Dare to Kayak update

By Devon Barker

Greetings from the North Carolina coast and from Laney
High School in Wilmington. I am kayak surfing in the
ocean for the week and sharing my Dare to Kayak
presentation with the students in Wilmington, NC. The
waves were really big this morning but Kris and I
loaded up our kayak gear and headed to the high school
instead of the beach. Kris Whitmore who is on the USA
Surf Kayak team joined me in sharing my Dare to Kayak
presentation. I met Kris in Costa Rica at the World
Championships last fall and we have been working on
bringing my Dare to Kayak program to her hometown for
almost a year. We did eight presentations to almost
200 students. They loved seeing all the footage of
freestyle and surf kayaking from around the world and
realizing this is a sport they can do here in North
Carolina. My program encourages students to get a
rush from kayaking instead of drug use. I think Kris
will have a few new surf kayaking friends soon.

Beth Keller, the youth specialist coordinator helped
to set up these presentations and was a wonderful host
during our visit to Laney High School. I look forward
to doing more presentations in the spring and a pool
day with the students.

I am going to surf at Wrightsville Beach in the
morning and then am headed to Outer Banks for the East
Coast Surf Kayak competition in OBX. I have never
surfed there so I am really excited to see the waves.
On one hand I hope they are big but not too big as
getting out through the waves to surf again is much
harder than paddling out of the eddy.

Kris and I had a wonderful time sharing kayaking with
the students and staff.

Devon Barker and Kris Whitmore