Eric Soares is co-founder of and commander in the Tsunami Rangers ocean adventure kayak team, known for exploring surf zones, rock gardens, and sea caves on the exposed Pacific Northwest Coast. The Tsunami Rangers started in 1985 and sponsored the infamous Sea Gypsy Race at Miramar Beach for 20 years. Eric was the instigator and organizer of the race.
Eric Soares at play in a rock garden in Moss Beach, California (photo by Michael Powers)
Eric has written over 50 articles on kayaking, including seminal works on kayak surfing, rock garden techniques, rough water night paddling, and sea caving. Eric developed Hand Signals for Sea Kayakers, used by thousands of paddlers around the world, and the Sea Conditions Rating System, based on the River Rating System. Commander Soares coauthored EXTREME SEA KAYAKING with Michael Powers, published in 1999. Soares’ most recent publication is a book of sea kayaking tales called CONFESSIONS OF A WAVE WARRIOR, published in 2010. Soares also wrote The Tao of Sea Kayaking, published in WAVELENGTH magazine in Summer, 2009.
Eric Soares (foreground) and Michael Powers break through a wave at Big Sur, California (photo by Gordon Brown)
He has produced and starred in four documentary adventure sea kayaking videos, including the award-winning ADVENTURES OF THE TSUNAMI RANGERS, which took Best in Show at the Whitewater Paddling Festival in 1989. Soares’ DVD called THE TSUNAMI RANGERS’ GREATEST HITS was featured in 2006 at the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival and the British Columbia Paddlefest in Vancouver, B.C.
Commander Soares, along with fellow Tsunami Rangers, has been featured on several TV shows and networks, including National Geographic Explorer, Outdoor Life Network, MTV, the Discovery Channel, and most recently, the History Channel.
Eric offers clinics on HOW TO PADDLE THE EXPOSED COAST to experienced kayakers. Eric and the Rangers give slide shows and talks at sea kayaking symposia throughout the U.S. In September 2008, Soares presented the multimedia slide show TSUNAMI RANGER SEA TALES at the West Coast Sea Kayaking Symposium in Port Townsend, Washington, and presented it again in Auckland, New Zealand in 2010. Soares and Captain Jim Kakuk are currently writing a book on advanced sea kayaking skills called THE TSUNAMI RANGERS HANDBOOK. When not kayaking, Soares is a mild-mannered, retired marketing professor from California State University and enjoys swimming and practicing jujitsu, tai chi, and other martial arts.
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