Experience Matters.

Gene Davis is probably one of the most quoted sea kayakers in the state. He has been interviewed by newspapers, magazines, radio and television, and testified before congress several times. A retired Border Patrol Deputy Chief, Gene is a sought-after national security consultant. He spent a great deal of time overseas in such hotspots as Pakistan and the Middle East as well as the Republic of Georgia. He’s the guy you want living next door to you. If there’s any possibility of threat, he knows just what do.

When he isn’t safeguarding our country, Gene’s busy being a grandfather of 15, a skilled sea kayaker with a fondness for solo paddling, a nature photographer, and a newlywed. I had the pleasure of sharing coffee and stories with him a few weeks ago and after an hour of talking, it was clear that he is a thoughtful individual with deep convictions and great sensitivity. Must be a kayaker.

Dawn: Gene, you have a mind that is very strategic.

Gene: I have a switch that never turns off. I think it’s because of training in Pakistan, In Pakistan, you're constantly scanning. You're always looking for escape routes; you're always attempting to identify potential danger. And so there may be some crossover into life in general.

Dawn: I think that's very mammalian. If you look at animals, they’re always aware. They’re always looking. Maybe that tendency has been bred out of humans, being at the top of the food chain.

Gene: It’s all about thinking outside of the box. Noticing how things change and responding to the situation at hand. Using good judgment. For example, years ago, I was doing a kayaking class for the county. At the launch site the wind was really blowing. If it would have been my decision, I would have canceled the whole thing. But I wasn’t the lead instructor. The person in charge made the decision to go out. So we launched and we had a big double in the class. Well, we didn't get 50 yards out and a big wave hit the double and flipped it over. Instead of leaning into the wave, the two guys leaned away. So the double capsized and the paddlers came out. Then immediately there was a second problem. The double was supposed to have a neoprene cover over the back hatch. But it wasn’t in place so the hatch started filling up with water. Now, as instructors, we were all trained in how to rescue doubles. But we were only 50 yards offshore so I just hooked a tow belt to the boat, told the guys to hang on, and I was going to tow them in. Remember we were only 50 yards out. The other instructor was adamant, “No No No. We have to do this rescue.” I said, “Look at the boat, it's sinking. Why do a rescue when we’re only 50 yards from shore?”

You see, what happens sometimes is you get so intent on learning to do something, training for it, that you don't think outside the box. You do things the same way every time. But you have to take into consideration the uniqueness of your situation and the fact that something that usually works may not work this time. There's no substitute for good training but you have to be careful to include good judgment. Life doesn't always work out like a training scenario. Wayne Horodowich really emphasized that in his talk last month.

Dawn: Judgment is hard to teach.

Gene: Yes, it's very hard. That's why you need experience. Experience teaches judgment. I think it's good that classes are out there like those offered by ACA and the BCU. But there's no substitute for years of experience. And I'm concerned sometimes when I see a young kayaker touting all kinds of advanced training. I'd much rather know how long that person has been paddling out on the water.

Dawn: When I’m kayaking a lot, I feel much more confident than when I simply take classes but don’t get in much practice. It’s the paddle time that makes all the difference.

Gene: You can learn all you need to learn in classes but then you really need to get out and get the experience. Time on the water.

Dawn: How did you get into kayaking, Gene?

Gene: I started kayaking a little less than 20 years ago. I’d never really paid much attention to it before then. I was up in Juneau, Alaska working a joint enforcement operation with the Coast Guard. I spent a week on a Coast Guard cutter and the skipper was an avid sea kayaker. He talked to me about how wonderful sea kayaking was. I guess he planted the seed. And then I was on a bicycle trip on the southeast side of Lopez Island. All of a sudden some sea kayakers came into the rock gardens, I saw them gliding in and I was mesmerized. It was so beautiful. The blue water and the boats. So I went right home and bought a kayak.

Dawn: What kind of kayak?

Gene: I didn't know much about kayaks. They all looked the same to me. But I was into photography and wanted to take some pictures from the water. I went to the Seattle boat show. I talked to a manufacturer and he was very helpful. He said, “yes, this is the boat for you. It's really stable and it's really wide.” So I bought it. I don't remember who the manufacturer was. I really loved that boat for about a month.

At that time we didn't have the kind of instruction that you have today. The county had some classes but we didn't have people like Shawna and Leon on Orcas, or like Nigel Foster. I went to Seattle and took a training course with George Gronseth. I started paddling with a nucleus of people like Jim Graeser, Dave Peebles, and John Janney. Then I got to know Mercia up in Canada and she invited me to show my photographs at the Thetis Island Coast Kayak Symposium. So I went over there the first year as a presenter and I talked Chris Mitchell into going with me. We took the training course. And I kept going back for ten years.

Dawn: What kind of boat do you paddle now?

Gene: I have several boats. I have a Chatham 16, I really like that boat for teaching and as a playboat, and I have a Necky Tashis which is long and narrow . I like it for camping. It carries a lot of gear. It's fast. Bought it from Johnson and got a great deal because I traded some of my photography for it. I just bought a second Tashis because I got a good deal on it as well. And I paddled a Feathercraft down in Chile.

Dawn: What's the difference between paddling a folding boat like a Feathercraft and a regular hardshell kayak?

Gene: A folding boat, especially a Feathercraft, is a big boat. It's a great boat for people who have never paddled before. It's a great boat for carrying gear. The one drawback is that it just doesn't have the glide of a glass boat. With a glass boat, you do a couple of paddle strokes and you get a glide going. With a Feathercraft, I find that when I stop paddling, the boat slows down. There's just more friction against the water with the fabric hull. Another drawback is putting it together. The manufacturer says 20 minutes. I say two hours. And you have to take it apart occasionally. Otherwise the aluminum pipes get stuck together. If you haven’t lubricated it and you leave it together for a long time it almost takes two pipe wrenches just to pull it apart. Especially if you paddle in saltwater.

Dawn: So you packed up your Feathercraft and went down to Chile to paddle with Reg for a month?

Gene: We paddled for about two and a half weeks, just the two of us. We launched at 9 PM; we would have launched at 8 but it took me an extra hour to put together the Feathercraft. <He laughs.> It was pitch dark but Reg knew where he was going. And the phosphorescence was amazing. You put the paddle in the water and when you lifted up, it looked like sparklers. Like a glow stick. I’ve never seen anything like it since.

We had a great time. Reg is just such a class act. He's a legendary Whitewater kayaker and yet he'll paddle with anyone that's teaching a class and always say he's learned something. He doesn't have a big ego. There's nothing worse on the water than a big ego.

Dawn: Why is that?

Gene: Well, the wonderful thing about kayaking is that it's a sport everybody can enjoy. Of course there are basic skills you go out and practice. But it's not brain surgery. <He laughs> Still, you find these paddlers with big egos about it. There's no give-and-take. I don't have time for them. And it's so easy to spot. I mean, some people think you shouldn't be on the water if you don’t have certifications. All of a sudden everyone is an engineer out there. And I think that's a mistake. You do need to learn basic skills to avoid things like tendonitis and other issues that can come up. You'll become a much more efficient paddler. And it's important to learn all the rescues. These things you do need to know. But there reaches a point where you just have to get out and enjoy it. You don't want to overanalyze.

Dawn: Over-analysis can rob the experience of its nourishing quality.

Gene: Kayaking is one of the greatest parts of living. I really think so.

Dawn: What is it that you like so much about kayaking, Gene?

Gene: Well, first, it’s such a stress reliever. I could have the worst day at the office and come home and in 20 minutes I’m on the water, paddling. Then everything goes away. Of course a lot of what I did was solo paddling and I enjoy taking pictures from the water. So for me, it’s almost therapy. You just lose yourself in the moment. You get in tune. You see the birds. It's such a different perspective from a kayak. You don't have the noise. You don't have the pollution.

When I paddle with groups I will tend to get out in front. That's not because I'm trying to lead people; it’s just that I have my camera and when you're taking photos and you're really in tune, then you see things that other people miss. For example, one of the most beautiful paddling spots is when you put in at Larrabee Park and then paddle North or South. You take your time and you actually look at the sandstone formations and cliffs. So many people get in their boats, paddle 50 yards offshore just to get from point A to point B and miss everything. They don't see the eagles, they don't see the sandstone. There either so busy talking or concentrating, that they miss it. It’s a shame. If you're really in tune you don't miss it.

The second thing I like about paddling is the camaraderie of the people. It always surprises me, the diversity of people kayaking because you never know who they are. You never know who the doctor is, the lawyer, or the laborer. Everybody looks the same in boats and drysuits and wetsuits. There are no titles.

I think one of the biggest problems we have in this country is that people fail to find similarities with each other. Common ground. They're always looking for differences. When you can find similarities, you can have good dialogue. So when I kayak with friends and even people I don’t know, we have such great conversations. You see who they are when you paddle with them and camp with them. You really see the soul of a person.

Dawn: Do you have some memorable trips that you’d like to share? Times when you learned something extra? Or maybe some time when you were really scared in the boat?

Gene: Well, there was this one time that was a great learning experience, not especially scary but pretty intense. I was with Jim Graeser and a couple of other guys and we paddled up to Hot Springs Cove on the West Coast, through Clayquot, up and around Flores Island. It was a long paddle. The first day was 27 miles. A long stretch when you couldn’t get out of the boat. When we were ready to paddle back down, we listened to the weather report. It wasn’t forecasting strong winds but we were on the water early morning anyway. I felt like we did everything that we should have.

Well, we got out there close to a mile and hit some big rolling waves. When we got down around Rafael Point it was really nasty. All of a sudden we were into this big whirlpool. Nobody went over. We had our drysuits on. We were prepared but it was very intense. It showed me that you cannot completely trust weather forecasts. They change in a hurry and it can happen anywhere. It was the first time I'd experienced me going up on a wave and everyone else disappearing, then I'd go down on a wave while everyone else was going up. It was really strange. The whole trip down took just three hours but we were beat. We were more tired than when we paddled the 27 miles going up. It was the intensity. We had to be so focused. We weren’t threatened that much but it was certainly a learning experience. You know, in conditions like that, it just takes one lean in the wrong direction and you're over.

<He smiles> Oh, talk about a humbling experience -- I was with John Janney and we were on Lake Whatcom teaching a class. We'd gotten all through teaching. I was dressed and ready to leave. Well, my friend Cary had a couple of boats -- very very narrow boats -- that he needed to have paddled over to his house which was on the lagoon past the bridge on Electric. I said sure so I got in one of the boats, using his paddle. Then I saw a friend of mine on the water paddling his surfski. He pulled along side of me and when I leaned slightly to talk to him, I braced. Well, I was used to a feathered paddle but this paddle wasn’t feathered. So I sliced though the water and went completely over. I thought to myself, why am I upside down? It happened so fast I was just stunned. So I set up and rolled but I rolled clear over the other side and down. So then I had to think about it. There I was upside down again. Then I rolled back up and realized what the problem was. But it was really a shock to find myself in the water. My friend thought I was practicing rolling. See, you just never know.

The point is, it can happen at any time. It really is true that you're only as strong as your weakest skill. Practice is so important. I was sad to see the county kayaking program going away. It was a great way for kayakers to gain skill and experience. Guided trips and classes. Everyone working together.

Dawn: Do you think the club can take over that role?

Gene: You know, the strength of the club comes from folks getting water time with people like John Janney. He’s been training people for years on the creek. He enjoys it. The principles that John teaches with crossing eddy lines and all is directly applicable to sea kayaking. It’s great experience. John started up the Saturday paddles, you know, just going out every week. It was really fun. I hope it gets going again. I know it’s not a club sponsored event -- that’s understandable -- but it was a great way to get out regularly with some good people and gain water time. It’s people like John that make WAKE a strong club. And people like Merv. Chris Mitchell. And Dave Harris. He’s coming along, taking on that role of helping kayakers learn more skills. These generous, experienced paddlers and others like them make all the difference. Good people. All of them.

In March, Gene returned from his latest overseas adventure and will be staying close to home for a while. REI invited him to show his slides of the Republic of Georgia (of course he took pictures while he was there) at the Bellingham store on May 29^th, at 6 PM. Maybe you’ll catch him sometime out at Larrabee, enjoying the eagles and the sandstone. Just make sure you lock your car before putting-in. Gene will remind you. He is, after all, very careful.