Tsunami Surfer

October-November 2006

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
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By Laura Rosser

Deb demonstrates her technique.

Deb Volturno, the only female member of the fabled Tsunami Rangers, doesn’t really care whether she’s touring the cold Pacific coastal waters or frolicking in tropical surf. As long as water and kayaks are involved, she’s up for it.

In fact, she sometimes hits the waves as early as 5 am to get in some paddling before heading for work as a high school math / science teacher in Port Angeles, Washington, or after school to unwind from the day.

She was on the US surf kayaking team in 1999 and helped her team take first place at the World Championships in Rio de Janeiro. She took fifth place in individual competition and third place in high performance.

Since 1995 she’s been a member of the Tsunami Rangers, an elite group of kayakers who explore the unexplored, finding the most extreme places to kayak. Membership comes by invitation only. They boldly paddle into sea caves where no other human may have ever been.

They call it ‘rock gardening’— heading into sea caves and among seastacks often completely inaccessible to anyone other than a kayaker with a healthy understanding of precautions.

Some of the most wonderful places to explore are right in Deb’s backyard on the Olympic Peninsula. Cape Flattery is a popular destination for hikers who can walk along a boardwalk built by the Makah Nation and peer over the sides of cliffs into emerald waters running into a number of caves.

“When you walk to the end, you’re walking over five tunnels that are all connected,” Deb says. “You can’t even imagine what’s there. It’s one of the most extraordinary ten miles I’ve ever paddled anywhere.”

But even the Rangers post a kayaker at the entrance to any cave they enter as a signal person. Sea caves are beautiful—teeming with marine life from anemones to sea and birds—but they are also dangerous. A sudden swell can raise a kayak to the ceiling and trap a paddler. And rising tides can make escape from a cave impossible.

Enjoy the thrill, Deb advises, but do it wisely enough to be able to come back and enjoy it again. The same goes for surf kayaking. The thrill of riding a swell of a 20-foot surge over a rock is awesome, but don’t neglect protective and emergency gear.

She has been teaching kayaking for 17 years and has been kayaking herself for more than 20 years. She is a certified instructor trainer and teaches beginning to advanced students with Olympic Raft and Kayak in Port Angeles.

It excites her to see more people getting into kayaking—especially surf kayaking, which offers the thrill of surfing without the need for popping up from one’s stomach and balancing on a board. And the double-bladed kayak paddle is a further aid in stability.

A former geologist, she moved to Washington from California five years ago and founded Olympic Peninsula Paddlers, a group dedicated to surf kayaking. The group now boasts more than 100 members.

While the waves may not be as big as Hawaii’s, Deb says the North Olympic Peninsula is “one of the most dynamic places on the planet.” And Deb is clearly a dynamic presence herself so she’s right at home.

© Laura Rosser is a freelance writer who lives in Port Angeles, Washington.