see. I used to take off for a week and go through Montana, Wyoming and Idaho paddling the rivers. Around here, the Skykomish River is the best. It goes from Class 6 -- that kills you – to a Class 5 run. Then Class 2 and 3. Class 2 is a play spot; 3 takes quite a bit of skill, 4 is expert, 5 is the very top. I don’t do Class 5 because there’s a chance of getting hurt. Class 3 is good enough for me.

Dawn: What about slalom gates? They’re more like technical paddling, right?

John: I was told that you can do slalom gates or look for bigger waters. Since I don’t want to paddle bigger water, I work the gates. Besides, they always put gates in the toughest spots -- near a big rock or something else challenging. When you practice with gates you really learn how to turn and edge properly. You can put your boat exactly where you want it. It’s absolutely the best thing you can do to improve your paddling skills.

Dawn: How did you get started in kayaking?

John: I kayaked in San Diego Bay in the late 80’s with Eric Hanscomb – he was a champion whitewater kayak surfer from California. He went to Wales and won the championship three years in a row and since then, the competition has been held in California. I learned how to surf from him. We used to ride the bow wakes of the harbor excursion boats. If you position yourself in the right spot on the wake you can ride a long way. I used to wear a fluorescent pink baseball cap. That’s how the harbor excursion operators recognized me. We got to be fixtures.

Dawn: I’m from San Diego and I remember those big harbor excursion boats. Did the tour operator ever say, “Here comes John Janney riding the bow wake.”

John: Oh no, I never told them my name!

We rode the wakes of cruise ships, too. One time I tried to ride the wake of a Navy ship but they cut the engines and were yelling at me. Later on I tried to find the captain to tell him what I was doing but no luck. Did the same thing with a tug boat. He didn’t know what I was doing either, but later on I found him and explained it. Once he understood, he was fine with it. “Next time I see a kayak,” he said, “I’ll speed up!”

So I learned from Eric and also from Ed Gillette. Ed Gillette was the fellow who kayaked to Hawaii. I just kept showing up and tagging along. Those guys were so good that it was difficult to learn from them. They made it look too easy. You couldn’t always tell what they were doing. Same with Scott Shipley on the creek up here in Bellingham. But if you keep showing up and practicing and listening, you eventually figure it out.

Dawn: How did you learn to whitewater kayak?

John: I was friends with some folks who ran a Sports Chalet -- a chain store in California. I sold so many kayaks for them that even though I wasn’t an employee, they took me on a company trip to the Kern River. That was where I learned to paddle rivers.

Dawn: What was your first sea kayak?

John: It was a Seaward Tyee II. I bought it for 250 bucks. The guy selling them had an orange one and a blue one. When I first looked at them, he told me the price was $500. Vicky [John’s wife] wanted me to get the blue one because it matched my car but the orange one was in better shape. So I left to think about it. Next time I talked to him he said he’d give me one for $450. I never tried to get the price down -- I just couldn’t decide which one to buy. Then the guy said I’ll give it to you for $400. Well he eventually dropped down to $250 and he threw in a shorty wetsuit, the spray skirt, paddle, and some other equipment. I shoulda bought both boats.

Dawn: Which boat did you choose?

John: I got the blue one. I felt sorry for the guy because he kept talking himself down and it wasn’t necessary. But it was good boat -- 36 lbs with a removable skeg. I sold it for $200 a couple of years later. Then I bought a new Necky Arluk II. It was a $2400 boat and I got it for $1100. I still use it for camping trips. For day paddles I have one of Sterling’s Ice Kaps. Now that is a nice boat. Sterling does better work than any of the other kayak companies. The Ice Kap tracks well; it doesn’t even need a skeg.

Dawn: What do you use on the river?

John: I have two river boats: a Riot Hammer and a slalom boat.

Dawn: Does your family also paddle?

John: My wife, Vicky, only drinks water; she doesn’t play in it. [He laughs] She’s a skier and a runner. She ran so much that she banged up her feet. Now she walks. She is a really fast walker. One time she watched me teach rolling at the pool. She said, “I can do that.” She thought she could just get in and do it. Well, you know what happened. That was her only attempt.

My two sons are both real athletic. They ski. They’ve done triathlons. One owns a kayak and the other doesn’t. They both know how to paddle.

Dawn: In my interview with Dave and Jim last month, they made reference to story about you instructing kayak students in the pool, “don’t do this!” and then something happened. They didn’t finish the story. Can you fill me in?

John: [Laughing] I’d be teaching bracing and stuff and I’d tell the students, don’t put your hands behind your head. Don’t do this. [John feigns using both arms to lift a kayak paddle up over his head.] One time I did it with enough force that I dislocated my shoulder.

Dawn: In the middle of the pool class?

John: Yep. It hurt. So I got out of the pool and found the lifeguard. Well, you know that pole with the seat attached to it for lowering disabled swimmers into the water? I braced myself against that pole and told the lifeguard to grab my arm and pull hard. Just take my arm and keep pulling back, I said. The lifeguard probably shouldn’t have done it but it worked. I had to sit down for a minute afterwards.

Dawn: That sounds awful!

John: It’s not comfortable and I’d get a cold sweat on my forehead but it’s not that bad.

Dawn: How did you injure your shoulder in the first place?

John: When I was on the ski patrol I fell and dislocated my shoulder. The doctor in the ski area reset it so smoothly that I just put my arm in a sling and drove home. A couple months later it didn’t feel too bad. I’ve dislocated it five times; four times were kayak related.

Once Merv and I were surfing in Neah Bay and I did the same thing. I told Merv, “when you go through that surf don’t do this,” and I dislocated it again. So I found a tree stump and told Merv to get on the other side of it and pull. Merv kept pulling and finally it reset. I eventually had to have surgery on it because it came out so easily. Now it’s fine.

Dawn: How long were you on the ski patrol?

John: I did ski patrol for 20 years in Big Bear, California, and in Snoqualmie Pass and Mt. Baker. But I haven’t skied now for four years. After you do it for a job, just sliding down the hill isn’t as much fun.

Dawn: Were you ever on the board of WAKE?

John: When Clyde Ford was president of WAKE he asked me to be vice-president. I agreed to do it because it didn’t seem to require much. [He laughs.] That was about it.

Dawn: How has kayaking changed over the years?

John: When I started you’d have to find someone that made the stuff you wanted. One of the first kayak manufacturers was next to Stanley, Idaho. He made fiberglass kayaks. They looked like oversized whitewater boats. You’d have to take fiberglass repair kits with you and fix the boat yourself. Now you have kayak shops with boats and lessons and videos and clothes and trips.

Dawn: Why do you think there has been such a surge in the numbers of folks who want to paddle?

John: Because of the classes. Before, you had to really want to do it. You had to seek out equipment and find people to show you how to use it. Now people are invited to learn to kayak. There are lots of classes. There’s lots of equipment. It’s very available.

Dawn: John, how important is it to sea kayakers to learn how to roll?

John: In sea kayaking you almost never roll. But it’s a fairly important skill to learn because once you can roll, you can learn to brace. If you’re afraid of going over, it’s hard to learn to brace properly. You won’t push yourself. And you’ll never learn the high brace if you don’t roll. So rolling is important in order to learn bracing. And every sea kayaker needs to learn how to brace so they can avoid needing to roll.

Dawn: I can always improve my bracing. Do you have any suggestions?

John: Here’s how to learn bracing. Go to the lake in very shallow water. On shore side of your boat where it’s most shallow, lean the boat way over and smack that paddle into the water, drop your head and pull yourself back up. Keep practicing until you can do it easily without pushing the paddle against the lake bottom. Then turn around and do it on the lake side, in slightly deeper water. Keep practicing into deeper water. When I teach a student to brace I tell him or her, you’re not going to learn to brace from me. I’ll show you how to do it but you have to learn on your own. After you’ve done it 100 times, you’ll know.

Dawn: What would you suggest to new kayakers? What advice would you offer them?

John: Take classes from as many different instructors as you can. If you ask three instructors something, you’ll get four opinions. Everybody has their own way of presenting information. For example, I compared ACA and BCU and I took what I wanted from both. Which one is best, I don’t know. But you can learn something from every instructor if you’re willing to listen.

Dawn: You’re always willing to teach someone more about the sport.

John: If someone wants to learn, I’ll teach them. If they want to roll, I’ll say meet me at the pool on Sunday. I’m always happy to teach people who show up and want to learn. But not everybody shows up. [He laughs.] One time I was teaching first aid and a student told me, ‘that’s the best coverage of kayaking I ever heard in a first aid class.’ So I guess I teach kayaking even when the class isn’t about the subject.

Dawn: I’m curious as to why you haven’t tried surf skiing. You know everything about kayaking but that’s one branch you haven’t explored. It seems like a lot of fun to do.

John: I thought about it. I’ve been invited. But in order to take it up, I’d have to quit doing something else. I like to be proficient and I’m not willing to give up what I’m already doing. It would be interesting but there’s just not enough time. You have to make choices.

Dawn: Before we stop talking, I was wondering what your biggest secret is for learning to be a confident, skillful paddler?

John: I don’t know. [He smiles.] I’ve told you all my secrets, Dawn. Now I’m afraid I’m going to have to kill you.

Thankfully, we were in a public place. But I know that John has lots more paddling secrets up his sleeve. He'll share them at odd times on the water, here and there, alongside a variety of bad jokes and good stories. You just never know what you’re going to hear. One things for sure; you’ll only hear them if you show up.