Last week I returned home from the Greenland Week Kayak Festival. The event takes place in Washington and consists of Greenland-style kayaking lessons, demonstrations, social activities and a competition. It is organized by The Kayak Academy. Dubside, Maligiaq Padilla and myself instructed, and Jeanette Rogers joined us for judging the harpoon and rolling competitions.

The Washington crew.

The weekend’s events took place at Lake Sammamish State Park, which was an ideal location with the lake, a covered picnic shelter with a firepit in the center and another shelter that served well for ropes. Also, the Kayak Academy runs the concession stand at the park, so participants and spectators had access to hot beverages and yummy treats throughout the weekend.

Dubside and his new scoreboard.

Friday’s activities included a free rope gymnastics clinic, followed by a ropes demonstration. On Saturday there was a six mile race, a rolling demonstration and a free harpoon clinic. Evening entertainment included a tasty salmon dinner and music by South Sound, as well as a presentation by Rob Avery on kayaking the Aleutian Islands. Sunday consisted of harpoon throwing and rolling competitions.

Maligiaq demonstrates how to throw a harpoon.

The rolling class.

Prizes were announced, with Wayne Horodowich taking the top medal. The Canadians brought in first, second and third places for the rolling competition, and there were lots of raffle prizes handed out. Compete results are available here. The weekend was a ton of fun, and it was good to hang out with the Washington kayakers again. Keep an eye on the Kayak Academy website… there are some exciting changes in store for next year’s event.

The rolling winners (all from Canada): From left: Christopher Scully, Alan Dunham and Michael Jackson.

Photos by The Kayak Academy and Helen Wilson.