Lately we’ve enjoyed walking into paddle shops and expos and saying, “Wow! We don’t really need anything.” Then we browse anyway, admiring new versions of familiar items and assorted new items that we kind of want but don’t really need.   Inevitably, we find something that tips the balance from want to need. Both of us have been frustrated lately with our paddling shoes. Alec goes through a pair of NRS Desperado Shoes at least once a year; Sharon loves her Wavesport Neobooties for their low profile and wide toe bed, but their soles aren’t grippy and they appear to be discontinued.   This year at the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium, we found a new paddling shoe we both like: the NRS Sasquatch Water Shoe. It has a grippier and thicker sole than the Neobooties (though not as grippy or stiff as the Desperado Shoes), some heel and ankle protection (though not a lot of support in the sole), and a wide toe bed. It’s low profile, and the neoprene cuff keeps sand and pebbles out.  Sharon’s Neobootie next to her Sasquatch; Alec’s Desperado Shoe next to his Sasquatch. Alec’s Desperado Shoe is faded and worn out above the heel and below the ankle, where it rubs on his boat. The Sasquatch looks sturdier in that area. The Sasquatch (left) has a thicker sole than the Neobootie (center), but thinner than the Desperado Shoe (right).    We’ve only worn them for one weekend, so we’ll see how well they hold up and whether the soles offer enough protection on rough and jagged surfaces. But they’re comfortable, and we’re both...

   We just returned from the 26th annual Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium (GLSKS) in Grand Marais, Michigan–a tiny town on the southern shore of Lake Superior. This is the oldest of the Great Lakes symposia, and it has a storied past. It was begun by Stan Chladek, founder of Great River Outfitters (GRO), who ran it for many years before handing it off to Riverside Kayak Connection. This year, Downwind Sports (which began and still runs the annual Ladies of the Lake symposium) picked it up. Bill Thompson, co-owner of Downwind Sports, organized the event, recruited the sponsors and vendors, and kept the coaches fed and watered. Kelly Blades, force of nature, recruited the coaches, restructured the courses and ensured the proper balance of safety and mayhem as well as plenty of laughs. Bill Thompson and Kelly Blades model good communication skills.    This year, the symposium offered three days of guided tours along the scenic coastline and islands of the area. Participants could choose to paddle anywhere from 8 to 18 miles, past the colorful limestone bluffs and dramatic sand dunes of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. They got to try some rock hopping, poke into sea caves, and paddle under waterfalls and through arches.   The cliffs on the west side of Grand Island. An arch on the north side of Grand Island, below the light house.    On Friday, when the symposium officially began, students chose classes with unconventional names but very practical purposes: Going Forward (forward stroke), Not Going Forward (turning and draw strokes), Staying Dry (bracing), Getting Wet (rescues), and so on. On day two, the wind kicked up in time for Bumpy Water Boat Control, Rough Water Play and Surfing. The onshore waves built to about three feet, creating surf on the beach and clapotis near the break wall.    That day ended with the traditional Pasty Dinner (an Upper Peninsula delicacy) and Freya Hoffmeister’s “Race Around Australia” presentation. The final day featured a Blessing of the Boats by the paddling pastor, Doug Van Doren, and a wacky race past squirt-gun toting kids and insult-hurling spectators.    Racers survive the Tunnel of Doom en route to the Valley of Insults.    Every symposium has its own personality, and its character changes over time. The GLSKS began with an emphasis on providing BCU training and certification for American paddlers and evolved into a tour-and-classes symposium that offered more courses for higher-level students. Under Downwind Sports’ management, it continues that tradition while adding a sense of humor and a stronger presence by sponsors and vendors. And the kids’ program was bigger, better and free with adult registration. (A shout-out to our daughter, Hannah, who ran...

   Sharon in her Avocet LV. With nothing in the front or back hatches,  it sits nicely in the water.    When we began paddling seven years ago, there weren’t many serious sea kayaks for seriously small paddlers. Our first boats were a Valley Avocet (Alec) and a P&H Vela (Sharon). They were terrific boats for the early part of our learning curve, but too high-volume for our low-volume selves. (Alec is 5’4″ and about 140 pounds; Sharon is 5’1″ and about 110 pounds.)   We think of that time as preLV. Since then, several boat manufacturers have come out with true low-volume kayaks–boats specifically designed for smaller paddlers. They are narrower (typically less than 21 inches), have lower decks (typically less than 13 inches), are lower volume overall (so they have an appropriate amount of freeboard for a low-weight paddler), have more aggressive thigh hooks (better for shorter legs), and forgo some of the cockpit volume by placing the front bulkhead further back. Because they are truly designed for smaller paddlers, many of these boats make up for their shorter length by having comparatively longer water lines, so they aren’t slower than their regular-volume siblings. And because they’re shorter and lighter, they are easier to move around on land as well as on the water.   Today’s low-volume boats–meaning those that are actually well-suited to paddlers who weigh as little as 140 pounds–include:SKUK PilgrimSKUK Pilgrim Expedition SKUK Explorer LVValley Aquanaut LV P&H Cetus LVP&H Scorpio LVP&H Quest LV Eddyline Fathom LVRockpool ISELSeaward SilhouetteWilderness Systems Tempest 165 or Tempest PRO 165    These boats are good down to 110 pounds (unloaded), in our experience:SKUK Romany LVImpex Force 3Valley Avocet LVValley Avocet RM P&H Capella 161 Current Designs Rumour    Many low-volume kayaks perform better for smaller paddlers with some weight in the front and/or back hatches. And, of course, personal fit and paddling skills and preferences have a large effect on boat choice. There’s no substitute for test-paddling, preferably in the conditions you prefer.   We’re currently paddling the Pilgrim (Alec) and the Avocet LV (Sharon). At our weights, these boats allow us to do the full range of things we want to do in our kayaks: teach, surf, play, paddle long distances, and keep up with the pack. But we’re also spending as much time as possible in other people’s low-volume boats to become more familiar with the range of options for smaller paddlers.   Have a low-volume sea kayak you love? Let us know! Post a comment or email us at bpfamily (at) gmail.com. Alec in his Pilgrim. (Yes, it says Romany LV. The label was attached before Nigel Dennis named the new boat.) After seeing this photo, Alec decided to move his...

   Some of our favorite Maryland students: Fabian, Betty Lou and Alicia.    One of the pleasures of coaching is working with students who might never cross paths anywhere else. While we were at Adventure Crafters, one class included a neuroscientist, a truck driver, a leadership consultant, an at-home mom, a merchant marine engineer, a title company owner and a manager of mergers and acquisitions. They were a particularly lovely group of people–something we credit to co-owner Robert Schrack, who tends to attract people who appreciate skillful instruction paired with a low-key attitude. Several of them were students we knew from previous visits, who came out specifically to work with us. It was a pleasure to see how much more skillful they had become since last year.  David crosses the finish line in the final-day rodeo using Mike’s boat and paddle.    This coming together of diverse people isn’t unique to Adventure Crafters. At Geneva Kayak Center, we’ve taught gym teachers, auto mechanics, pilates instructors, airplace pilots, electricians, software developers, elementary school principals, insurance salesmen, and plenty of people who never mention what they do when they aren’t in our classes. Sometimes we see direct connections between their workplace orientation and the way they learn; sometimes we don’t.    But in our highly stratified society, where people tend to socialize with others who share their values and their rung on the socioeconomic ladder, it’s refreshing to watch everyone on the same playing field, working together to learn something new to all of them.    They always bring something new to us, too. That’s actually the secret benefit of teaching: students ask questions that make you reassess what you know and what you do, and in the process make you a better coach for the students who follow them. And because some of the students at Adventure Crafters come back for more instruction every year and do a considerable amount of paddling and training between visits, they challenge us to come up with a weekend of new classes appropriate to higher-level students.  Our happy band of full-moon paddlers, long before sunset.  The same group a few hours later.      We truly appreciate the opportunity to work with these committed students year after year. They inspire us to work on our coaching skills so we’ll continue to have something to...

A couple of days ago, while paddling the heavy industrial area in northwest Indiana, we came across a piece of driftwood that turned out to be a fairly large snapping turtle. No joke! A snapping turtle near the BP plant in Indiana.     Today we encountered a few more marine animals, but they turned out to be inanimate.    This poor iguana isn’t going anywhere under its own power.   This alligator doesn’t pose much of a threat to our friend Bonnie.  This whale seems to be in dry dock....

We encountered this frightening apparition as we entered the Allegheny Tunnel on our way home from Adventure Crafters.

   With all due respect to Socrates, who declared that “the unexamined life is not worth living,” we didn’t find our two-month hiatus from blogging about paddling too detrimental to our enjoyment of the sport.   On the other hand, we’re darn glad to be back online. Our unexamined paddling was definitely worthwhile, but we missed the discipline of reflecting on what we’ve discovered in the process.    Warm water came early to Lake Michigan this year. In addition to spending a lot of time on the lake, we taught at the 21st annual West Michigan Sea Kayak Symposium, participated in an instructor update with Nigel Foster, and taught for Geneva Kayak Center in Illinois and Adventure Crafters in Maryland. We also participated in the Chicago Whitewater Association beginner trips, took part in a couple of Chicago Area Sea Kayakers Association paddles, and finally visited the Wausau Whitewater Course in Wisconsin.    In the spirit of “a picture is worth a thousand words,” here are a few images from the past few months:  The children’s graduation at the end of the West Michigan Coastal Kayakers Symposium. Nigel Foster’s instructor update focused on discovery learning. An all-day paddle with other Chicago Area Sea Kayakers Association members  included a visit to a bell buoy on Chicago’s South Side. We got off the water another day before 80-knot winds blew through Chicago and flooded our basement.This was the first of several powerful and damaging storms in June. Our annual stint as guest instructors at Adventure Crafters in Maryland began with a full-moon paddle. Sharon and a Pyranha face off before heading to Wausau with Jeremy.    Nope. The unexamined paddle is still worthwhile, but we certainly don’t document it as well (in photos or prose) when we aren’t blogging about...

Every couple of years, the sand and silt in Chicago’s harbor mouths need to be cleaned out. We lose shallow spots we enjoyed for teaching and surfing, but the big ships that pay to dock have more clout. This is Chicago, after all.

One of the pleasures of paddling is the community it creates. Perhaps because it’s such a small sport, those who are passionate about it are supportive of and interested in each other. But it’s more than just that. Something about kayaking seems to attract good people. Our home has become a free B&B for visiting paddlers from across the country and across the world. We were thinking about this during the past weekend, when our friend Keith Wikle was in town for a business meeting and managed to build in enough extra time to paddle with us. We met Keith because we’re fellow paddlers and have become good friends. During this visit, we filmed strokes together. Director Alec atop the dock. Alec and Keith check out the images.  Lyn demonstrates effective strokes with a Greenland paddle. Then we practiced silly kayaking tricks.  Sharon uses her head, an essential piece of paddling equipment. Our local paddling community is rich and varied, too. The next day, we set out with Paul Redzimski, who is preparing for a ACA Level 5 instructor certification workshop. Paul wanted to practice rescues, tows and scenarios. We agreed to be his crash-test dummies. Paul fishes Alec out of 40-degree water.  Alec safely lands his boat on the rocks. Sharon ends the day with a roll. No ice-cream...