A Brief History of LFK –
In 2005, Jeff started Liquid Fusion Kayaking (LFK) as an instructional kayak company. Jeff was based in San Diego but would teach classes and private lessons in sea, whitewater, rock gardening, and surfing from Baja to Alaska. In 2007, Cate started helping him with the business and developing her paddling skills. In 2008, Jeff moved to the Mendocino Coast, and Cate moved her teaching career from the classroom to the water.
In 2008, Jeff continued teaching sea, whitewater, rock gardening, and surf lessons. Cate started guiding Noyo Meanders - flat water, wildlife and nature history tours on the Noyo River Estuary. These tours enabled all ages and abilities to get out on the water and into nature. Over the years, we fine-tuned the tour for getting first-timers out on the water and our skills for teaching kayaking to beginners. (We knew we were doing our job well when half way through the tour our participants started talking about buying a kayak and/or where they could kayak next.)
We continually got requests and inquires for kayak rentals. We hesitated to add rentals to our business because it would mean more on land and less on water time for us and would limit our availability for teaching lessons.
March 2020 – life changed for everyone on Earth. LFK was considered a non-essential business in California and had to close. We did not know when or if we would be allowed to reopen. In May 2020, when it was looking like we would be allowed to reopen but would be limited to local customers, we pivoted from lessons and tours to kayak rentals. This was a good move for our customers and kept our heads above water.
Fast forward to 2022, our kayak rental and tour business was fun, got lots of folks out on the water, and paid the bills; however, it limited our availability for teaching lessons. We researched hiring staff. Our research indicated that hiring employees for a small seasonal business like ours - the logistics and costs outweighed the benefits. So we created our summer 2022 schedule so that the two of us could manage kayak rentals, flat water tours, and some instruction.
July 5, 2022 – Jeff hurt his back and was unable to teach, guide, or run the kayak rentals. LFK basically became a one woman show. Cate juggled the schedule so that she could run the rentals, guide the tours, and teach the lessons. Our sea kayaking and whitewater of the sea students were stoked on Cate’s teaching, and teaching private lessons on the sea became the her highlight of the summer of 2022.
November 2022 – Each year in November, we review the year, our business plan, and plan for the future. Our take aways from 2022 were that the majority of our Noyo Meander customers were first timers who are looking for kayak instruction not necessarily a tour. Our kayak rentals and our Noyo Meander Tours limit our availability to teach kayak lessons. The sea kayak, whitewater of the sea, and other private lesson students greatly valued Cate’s instruction and inspired her to desire to teach more.
We are having a BIG SALE - here is a link to items for sale. Check back as more will be included as we clean out the gear shed.
