About me

My name is Alex Pak and I have been kayaking for about 4 years and teaching for about 3 years. I am a sea kayaker, a playboater, and a Greenland style enthusiast. I paddle year round and am constantly pushing myself to become a better kayaker, a better teacher, and most importantly a better person. I am not a kayaking professional nor do I aspire to be one. I am proud of the work I do in the corporate world and kayaking is simply a sport that I am passionate about and wish to share with others.

My affiliations
I am a member of the American Canoe Association, American Whitewater, QajaqUSA, Inland Sea Kayakers, SKOAC, Rapids Riders, NEW Paddlers, and Lakeshore Sea Kayakers.

Why I roll

The aspects of empowerment and contrast appeal to me. As a person who has always been terrified of water, rolling gives me to confidence to play in an environment that would have previously caused me great anxiety. As for contrast, I love the contrasts of light, temperature, sound, motion, etc. that come with rolling. When I’m playing in a whitewater hole or surf and am being assaulted on all sides by sensory overload, I love the eerie silence when I inevitably flip and am thrown under the water as my body is tossed around like a rag doll in a washing machine. I love repeated rolling with my eyes closed so that I lose all sense of direction and I can only remember to breathe by the contrast of air and water on my face. My favorite rolling memory was on a whitewater run last season when the rain was falling in sheets. At that point rolling was a series of contrasts between smooth wetness and more bumpy wetness. To me, these contrasts center me.