The Elakha Alliance is a non-profit trying to restore Oregon's sea otters back to their native waters. Sea otters were hunted to near extinction during the maritime fur trade, and have been absent on the Oregon coastline for over a century.

Join Chanel Hason, Director of Outreach & Community Relations as she highlights how reintroducing sea otters would be extremely beneficial ecologically, economically, and culturally. 

OOPS General Meeting - May 25, 2022 - OOPS Presents "Orcas Island – Crown of the San Juans" with Woody Moses

This was a virtual meeting.  Here is the recording

Come learn from Woody Moses as he shares about Orcas Island.  Woody says, "As the largest island of the San Juan archipelago, Orcas Island is a sea kayaker’s dream. Orcas provides a paddler with miles of dynamic coastline, magical wildlife and a beguiling combination of both adventurous and protected waterways. I’ve been exploring Orcas Island for over twenty years, and I’m always excited to return. From the alluring Wasp Islands to protected waters of East Sound to the wild outer islands of Sucia, Matia and Patos, Orcas Island is the crown of the San Juans."  

About Woody Moses: Born in Oregon, raised in Rhode Island, Woody has always lived near the coast. Since 2003, he has lived in Seattle where he works as a Biology and Environmental Science instructor at Highline College. He spends his free time exploring the wonders of the Salish Sea and the majesty of the Cascade and Olympic Mountains.  He’s also been known to pick up a guitar or a hammer from time to time. Thankfully, the guitar isn’t broken and the hammer doesn’t sound too bad.

OOPS General Meeting - April 27, 2022 - OOPS Presents Jasper Greve and "So you want to plan a trip"

This was a virtual meeting.  Here is the recording

Join us as Jasper presents "So you want to plan a trip...."

Jasper says, "The board thought it would be a good idea if I gave a presentation on trip planning, so here it is! In this presentation, I will go over some of the resources I use to plan a paddle on our local waterways with a focus on the Columbia. There will be a basic introduction to kayak navigation as it pertains to these waterways. There will be thought of safety, and there will be time for questions."

About Jasper: Raised in a coastal town in the Netherlands, Jasper's first love is the sea. A love he is passionate about sharing. This passion led his path on the sea. First in off-shore sailing, starting out as a deckhand on a classic wooden ship, working his way up -- after earning his captain's credentials --  to skipper, and working as a yacht delivery skipper up and down the European and West African coasts. After moving to the US, he discovered sea kayaking as a way to spend more time closer to the ocean. After learning a lot, he spent some time coaching and guiding at Alder Creek and now functions on the OOPS board as education director.

OOPS General Meeting - March 30, 2022 - OOPS Presents Paul Claeyssens with the History of Waldo Lake

This was a virtual meeting.  Here is the recording

Paul Claeyssens is a Senior consultant in historic preservation, cultural resource management, tribal relations and TEK for government, tribes and the private sector. Also an experienced and qualified member of wildfire suppression incident overhead teams responsible for natural and cultural resource protection.

Paul is the author of Waldo Lake History: Prehistoric Period to Present.

Waldo Lake and vicinity remained essentially an uncharted wilderness until the second half of the Nineteenth Century. The area was largely devoid of its aboriginal inhabitants when Judge John Breckenridge Waldo and his companions spent their summers recreating in the Cascades between 1880 and 1907. These Cascade Mountain respites ultimately led Waldo to call for the area's preservation. But Waldo Lake succumbed to another force in the history of the West, the reclamation movement. In 1905, promoters filed for water rights on Waldo for use as a natural reservoir. The first phase that began in 1905 was a failed attempt to develop the lake as a reservoir for power generation, ending in the mid-1930s as markets declined for hydroelectric power and irrigation water. Federal reclamation projects soon took up the slack, beginning in 1939 with a proposal to divert Waldo Lake out of the Willamette drainage entirely to the Upper Deschutes Project via canals and tunnels through the crest of the Oregon Cascades. Next, the Columbia River project of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed during the 1940s and 50s depicted Waldo Lake as a vital component of the Upper Willamette system of reclamation installations. By the mid-1950s the twin movements of recreation and wilderness preservation took root and renewed Judge Waldo's call for the protection of and recreation in such places as Waldo Lake. Initially, recreation development held sway, culminating in developed campground facilities in the 1960s. By 1984, the area surrounding Waldo Lake was officially designated as wilderness.

OOPS General Meeting - February 23, 2022 - OOPS Presents Neil Schulman, Wilderness Photographer:  "Better Kayaking Photography Made Simple (sort of)"

This was a virtual meeting.  Here is the recording.

We’ve all seen a million boring kayaking photos: small boats in the distance, the bow taking up most of the frame, and water droplets on the lens that make everything blurry. This presentation will cover how to make your kayak photography better—technically stronger, more expressive, and better at capturing the sport we love….even when conditions are tough.

And no, you don’t need an expensive camera.

Neil Schulman has been paddling since he was about 6, and started paddling with OOPS while a guy named Bill Clinton was in the White House. He paddles (and photographs) sea kayaking, whitewater, kayak polo, and other outdoor adventures: you can see some of his work at neilschulman.com. His “day job” is in river conservation, and he writes regularly for Paddling Magazine and Adventures NW and teaches occasionally for Alder Creek Kayak, Canoe, Raft, and SUP.

    

OOPS General Meeting - January 26, 2022 - OOPS PRESENTS DEREK SHAW WITH WEST MARINE

This was a virtual meeting.  Here is the recording.

Derek Shaw has a lifetime love of the water and boating and has been boater all his life. He has managed West Marine stores the past 7 years and has nearly two decades of experience in the Merchant Maritime and Marine Professional Services on the west coast.

Derek is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and the University of York, UK. He was previously employed as a professional archaeologist in the Pacific Northwest. But, more recently he re-discovered his love of the water lifestyle and returned to the marine services. Derek has a lifetime of sailing, paddlesports, boating and diving experience and enjoys sharing his passion for boating and aquatics in his role as the manager of the retail and wholesale boating outlet in Tigard, Oregon.

He taught sailing, kayaking and freediving and lead tours for a kayaking tour business in Monterey Bay. He has worked on commercially certified charter sailing and marine wildlife charter tour vessels. He is a licensed amateur radio operator and has a lifelong interest in marine electronics, navigation and communication technologies. He is a marine electronics specialist with West Marine and has been trained by Garmin, Navico, Raymarine, Icom, Standard Horizon and other leading marine electronics manufacturers. Derek is always happy to answer questions about equipment, its usage or marine safety protocols.

Join us as we learn from Derek about currently available marine electronics that might be useful equipment for recreational and professional paddlesport enthusiasts. He'll share an introduction to the basic categories and have plenty of time for questions!

1. UHF, VHF and HF marine communications
2. Satellite communications
3. Marine electronic safety equipment
4. Q&A

OOPS General Meeting - November 24, 2021 - OOPS Presents Calvin Croll with Future Water Paddlesports

This was a virtual meeting.  Here is the recording and a little more (Q&A).

Calvin Croll is the head coach at Future Water Paddlesports, LLC. Since 2001, he has been engaged in different outdoor education pursuits. In the past 20 years he has worked for university outdoor programs, multiple Outward Bound wilderness schools across the country, and spent two years coaching paddlesports full-time for Body Boat Blade when it was located on Orcas Island.

In January of 2018 Calvin set out to try and become the first person to circumnavigate Vancouver Island by sea kayak in the winter. The journey ended successfully after snow, rain, record-breaking wave heights, and a January transit of the west coast of the island. Come by to hear about how Calvin prepared for and executed this expedition.

Learn more about Calvin and Future Water Paddlesports at https://futurewaterpaddlesports.com/

OOPS General Meeting - October 27, 2021 - OOPS Presents Susan Conrad - Kayaking the Salish Sea

This was a virtual meeting.  Here is the recording.

August 2020 Susan dipped her paddle in the waters of the Nisqually Reach and spent the next 14 days meandering her way from Olympia to Lummi Island, Washington. Her journey, crafted in the ethos of the ultimate “staycation” gave her a better understanding of this “sea between the mountains” and a bigger appreciation for the Cascadia Marine Trail system. Susan will share her stories and images in a one-hour slideshow presentation and offer tips and tricks to planning and executing the journey yourself.  Here's a link to a resource document with all of the charts, apps, books, and various resources Susan will talk about.

About Susan:  Susan Conrad refers to herself as a "writer with a paddling problem." ( See her books here! ) She’s been plying various bodies of water in long, skinny boats for 33 years and has penned two books about her paddling escapades. The lion’s share of her seafaring miles comes from her all-time favorite place to kayak—the Inside Passage! She’s paddled quite a chunk of it and took it upon herself to finish connecting her “Inside Passage dots” — a little closer to home this time in Washington State.

OOPS General Meeting - September 29, 2021 - OOPS Members present a Green River Trip Report

This was a virtual meeting.  Here is the recording.

The Green River, located in the western United States, is the chief tributary of the Colorado River. In May of 2021, several OOPS members paddled the Green River from Green River, Utah to the confluence with the Colorado River.

Join Stacy Ozer, Monte Johnson, Paula Brottman, Chris Mayou, and Mark and Janell Niemann-Ross for this virtual trip report. Topics will include satellite radios, getting there, the route, - and getting out, filtering water, hikes, canoes vs kayaks, and most importantly - how to manage your poop.

Want a preview? Here's a short video.

Here are some resources:

• PLB vs Satellite messengers
• Garmin inReach Satellite messengers
  
• GEOS login, GEOS benefits, terms and conditions

OOPS General Meeting - August 25, 2021 - Gena Dwyer - Tips, Tricks, and Trips for Kayak Camping in the Pacific Northwest

This was a virtual meeting.  Here is the recording.

Camping has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. When I was about 16, my family camped across the US from Washington to Maryland and back again. As an adult, I made a similar journey when I moved from Washington to Georgia. Imagine camping across country with a 7-year old, a dog, four cats and a parrot.

Canoeing was always a big part of my life as a child. In fact, I used to load up the canoe on our VW beetle and paddle around a lake instead of doing my Avon route. I cut a few class in college at UW in favor of paddling on Lake Washington, too.

Married life and the US Air Force curtailed my paddling activities for many years, but when I landed finally in Oregon, I bought a canoe. Canoes are also known as “divorce boats” for good reason. My husband, Jim, and I had some spectacularly vociferous arguments in the canoe. So, in order to spend more time on the water and still maintain my now 36 year marriage, I decided to give kayaking a try. That was about seven years ago and I’ve never looked back.

It didn’t take long to mesh kayaking, canoeing and camping together. My daughter has introduced me to all the nifty new gadgets that are available and convinced me to retire my beloved 30 year old tent. I’ll share some of my tips, tricks, and trips with you and I hope that you’ll share yours with me.

Here are the web links from her presentation and from the chat window, not necessarily in order:

• Online version of presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1sPPZZAg0VdS4xT7GmVZGi2linSCXEJjaOymhtWAmGMM/edit#slide=id.p
• https://www.paddlecanada.com/
• How to pack a sea kayak:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvD59n3AWRY
• http://www.coldwatersafety.org/nccwsRules3.html
• https://www.freshoffthegrid.com/
• http://superiorpaddling.com/paddling-first-aid-kit/
• https://paddling.com/learn/the-float-plan-a-vital-paddling-tool
• https://www.redcross.org/local/oregon/take-a-class/first-aid-portland-or
• https://www.nols.edu/en/coursefinder/courses/wilderness-first-aid-WFA/?gclid=CjwKCAjw1JeJBhB9EiwAV612yzYt4qf0jcVaYU3tJidk-FqVeWaTUE2pFxjNqtylCKOo3eU-_K_IdhoCRogQAvD_BwE
• https://www.boatus.org/marine-communications/basics/
• https://willamettewatertrail.org/
• https://www.estuarypartnership.org/water-trails/columbia-river
• https://www.wwta.org/water-trails/cascadia-marine-trail/
• https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/
• https://www.weather.gov/
• https://www.deepzoom.com/
• https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/
• https://www.windy.com/?44.655,-123.135,5
• http://www.kayaktrainingaustralia.com.au/leadership

OOPS General Meeting - June 30, 2021 - OOPS Presents Nehalem Bay History

This was a virtual meeting.  The presenter asked that we did not record the meeting.

OOPS General Meeting - April 28, 2021 - OOPS Presents the OOPS Library with Janell Niemann-Ross

This was a virtual meeting.  Here is the recording. 

Did you know that OOPS has a library of kayak books? Over 150 titles! Including travel, skills, and cooking! Janell Niemann-Ross presented an overview the spicy titles in the library and gave a demonstration on checking out physical books in a virtual world.

OOPS General Meeting - March 31, 2021 - Dan Arbuckle with Headwaters Kayak Bridging the Gap