We often talk about paddlesports being a small world. But when most of the major manufacturers of boats, paddles, clothing and gear, along with clubs and organizations, outfitters and publications, come together under one roof in March, it feels pretty big. Add more than a hundred presentations in meeting rooms and a swimming pool, and more than 20,000 visitors, and Canoecopia earns its claim of bring the largest paddlesports consumer event in the world. Dusting off a canoe before the crowd comes in. We arrived early this year to help set up a table for The Gales Storm Gathering, the intermediate/advanced, bumpy water sea kayaking instructional event that will be held October 11 to 13 in the Apostle Islands. Keith Wikle taping the new banners behind the booth. We also got the update on the current line of spray skirts and pogies from Scott Lynch, who represents Snap Dragon Design at Canoecopia and spent more than a decade working in the paddlesports industry before launching his dream business: La Fortuna, a mobile wood-fired pizza business. (Like so many people in this business, he wears several hats.) Scott Lynch explains the construction and features of the Glacier Trek spray skirt. Durable Snap Dragon skirts feature a one-piece spray deck and graduated levels of bungee tension depending on the model you buy. We were double agents (at least–perhaps quadruple agents) at Canoecopia this year. We were vendors in the Snap Dragon booth, exhibitors at the Gales and CASKA tables, speakers at the swimming pool, and customers eager to soak it all in.  And there was a lot to absorb. As usual, we prowled the aisles looking for new products and innovations. Sharon tries on the new Kokatat Maximus Prime PFD, a whitewater rescue vest that really fits smaller paddlers (and larger ones, too). This vest has especially wide shoulder straps and webbing adjustments in the front, making it easier to get a snug fit, even on a short torso. Level 6 offers a Creek Boot with a wide toe bed and a  grippy, flexible and sturdy sole. Designed by Level 6 co-founder and Canadian Slalom Team racer Stig Larsson, it’s slim enough to to bend and fit in a boat but sturdy enough to protect your soles during a portage. North Water offers the tow systems preferred by most of the top paddlers and coaches in North America. Alec checks out the P&H Delphin 150, which launched a new category of sea kayaks designed to excel in surf and play spots. Canoecopia also offers a rare opportunity to talk with the designers, sales managers and often the founders of the companies that make the boats and gear we use. It’s a chance to hear talks...

The Transportation Security Administration announced yesterday that beginning on April 25, several items will be removed from the Prohibited Items List. In addition to small knives (with many size and type restrictions), passengers will be permitted to bring aboard billiard cues, hockey and lacrosse sticks, ski poles, and up to two golf clubs. Now that you can bring hockey sticks on board airplanes, shouldn’t you be able to bring kayak and canoe paddles? But not kayak and canoe paddles, which are still prohibited. When we plug “canoe paddle” into the TSA’s “When I fly, can I bring my…” online interactive feature, it replies that canoe and kayak paddles are “sports equipment that can be used as a bludgeon (such as bats and clubs)” and they are therefore “prohibited in the cabin of the plane and must be transported in your checked baggage.” Wait. Golf clubs are OK but paddles are not? We called for clarification. In response, we received this email reply from David A. Castelveter, Director of External Communications for the TSA’s Office of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs: “Sorry Sharon, but for security reasons we are not able to discuss why certain items remain on the prohibited items list.” Let’s see. Golf clubs, which have been used to murder people, can be carried on board airplanes even though they are unlikely to be damaged when checked; meanwhile paddles, which are ill-suited to combat and more fragile, can’t be carried on board. (We typed “murdered with a golf club” into Google and got 33,800 results. “Hit with a kayak paddle” yielded just five, and none involved aggression, let alone murder.) Aggressive canoeists aren’t the TSA’s only concern, of course. Checkpoint efficiency also figures into these decisions. “Imagine how congested the checkpoint would be if under the existing screening procedures we allowed a broader array of items, such as paddles, oars, ski poles, snow board, water skis and the likes,” Castelveter noted. But again, we find this disingenuous. How many canoeists and kayakers travel with paddles? (Not many per day, we would venture.)  And does it really take longer to scan a paddle than it takes to scan any other carry-on item? Clearly, the golf lobby is more effective than the paddlesports lobby. If this bothers you, send a message to the TSA Contact Center at TSA-ContactCenter@dhs.gov or call 1.866.289.9673 and tell them why paddles ought to be permitted on board. And please post your letter here in comments, too, for others to...

Justine Curgenven in her North Shore Atlantic LV. Adventure filmmaker Justine Curgenven launched the genre of sea kayaking films in 2004 with her This is the Sea series, which features profiles of top paddlers, footage of expeditions in a wide range of remarkable places, and lots of paddling excitement. She’s coming back to Canoecopia in March, where she’ll launch the World Tour of This is the Sea 5 and preview sections of her new, three-hour DVD at at charity fundraiser party on Saturday, March 9. One of the sections of the DVD, about her adventures and midadventures in Tierra del Fuego with Barry Shaw, has already won Best Sea Kayaking Film in the 2013 Reel Paddling Film Festival. “I guess lots of things went wrong, and people seem to like stories where lots of things go wrong. But it’s a beautiful place as well. It’s a good adventure,” she says. We caught up with Justine over Skype just as she finished editing her new DVD. HKWT: You’re about to begin the North American Tour of This is the Sea 5. Didn’t you intend to stop at 4? What changed? JC: I was done at four. But I was also done after two and three. It’s quite draining. It’s quite hard work. After the fourth one, I certainly needed a break and needed to do something different and not feel like I was just churning another one out. I think maybe the canoeing DVD and the instructional DVD provided the break that I needed. But people started asking, “When are you doing another This is Sea?” And it just felt right. I think now is a good time for it. HKWT: What kinds of expeditions do you prefer these days? JC: I like wild, remote places where there are not many people, though when you meet people who live in remote, wild places, they tend to be rather interesting. I love wildlife. I like to be challenged, too. I quite like paddling around things; I think I have an addiction to that, partly because you go back to the same place so there are fewer logistics to work out. But I also quite like the completeness of going all the way around something. HKWT: What are you paddling now? JC: I’m paddling an Atlantic LV just around here. On a trip I’ve tried a few different things. I had a Nordkapp in Tierra del Fuego, and an Etain from Russia to japan with Sarah, and I think I might be going to try an Ocean – which the new North Shore expedition boat – around Ireland. HKWT: You spend time on other adventure sports. Why do you keep returning to kayaking, personally and for your films? JC: Kayaking is my favorite, and I guess its what I’m best at...

During a discussion of why our shoelaces never stay tied, our son Jeremy informed us that we’ve been tying them incorrectly all these years. Turns out we tie granny knots, not square knots. We had never thought about laces this way. This discovery required us to correct something we’ve been doing incorrectly for more than four decades–no small feat. We immediately thought about the concept that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become expert at any task. We first encountered this idea in the 2006 edition of the BCU Coaching Handbook, which states: “Practice makes permanent. Therefore poor practice will indeed make poor performance….If we are to produce high-level performers, we could be talking of up to 10,000 hours…to hit our genetic ceiling and produce performers who excel at their chosen sport.” This notion is actually based research by K. Anders Ericsson and Neil Charness, published in 1994 in the journal American Psychologist. In “Expert Performance: It’s Structure and Acquisition,” Ericsson and Charness analyze the results of their study of musicians. “By age 20, the top-level violinists in their study had practiced an average of more than 10,000 hours, approximately 2,500 hours more than the next most accomplished group of expert violinists and 5,000 hours more than the group who performed at the lowest level,” they wrote. This is the only reference to 10,000 hours in that report, which emphasizes that diligence trumps innate talent even in areas like athletics and music performance. It wasn’t until Malcolm Gladwell published his best-selling book Outliers: The Story of Success in 2008 that the notion of 10,000 hours took off. This wonderful infographic, created by nowsourcing.com on behalf of Zintro, visualizes Malcolm Gladwell’s explanation of the 10,000-hour rule. Soon the concept was extended to the acquisition of all kinds of expertise; a 2011 Harvard Business Review blog claimed that it also applied to “collaborative knowledge work — the type of expertise required to create, or lead, or grow a company,” and quoted a 2010 article in the journal Performance Improvement that stated: “Deliberate practice–meaning drill-like practice under the direction of a coach–is key to developing expertise in sports and music. But working professionals and businesspeople typically have no time for practice. We propose deliberate performance as a type of practice that professionals and businesspeople can pursue while they work as a way to accelerate their progression to becoming experts.“And, of course, plenty of people disputed the idea. Clearly, there’s nothing magical about the exact number 10,000. But there’s plenty of evidence that deliberate practice does improve performance, and that while some is good, more is better. Which brings us back to the shoelaces. Learning to tie them correctly after years of poor practice is difficult. It requires...

We caught up with Keith Wikle, friend and fellow paddlesport blogger, as he was about to begin a three-day Essentials of Surf Kayaking Instructor Certification Workshop in Jacksonville, Florida with Instructor Trainer Nigel Law, co-owner of Savanna Canoe and Kayak. Nigel, who is well-known for surf kayak coaching at every level, is someone Keith has long admired and wished to work with. Snow and ice pelted our car as we spoke with Keith, who was taking a cab to a campground the night before the start of the ICW. HKWT: Why are you doing a surf instructor certification?KW: I really like surfing. It’s the most dynamic part of the sport, and it’s probably the thing I enjoy the most. I’ve spent a lot of time doing it.  I’ve had a number of people approach me about surf coaching, and I wanted to get a better idea about how to become a better instructor for surfing, especially for dedicated surf kayaks. HKWT: How does this connect to sea kayaking and sea kayak coaching?KW: All of the surf stuff I’ve learned has made me more aware of surf dynamics: what’s safe and what isn’t, what’s fun, and how to take advantage of the dynamics of the surf zone in any boat. And if anything, it’s made me less fearful of surfing in my sea kayak. For sea kayaks, you get a much better idea of whether this is going to be fun or it’s going to be death on a stick. HKWT: What are you expecting the certification process to be like?KW: The initial part of it is surf zone safety and coaching in sit-on-tops. There’s a big part of it that doesn’t have anying to do with surf kayaking itself, but more has to do with making sure people are safe and learning rather than scaring the hell out of them. And I’m just excited to go out and play on the waves in Florida in February! HKWT: What do you expect to do with your new certification?KW: I would like to run some courses on Lake Michigan, especially late summer and early fall, more sit-on-top than sit-in courses. Sit-on-top kayaks are a great way to get people involved in surf, making carves and performing turns without a combat roll. That’s what I’m envisioning. HKWT: Will you be writing this up on your blog?KW: Yeah, I’m sure I...

51 Rescues at a local pool. Today is Alec’s birthday. We began the celebration by doing 51 rescues — one for each year — in a nearby pool: 20 T rescues, 10 reenter and rolls, 10 scrambles, 10 hand of Gods, and an all in. Our friends and fellow coaches Big Aaron and Mark were there, so they joined us. All told, we spent about an hour, including time debriefing and occasionally goofing around between sets. We noticed several things in the process: It’s helpful to practice rescues when you’re already tired. Too often, we (and people we know) practice rescues a few times, then move on to other activities. Doing more repetitions is a better simulation of the way you’ll feel in a real rescue situation.  Communication between rescuer and victim is critical. This isn’t a new idea for us, but doing so many assisted rescues highlighted the role that good communication plays in speeding up and cleaning up a T rescue.  Repetitions lead to natural variations, and sometimes to discoveries. Alec found a slightly better location for scrambling onto his back deck. We tend to wet exit and reenter and roll mostly on one side, and Sharon found her “off-side” reenter and roll awkward. Deliberate practice on both sides is another thing we’ve added to our list of pool practice activities. Time flies when you’re doing rescues. But don’t take our word for it. Watch! (Our camera battery died after the T-rescues, but you’ll get the general...

Perhaps anyone with the power to help also has the potential to harm. Certainly that’s true in paddlesports, where harm can take many forms, from diminishing skill acquisition to squashing enthusiasm to causing physical injury. We’ve been paying close attention to the P-P-T-T of coaching lately. Those letters stand for: They are standard considerations in sports psychology, applied to both preparation for competition and to assessment of obstacles to performance. In paddlesports coaching, they are considered and accommodated for students’ long-term paddler development. But it strikes us that they these four elements are also the key to doing no harm. Physical risks are probably self-evident. Good coaching requires proper biomechanics to prevent physical injuries. For example, shoulder injuries are among the common physical risks in paddlesports. Emphasizing good posture, torso rotation and the “paddler’s box” develops habits that help avoid shoulder injuries. Psychological risks may not be quite as obvious. But think about the number of people who’ve confessed that they or someone they know had a bad experience and swore off kayaking forever. Or think about people with phobias and anxieties borne of a past bad experience in the water who won’t take any risks because they are terrified of capsizing. Being aware of students’ existing anxieties, and being careful not to create new ones, helps them progress. Technical skills learned well set students up for success. For example, learning effective, efficient ruddering strokes enables a paddler to enjoy surfing waves. Learned incorrectly, they set students up to spend endless hours with a different coach unlearning poor ruddering techniques and learning better ones. Tactical skills are the strategic use of technical skills in context. Edging the wrong way upon entering an eddy may lead to capsize regardless of the student’s ability to edge. It’s a matter of timing and appropriate application of technique. Again, doing no harm means coaching these skills correctly the first time around to help students avoid frustration and failure. All four of these are intertwined; to focus on any one of them in isolation is to miss the bigger picture of coaching the whole student. When we worked at Body Boat Blade this past summer, Shawna and Leon reminded us to incorporate P-P-T-T into every lesson plan. We continue to focus on each of these elements every time we plan a course or session, or evaluate our students’ progress–not only because doing so will help them progress, but because failing to do so can actually harm them. Learning to paddle in an intimidating environment requires attention to physical, psychological, technical and tactical factors–and doing so makes it fun, not stressful. * For the classical scholars among you, we realize that the phrase “First, do...

This year, we noticed a change to the NOAA marine forecasts. Instead of the familiar “waves 4 to 7 feet,” they routinely added “occasionally to 10 feet.” We wondered when this change was made and why. For answers we turned to meteorologist Bryan Tilley, who works on daily weather forecast production; severe weather watches, warnings, and advisories; and marine forecasts and Doppler radar programs for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service (NWS) in Detriot/Pontiac, Michigan. Bryan Tilley, NOAA/NWS meteorologist. Photo credit: NOAA HKWT: When was this change made, and why? BT:  The change you noticed in the Great Lakes wave forecasts was made at the Detroit/Pontiac office in October 2010 after collaboration with the U.S. Coast Guard and commercial shipping interests in the region. Not all NWS offices in the Great Lakes have made this change, as it remains under development. Chicago is the only other office using the terminology. The idea is to better represent the spectrum of wave conditions in a given weather pattern rather than just the significant wave height. HKWT: What does “occasionally” mean in this context? BT: Forecasts for Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair, and the Michigan waters of Lake Erie include a “wave” forecast and a “max wave forecast” when the max wave will be five feet or greater. The Chicago office uses “occasionally” to mean the same as “max wave.” Our Science Officer developed the methodology and offers the following background:  Assuming a Rayleigh distribution to the wave spectra (which works well in the Great Lakes), the maximum wave height (1/20th wave) is approximately 147% of the significant wave height (the average of the highest 1/3 waves in the spectrum). As an example, if the significant wave height is 5.5 feet with a dominant period of 10 seconds, the 1/20th (max wave) will be 8 feet and will be observed at any given location roughly every 3 1/2 minutes. The Rayleigh distribution. Illustration credit: NOAA HKWT: Has the method of prediction also changed in any way? BT: The method of prediction has not changed. Waves on the waters of the Great Lakes are simulated with a model based on wind and temperature input by meteorologists. The wave spectrum data is part of the simulation and we are now including it in the forecast wording.  National Weather Service office in Detroit/Pontiac. HKWT: What do you hope this change will achieve? BT: We hope the presentation of the max wave data will give forecast users a chance to evaluate the potential worst case scenario in a given weather pattern for the day. It adds a layer of probabilistic data to the forecast that, hopefully, aids in decision making....

Do you ever love a piece of kit so much you just have to know whom to thank? We feel that way about our pogies–the only thing that keeps our hands warm when it’s too cold for gloves. So we were thrilled to read in the latest issue of Canoe & Kayak magazine that Bonnie Losick invented them in 1974. Our favorite pogies, made of nylon with a fleece lining. Except she didn’t. A 2010 Whitewater Slalom newsletter revealed the answer to the quiz question, “I invented the pogie, and named it after a trash fish common in the harbor where I was living at the time. Who am I?” The honorable mention answer was Bonnie Losick, but the correct answer was submitted by Bonnie herself, who wrote: “As much as people keep assuming I invented pogies, I did not. Billy Nutt was training with them so I  think he invented them, unless somebody else also invented them independently.” Bonnie cleaned up the design, but slalom champion Billy Nutt came up with the original detachable sheath that covers the hands and connects to a paddle shaft. He named them after a bait fish because he wanted them to be called something “ridiculous.” “I taught Bonnie Losick how to make them and she trademarked and manufactured them under the name ‘The Bonnie Hot Pogie,'” he writes in the newsletter. “When I made my first set, my mother told me I ought to look into patenting them.  I thought that was absurd.  I figured the market was so small as to be worthless. I expect it would have been worth it. Mom’s always right! There you have it.” The “ridiculous” bait fish after which Billy Nutt named his...

Ominous skies over a deceptively calm lake.  Risk assessment is an everyday practice. It’s not reserved for dire situations and dramatic scenarios; it’s the quotidian act of taking relevant safety factors into consideration and adjusting your plan accordingly. Saturday provided a great example of risk assessment in action. We had arranged a downwind paddle with our local friend Greg Anderson, and out-of-town visitors Patrick Rota and Rebecca Merz. Rebecca drove three hours to join us, and all of us planned our day around a 12- to 14-mile run with a strong wind at our backs. The weather warranted caution — 15- to 25-knot winds and a slight chance of rain and thunderstorms in the morning, and clear in the afternoon — but there was nothing concerning on the radar, and by the time we were ready to get on the water, only the winds had materialized. Sizing up the skies before getting back on the water. As soon as we left the harbor, however, we were able to get a better look at the sky. A massive dark cloud with shaggy edges loomed to the northwest, and it was moving swiftly toward the same direction we were headed if we continued on our route. We passed the next headland and landed on a small beach below some limestone blocks, where we reassessed our situation. Thunder rumbled and cloud-to-cloud lightning flashed in the distance. We had access to the radar on our smartphones, which showed not only this unexpected storm cell, but a mass of others that had emerged and were moving toward us. And behind them, an angry-looking front had formed. After some discussion, we agreed that continuing would be foolish; it was time to head back. Watching the thundercloud recede before getting back on the water. We waited for the first thundercloud to move over the lake north of us, and then headed south to retrace our route. But as we came around the headland, we saw a second thundercloud approaching, with more thunder and lightning, including a few cloud-to-ground strikes. We sprinted for the nearest beach and huddled, once again, near some limestone blocks as the rain pelted down. Getting ready to launch again after the second stop. As the sky brightened in the west, we set out again, confident we could round the next pier and get back to our launch site–a distance of less than a mile. We even had time to practice a few rescues en route. Rebecca empties Alec’s boat during a practice rescue. But as quickly as the sky had brightened, it darkened again. The rain resumed, along with more thunder and lightning. Heavy rain drops made divits as they landed.  Less than...