Kayaking with YMCA Camp Orkila
San Juan Kayaking
One-Week program, for campers with
little or no skill or experience kayaking.
Objectives
• Provide teens with a safe outdoor experience.
• Challenge teens in new ways,
while being in a safe and supportive
environment.
• Be a part of a close-knit group
and learn successful techniques to operate in a
group.
• Learn new peer-to-peer leadership
styles and practice leading a group of peers.
• Learn and practice practical
skills such as cooking on a camp stove, setting up
camp, making a fire, traveling in a
group and the technical skills of kayaking.
Program Details
• Campers stay in open-air cabins in
at Camp Orkila one to two nights at the start of their program and one to two nights
at the end of their program.
• When groups are in the field they
stay in organized city, state, federal or private campgrounds. Groups sleep under
tarps, which they set up. Tarps are single sex.
• Campers must perform a "wet exit" and re-entry in a double kayak and a swim check prior to departing camp.
• Kayaking will take place within the San Juan Islands.
• Each kayak holds two campers.
Staff paddle in single kayaks among campers.
• Kayak 1 - 5 hours daily.
• Safety protocol requires staff to
contact camp via radio or cellphone at least two times a day.
Sample Itinerary
Day 1: Arrive at Camp Orkila, swim
check
Day 2: Day paddle and skills
instruction at Orkila, Camp at Pt. Doughty.
Day 3: Paddle to Jones Island
Day 4: Paddle to Turn Island
Day 5: Paddle to Blind Island
Day 6: Paddle to Lopez Island
Day 7: Paddle to Orcas Island for a
shuttle back to camp
Day 8:
Closing and return to Seattle
San Juan Kayaking 2.0
Two-Week program, for campers with beginning to intermediate
kayaking skills.
Objectives
• Provide teens with a safe outdoor experience.
• Challenge teens in new ways, while being in a safe and supportive
environment.
• Be a part of a close-knit group and learn successful techniques to operate in a
group.
• Learn new peer-to-peer leadership styles and practice leading a group of peers.
• Learn and practice practical skills such as cooking on a camp stove, setting up
camp, making a fire, traveling in a group and the technical skills of kayaking.
Program Details
• Campers stay in open-air cabins in at Camp Orkila one to two nights at the start of their program and one to two nights at the end of their program.
• When groups are in the field they stay in organized city, state, federal or private campgrounds. Groups sleep under tarps, which they set up. Tarps are single sex.
• Campers must perform a "wet exit" and re-entry in a double kayak and a swim check prior to departing camp.
• Kayaking will take place within the San Juan Islands.
• Each kayak holds two campers. Staff paddle in single kayaks among campers.
•
Kayak 1 – 6 hours daily.
•
No laundry capabilities during program.
• Safety protocol requires staff to contact camp via radio or cellphone at least two times a day.
Sample Itinerary
Day
1: Arrive at Camp Orkila, swim check
Day
2: Day paddle and skills instruction at Orkila
Day
3: Paddle to Jones Island
Day
4: Paddle to Blind Island
Day
5: Paddle to Shaw Island
Day
6: Day Paddles
Day
7: Paddle to Obstruction Pass – resupply
Day
8: Paddle to Lopez Island
Day
9: Paddle to Pelican Beach
Day
10: Rest Day on Pelican Beach, Cypress Island
Day
11: Paddle to Clark Island
Day
12: Paddle to Matia Island
Day
13: Paddle to Sucia Island
Day
14: Paddle to Camp Orkila
Day
15: Closing and return to Seattle
Islanders
Four-Week program, for campers with intermediate to advanced
kayaking skills and previous camping experience.
Objectives
• Provide teens with a safe outdoor experience.
• Challenge teens in new ways, while being in a safe and supportive
environment.
• Be a part of a close-knit group and learn successful techniques to operate in a
group.
• Learn new peer-to-peer leadership styles and practice leading a group of peers.
• Practice sea kayaking leadership by leading and teaching paddling to younger participants on Satellite Island.
• Practice sea kayaking leadership by leading and teaching paddling to younger participants on Satellite Island.
• Learn and practice practical skills such as cooking on a camp stove, setting up
camp, making a fire, traveling in a group and the technical skills of kayaking.
Program Details
•
Campers stay in open-air cabins in at Camp Orkila one to two nights at the
start of their
program and one to two nights at the end of their program.
• Kayak within the world-famous San Juan Islands.
• When groups are in the field they stay in organized city, state, federal or private campgrounds. Groups setup and sleep under their own tarp-tents. Tarps are single sex.
• When groups are in the field they stay in organized city, state, federal or private campgrounds. Groups setup and sleep under their own tarp-tents. Tarps are single sex.
• Participants paddle their own double kayak with a partner. Staff kayak in single kayaks among campers.
• Campers must pass a kayak “flip flop” test and swim check prior to departing camp.
• Campers must pass a kayak “flip flop” test and swim check prior to departing camp.
•
Islanders may bring a single kayak on trip for campers to paddle.
•
Kayak 1 – 7 hours daily.
•
No laundry capabilities during program.
• Safety protocol requires staff to contact camp via radio or cellphone at least two times a day.
Sample Itinerary
Day 1: Arrive at Camp Orkila, swim check
Day 2: Paddle skills and team building in camp
Day 3: Paddle to Sucia Island
Day 4: Paddle to Patos Island
Day 5: Paddle to Matia Island
Day 6: Paddle to Clark Island
Day 7: Rest day on Clark Island
Day 8 Paddle to Lummi Island
Day 9 Paddle to Cypress Island
Day 10 James Island
Day 11 Doe Island
Day 12: Stay on Doe Island and visit Doe Bay Resort for a service project
Day 13 Paddle to Blind Island
Day 14 Paddle to Turn Island
Day 15 Paddle to Spencer Spit
Day 16 Rest day on Spencer Spit
Day 17 Paddle to Griffen Bay on San Juan Island
Day 18 Paddle to Smallpox Bay and San Juan County Park on San Juan Island
Day 19: Paddle to Posey Island
Day 20: Paddle to Stuart Island
Day 21: Paddle to Satellite Island
Day 22: Service project and day paddle workshops
Day 23: Lead day paddles for Traditional Campers
Day 24: Lead day paddles for Traditional Campers
Day 25: Lead day paddles for Traditional Campers
Day 26: Begin 24 hour solo experience
Day 27: Last day on Satellite Island
Day 28: Paddle back to Camp Orkila
Day 29: Islanders begin the journey back home
Day 28: Paddle back to Camp Orkila
Day 29: Islanders begin the journey back home
Voices from Orkila Kayak
Trips
I learned how to be open with people… to bond more closely than family and how
to cry when it was time to go. I learned to laugh harder than I though possible
and to sing on the water badly, out of tune, way to loudly and with all my
heart. I learned to be myself and to live without regret. I learned how to feel
alive.
Some things are a once in a lifetime experience. I know this sounds cliché,
yes, but tell me honestly how many people can say that they got the chance to
paddle in a pod of Orcas... A little boy running down the beach alerted us to
the whales “just off the shore.” We didn’t believe him at first, but soon we
saw the fins appearing out of the water. To paddle alongside my friends, my
family and those amazing animals is something I will never forget.
I am going to bring back the skills of a well built and well
balanced leader and kayaker and friend
Camp always brings out a side of me, that slowly disappears until the next year
at camp. After camp, I am an altogether more positive person. I am grateful,
and excited, motivated, and joyful. For once, I’m going to take this piece of
camp home.
Before I came to this camp, I could cook about the 3 simplest things in an
average kitchen. Now, I can cook a variety of foods, add the necessary spices,
and pick out good condiments for flavors. My cooking experience increased by
tenfold. Along the way, I learned to realize that things that seem bad or that
sound like they are going to be bad always end up being good because no matter
what, they will make you a better and stronger person. I learned that I have
the ability to learn from every single experience.
The main thing that I will bring back with me when I go home is to be true to
yourself and those around you. Also another thing I will bring back is to give
respect to others and your others will return to you with respect, always stay
humble
What I’ve learned here is no quickly or easily quantifiable skill. Sure, I’ve
paddled for three weeks, I’m a better kayaker for it and I actually have
discernable abs now, but in the end that’s not what’s important. What actually
matters is that I learned things like how to get along with 10 other people
around nearly 24/7 for three weeks without going insane. What matters is that I
learned just a little bit more about who I am and want to be. I’ve made lasting
friendships here that I feel will be really important to me.