Days 63 & 64: Sea Kayaking and Sailing

I spent the past two days working with Youthtown (the coolest place around as their ads on tv proclaim.)  It was a "trial"/job interview I guess.  Youthtown does youth work in an effort to enhance kids socially, physically and creatively.  They are based in downtown Auckland and run afterschool programs and clubs.  I went out with the outdoor/adventure program side of things.  On Monday we were at a place north of Auckland called Goat Island.  It is a marine reserve so it's really popular for snorkeling.  Youthtown had hired a contractor to run snorkeling for the kids, and they were split into two groups, so the other group went kayaking with TK and me.  I enjoyed sea kayaking - it was lots of fun once I learned how to launch the kayak in the surf (you get in on the sand and shuffle your way into the water, then paddle straight through the surf.)  With our second group of kids the wind picked up so the surf was even higher.  Brian (my boss) and I worked together to shove kids into the surf and give them a push to keep them at right angles to it and not parallel, thus, swamped.  Everyone made it out okay.  We explored the leeward side of the island (Goat Island is actually an island slightly off-shore) and saw some cool caves in the cliffs.  Then we packed up and headed back into town.

Back at the office I met Fiona, who also works in the outdoor office.  She offered to hire me to plan some sessions for a teen group during Easter holidays.  I was delighted to have more work and arranged to meet with her to discuss this more on Thursday.

On Tuesday, I drove out to Orakei basin, a salt water, gate controlled "lake" near Auckland.  Today I helped to teach sailing to the same bunch of kids as the day before.  Youthtown uses the facilities of the Orakei Sea Scouts (like Boy Scouts only saltier) and they have a container full of water sports gear: windsurfers, sailboats, kayaks, etc.  The sailboats are similar to sunfish, only simpler to use and lighter, since they are made of plastic instead of fibreglass.  They are called Optimists.  Once again the wind picked up in the afternoon and some of the kids were freaking out.  Two boys turtled their boat and the mast got stuck in the mud at the bottom of the lake.  Kind of a pain but otherwise not too bad.  I got in one of the boats to help a girl out who was sailing by herself.  Her boat had a bunch of water in it and no bailer, and then my weight in the boat (it's really too small for me to sit in) made the back sit too low in the water so we got a bit swamped.  Luckily we didn't sink the boat (they're difficult to sink) and although the steering was basically non-existant we made it back to shore in one piece.  Pretty fun days and more work on offer for next week.  Sweet.