Eric Soares of the Tsunami Rangers

Sea kayaker Magazine (USA) reports that Eric Soares of the Tsunami Rangers died on 1 February in a ski accident. There is now an update on the accident and subsequent events on Eric’s blog posted by his friend. This is at the end of a very well written post by Eric dated the day he died. Take a bit of time to read his other blog entries.

Eric was a major force in opening up some extreme coastal sea kayaking among rock gardens on the west coast of the USA using both sit on top and sit inside style sea and shorter kayaks. He demonstrated that sea kayaking can be as adventurous as you want it to be.

He produced videos and books on sea kayaking on some very exposed sections of coast.

I recall the first stories and films of the Tsunami Rangers which put sea kayaking into a very different light. We’d been messing about in rock gardens for a long time but the Rangers succeeded in showing to a wide audience just what could be done in sea kayaks and even with a sit-on-top. Some bits was exciting and other bits looked just terrifying. Best of all they managed to film and write about it as well.

If you have not seen some of the ‘interesting’ paddling the Tsunami Rangers were getting up to then this video shows just how much “impact” they had on sea kayaking both physically and in terms of paddle techniques, and getting the sport out to a wider audience.

It was more than just the white water, surf and rock gardens Eric loved. His blogs show a passion for all sorts of sea kayaking and the desire to encourage people to get afloat.

A sad loss.