Sharon Lindsay: Get Busy and Do It Yourself.
By Dawn Groves

On Tuesday and Thursday nights, you can often find Sharon Lindsay at the Bellingham Aquatic Center, practicing rolls or coaching new kayakers through wet exits and rescues. Sharon is passionate about all aspects of sea kayaking, especially safety. I talked to her one afternoon as she was getting ready to go paddling on Lake Whatcom.

Dawn: Thanks for talking with me, Sharon. Just to establish your background, what did work did you do before you retired?

Sharon: I was a chemist and taught at San Jose State University and other universities in the general chemistry programs. I’ve also been employed in the pharmaceutical industry and worked for the United States Geological Survey. With USGS I was working with the Water Resources Division doing analysis of groundwater.

Dawn: How did you get into kayaking?

Sharon: Well I actually got into canoeing when I was a teenager in Girl Scouts. I had a canoe and dragged it all over the United States. When my husband and I moved out here, I didn't care to use a canoe in the bay, so that's when I moved into kayaks. That was in 2001.

Dawn: Where did you canoe?

Sharon: Most of my early paddling was in the Chesapeake Bay area, Virginia, Pennsylvania and upper state New York. My husband Jim and I paddle a lot when we lived in Spokane, WA. I had an old Mad River canoe that just wasn't suitable for Bellingham Bay. There are canoes appropriate for this area but they have much more freeboard on them. One advantage of the kayak of course is the rudder or the skeg so you don't spend as much time doing correction strokes in conditions.

Dawn: Did you just start boating out in Bellingham Bay by yourself?

Sharon: I went out with Sharmon Hill who runs Moondance Sea Kayak Adventures. I paddled with her a couple of times and then she invited me to go on one of her tours. I think she invited me because I could paddle the big Tesla. They stuffed it with gear. I was the one strong enough to paddle a huge boat. (Laugh) But that was good. That introduced me. Then I got my own boat.

Dawn: What kind of boat did you get?

Sharon: I started with an Eddyline Falcon. An 18-foot boat. I've come to realize that I don't need to push 18 feet of boat anymore. If I need more space I cut back on what I'm carrying. So right now I'm at 15.3 feet and I like it. That's the Necky Eliza.

Dawn: What is it about kayaking that you enjoy so much?

Sharon: I like the freedom of it. I used to do a lot of bicycling. Three to five-thousand miles a year touring all over. But you're limited to the roadway and you're always wondering if you're gonna get run over by an 18-wheeler. In a kayak I don't worry about 18-wheelers. I worry about freighters. (Laughs) With kayaking I also like the interaction with the environment. I'm a very water oriented person. It's a marvelous environment.
For anybody who enjoys both water sports and interacting in the environment, kayaking is the best.

Dawn: You do a lot of training for WAKE. What is it that appeals to you about teaching people to roll or to practice a stroke?

Sharon: Education is quite an equalizer. And I'm a great believer in equality.

Dawn: What do you mean by equalizer?

Sharon: When everybody is equally educated about something then they can choose to take it up or not. If they haven't been educated about it then they don't have the same opportunity. Plus, once that knowledge is obtained then the student can go beyond what they thought they were capable of originally.

When it comes to teaching kayaking, I like to work with beginners especially. Give them a sound basis so that they can get out there and safely enjoy what's available. The biggest risk in any sport is not knowing the risks. Although I don't want to overemphasize risk, it's important to be educated. Be fully aware of all the aspects of your sport and then go out and enjoy it.

Dawn: You do a lot of practicing on your own. I see you at the pool all the time.

Sharon: I go into the pool for pure enjoyment. I love the warm water. But I don’t waste time. I practice a lot when I’m there. I'm not as agile as some but I enjoy having a good, efficient technique. And for certain students I'm good as a role model. I practice hard, they practice hard.

I've worked extremely hard at rolling. I approached it the same way I approached being an analytical chemist. I studied intensely, figured out what was involved, and then started to work on it. When it came to rolling, I had some initial training but then continued to practice on my own and learn in slow increments. Now I’m comfortable with it. But if rolls are forced on me in the surf, I find them only about 50% successful under really rough conditions. I'd like to see that improve so I continue to practice.

Of course, if I get into situations where I have to swim, it's not a problem. I paddle with good people, we all practice the rescues. We all try to work together. That gives me a comfort level. You’re quite independent when you're out in that boat; you're your own coxswain. But in reality we all need to work together as a team.

Dawn: Greg Dutton said when you're comfortable in your boat, you're willing to push boundaries. If you're not comfortable, then you'll be afraid to push yourself and even if you do, you won't learn as much from it. You'll just be scared. John Janney said the same thing about rolling. He said you learn to roll because it makes you more willing to practice bracing. You're not as afraid of going over. So comfort level is quite important.

Sharon: That's right. Comfort level is critical. Then you can push harder.
And if you make mistakes, you can always recover. You know what to do.
That's the whole idea of Splash and Thrash which we'll do again this year.
You just get out there and play with your boat. Get comfortable with what you know and work on what you want to learn. Hang upside down. Spend quality time under the water. No panic. You can wish for it as much as you want but you have to work on it and push it. That's when you develop as a paddler and enjoy it more. Not everyone is going care about training up to the same skill level. Not everybody has the same interests. But for me, a good bow rudder with a tight turn, proper form, that's really neat.

Dawn: Are there any particular problems you’ve had to work through physically? Like tight hips? Something like that?

Oh sure. My spine isn't very flexible. I can't do Greenland rolls and come up on the back deck. My static brace is hilarious. It's done underwater. (Laughs) I rotate to the left much better than I rotate to the right. This doesn't interfere with my stroke but I'm always working on it. I'm always trying to loosen up and extend it. I'm at the gym a lot and I hit the pool for swimming. I use weights, climb stairs.

Dawn: Do you paddle alone?

Sharon: I'm going out to practice today. I will paddle by myself but I always stay very close to shore so if there's a problem I can get in. Even though I'm dressed for immersion I'm not pushing it today. The water isnt quite 50° yet. I hate cold water. I hate cold eyeballs. (Laughs)

When I paddle alone I do make provisions. I take a solid paddle float so I'm not sitting in the water blowing it up by myself. I practice a lot in Lake Whatcom. It's easy to get the boat in and out. It's close to my house. There's a lot going on there. Because of that north-south fetch on the lake, when the wind blows you can get some interesting waves. They're always shoving you up into somebody's yard. But never misinterpret what that lake water can do you. It's cold and hypothermia can set in real fast.

Dawn: You're a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary. Talk to me about that.

The Coast Guard Auxiliary is set up to assist the Coast Guard in non-law enforcement activities. I joined it because of the Paddle Craft Operators program -- an experimental program for District 13 which is Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. We're using various types of paddle craft to help in the different aspects of the Coast Guard activities through education programs or patrols. We actually go out on patrol under assignment. We do marina patrols, we go along the harbors looking at derelict vessels to see if there's leaking oil, and of course we do public education. All the time, public education. And I enjoy it. I think it serves a great purpose.

We also assist with public endeavors such as the marathon swim up in Blaine. Open water marathon swimmers can't see where they're going so we help to guide them with our kayaks. We worked at the 2006 Port Townsend West Coast Sea kayak Symposium and we may be doing that again this year. I'm always looking for more people to join us. After you get the training, the Coast Guard lends you safety equipment and your boat will be inspected as a Coast Guard facility. Your commitment is 12 hours of patrol per year.

Dawn: That's one hour a month.

Sharon: Well yes and we usually go out for two and three hours at a time so it's very easy to fulfill a commitment. Plus the training you get is wonderful. We get the exact same training that they give to regular Coast Guard members in navigation, communications, weather. Some of the classes are online some of them are in classroom situations. And that's one of the things that draws me to this work. It's a great opportunity to get good background information on an environment that I thoroughly enjoy. I'm confident that the information that I've received in my training means that I can now go and help teach.

Dawn: So you teach kayaking skills. You're also teaching a navigation course for WAKE in April. What else do you teach?

Sharon: I teach the state-mandated recreational safety boating program. In 2005 a bill was passed that everyone would go through an eight-hour training and boating safety course as part of a certification requirement. The program is starting with younger people and then every year a different age group is going to be required to do this. And that's one of the things that the Coast Guard Auxiliary is very active in -- public education.

I've already helped to teach one of these classes this year and I have another one coming up soon. Topics include boating safety, understanding navigation, interacting with the environment such as Spartina identification. Spartina is a noxious saltwater grass that has the potential to be a problem for this area. It really helps get the message out on this. Public education used to be a larger part of the Coast Guard's everyday activities but now that role has moved to the Coast Guard Auxiliary. That's because the Coast Guard is very busy dealing with issues after 9/11.

Dawn: Are you still doing patrols?

Sharon: I took some time off in the wintertime and as soon as I get a couple more people on the water with me I'll start up again. There are two paddlers who are ready to go, one uses a sit-on-top kayak and the other paddles a canoe.

Dawn: Where do you patrol?

Sharon: Squalicum harbor, Bellingham Bay, Blaine, Lake Whatcom. And then over at Port Townsend we did the safety patrol for the 2006 WCSKS as well.

Dawn: What do you do when you're on patrol?

Sharon: We select an area we want to patrol and request an order from the Coast Guard. On the day we do it, we call in and let them know we're on the site. We check in every half hour and then when we're done we fill out a report and e-mail it to headquarters. That way, they'll know what's going on in the area. If we see something interesting of course we would always call it in. I carry a VHF-FM radio and a cell phone. I highly encourage people to get VHF-FM radios out here especially since the Rescue 21 program has gone into effect. Do you know about that?

Dawn: Tell me about it.

Sharon: When you use your VHF-FM radio they can triangulate on your signal. They can pinpoint your location. That just went into effect last year. By putting up more towers through the community they're able to do it. It helps locate you in case you're in trouble. And you don't have to be licensed to use a VHF-FM radio.

One big problem for the Coast Guard during a rescue has to do with [] visually locating white kayak hulls in rough conditions. A capsized white kayak hull tends to blend into whitecaps. Manufacturers prefer white hulls because when the bottom gets scraped the undercoat is white anyway.

Dawn: So would a black hull be better?

Sharon: You can't see a black hull night. The best colors are safety orange and safety yellow. My boats are mango colored. That's pretty close. You can spot them anywhere. And there's always reflective tape. You want to do whatever it takes to be more visible to other boats and to the Coast Guard if necessary.

Dawn: Is there anything you'd recommend to new kayakers?

Sharon: Just what other people have said. Get good training and practice a lot. The training is critical. And go to the pool and play. Enjoy yourself.
Try not to get uptight. When you play, your skills improve dramatically. But the bottom line is -- if you want it, you have to go out and get it. Then call people and get your own little paddling pod together. Don't wait for a paddle to be scheduled. Get busy and do it yourself.

Together with Ed Alm, Sharon is teaching a two-hour kayak navigation class, free to WAKE members only, on April 11th, 7 to 9 PM at the Bellingham Senior Center. Limited to 12 participants. She’ll also be offering her annual Splash and Thrash rescue and stroke practice sessions as the summer approaches. If you want some one-on-one assistance, email sharon@wakekayak.org.