10 Jan 20 update: We're less than one week out. There's a few announcements to make
Announcement 1: The class can only accommodate a total of 16 people, of which I will be one of them. Right now, more than 16 have logged they will attend. This means we'll probably have to do a lottery to see who gets to attend the class. As a reminder, you don't have to attend the CLASS to log the EVENT as a attended so if you don't get to the class, you'll still get credit for the event caches.
Announcement 2: The outfitter that will be teaching the class reports that the Montclair City Pool is back in operation. The class is on!
Announcement 3: As you can imagine, there is a cost to the class; however, YOU are not required to pay it. I've got it covered; however, geocaching.com does allow me to accept donations. The class costs me $25/student. To be clear, you are welcome to donate to me; however, you are not required to pay anything to attend the event or the class.
Come to learn how to safely kayak at the Montclair HEATED, INDOOR pool in the middle of Winter!
Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving across water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits facing forward, legs in front, using a double-bladed paddle to pull front-to-back on one side and then the other in rotation. Most kayaks have closed decks, although sit-on-top and inflatable kayaksare growing in popularity as well.
Kayaks were created thousands of years ago by the Inuit of the northern Arctic regions. They used driftwood and sometimes the skeleton of whale, to construct the frame of the kayak, and animal skin, particularly seal skin was used to create the body. The main purpose for creating the kayak, which literally translates to “hunter's boat” was for hunting and fishing. The kayak’s stealth capabilities allowed for the hunter to sneak up behind animals on the shoreline and successfully catch their prey.
Well, we geocaching hunters have a lot in common with the Inuit. We also like to hunt our prey in wild, inhospitable regions in bad weather. It follows that we would also use kayaks to sneak up on our prey of Tupperware containers, ammo cans, and bison tubes. Therefore, Geocaching.com created a “Boat Required” attribute to encourage this fun outdoor adventure activity.
This event cache will be an “outdoor” adventure education seminar to instruct students on kayak handling. It will be taught by trained and experienced professionals in a safe, HEATED, INDOOR, environment.
This event cache is open to all adult cache hunters who have at least a basic membership on Geocaching.com. Simply show up to Montclair Indoor Pool to log the event as “attended”; however, the actual kayaking class itself must be limited to only 16 adults. That's because the pool is only so big, there will only be so many kayaks to train in, and only so much time for the classes.
If this takes off, we can host more events like this.
We will be meeting at the Omaha City Parks Montclair Indoor Pool at 2304 S. 135th Ave. The pool is both indoor and heated – perfect for a winter cache! The event cache begins at 3:45 followed by two forty-five minute sessions: 4:15pm – 5:00pm and 5:15 – 6:00pm.
See you there!