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I've been pretty busy with Illumos lately, but last week I took a few days off for family time.

One of the things I did was take my son (9 years old) out to the Kern River to try some whitewater kayaking. This was his first time on moving water, and it amazed me how quickly he picked up basic concepts. He was doing ferries, peel outs, and eddy turns like a champ after about 20-30 minutes. Amazing. He didn't even swim his first day -- he elected to stay in his boat (actually trying to do a roll) until I could give him an Eskimo rescue. (His only swim that day was when he got flipped by one of the holes in Riverside Park.)

He did get a good swim on the second day, when we were working on ferries though the much faster swift water running at the bottom of Ewings rapid. His first ferry was quite high into the rapid itself, and clean, but the second time he went for a swim. Came up happy and smiling, ready to try again if we had had the time.

I wish I had some pictures.

Guess I'm gonna have to get the kid a boat soon. He wants to try kayak surfing with me, and he really wants to learn to roll. Too bad there are no vendors that offer whitewater boats small enough for kids in southern California. We probably won't make it to Kernville again until next season. :-(

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