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April 11, 2005 Vol. 76,
no. 12S
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| KOOL
KAYAKER: MSE development engineer Chris
Kumai (B.S.'85, M.S.'92 and Ph.D.'00 MSE) instructs
a group of students in sea kayaking techniques at the Cal Aquatic
Center. Bottom, he helps a student launch her kayak.
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MSE lab
staffer launches second vocation as sea kayaking instructor
Alumnus Chris Kumai (B.S.'85, M.S.'92 and Ph.D. '00 MSE) is a Berkeley
guy through and through. He was born in town, went to Berkeley High
School, spent a few years getting all three of his MSE degrees at Berkeley
Engineering, and now works in the MSE department as a principal development
engineer.
If you've ever worked in the MSE labs, you've probably run into him.
"My staff and I handle all infrastructure issues, instructional lab
operations, facilities related issues, safety issues, and research support.
My teaching duties are to train graduate student instructors in the
principles and operation of equipment for the Engineering 45 lab and
the MSE 130A lab." He also creates and troubleshoots instructional experiments.
Not surprisingly, Kumai's office is chock full of wires, equipment and
gadgets. He loves the technical nature of his job,
he says, but to take a break from it, he heads down the hill to another
Berkeley landmark: the Bay.
Kumai loves to fish. He's particularly fond of ocean fishing. One day
as a student, he noticed sea kayakers on the Bay. He decided to learn
to kayak so he could get around the Bay and fish. In 1997, Kumai took
his first sea kayaking class at Cal Adventures. The sport grew on him,
he says, and by the late nineties he was paddling every weekend (though,
ironically, he says he's never fished from a kayak).
"I was spending all this money at the Aquatic Center," he says, grinning.
"Then I learned that I could teach here and paddle for free."
He went through a training program at Cal Adventures where he learned
to teach strokes and good form, calculate currents, and navigate (not
too difficult for this engineer). The hardest part, he says, was becoming
proficient in rough tidal eddies, like those behind Alcatraz and at
Yellow Bluff. In 2002, he started teaching his first sea kayaking courses.
In late 2004, he passed a three-day exam to become a certified coastal
kayak instructor of the American Canoe Association.
His favorite part of teaching, he says, is showing students new perspectives,
such as a gargoyle under the Bay Bridge. It was put there after the
earthquake, he says, to ward off evil spirits and is "only visible from
waterside."
Kumai says he enjoys sea kayaking for its convenience to Berkeley yet
its escape from urban life on land. Plus, he's proud of his track record
as an instructor. "We haven't lost anyone yet!"
To take a sea kayaking class, go to www.oski.org/html/menu_adult.htm.
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