This year, we’re co-sponsoring the fourth annual Gales Storm Gathering, a rough-water symposium designed for intermediate and advanced paddlers. It’s a terrific event, featuring top midwest coaches and a guest coach from afar (this year, Jeff Allen from Sea Kayaking Cornwall) — an opportunity to take all the skills and confidence you’ve worked on all season and put them to use in more challenging water.  Far too many women are intimidated by this prospect. So this year we’re offering something new: Rough & Ready, a pre-Gales track at the annual Ladies of the Lake symposium August 15-17. Both events will be in Munising, MI this year. If your paddling aspirations include paddling in rough water, surfing waves, rock gardening and pushing your paddling skills to the next level, Rough and Ready will help you get there. It’s designed to increase your confidence and skills in bumpy conditions. Like all LOL courses, we’ll fine-tune the course based on where you are and where you want to go, but we promise to take you to the next level.  The goal of Rough and Ready is to prepare you, physically and psychologically, to attend The Gales Oct 3-5. As an added encouragement, ladies who participate in Rough and Ready will get a $75 discount on their Gales registration, space permitting. This track is limited to eight participants, so get your LOL registrations in soon and let us know if you plan to be in this track. Those who sign up will get additional information prior to...

Unloading boats at the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium. The words of Herodotus, inscribed above the door of the New York City post office, might well apply to this year’s Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium*: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night…” We arrived in Grand Marais, MI just before a deluge that signified the end to a string of hot, humid days and the start of a period of cooler weather. The rain pounded so hard on the metal roof of the symposium headquarters in the community center, people had to shout at close range to be heard. Outside, ominous clouds began circling over Lake Superior, and the US Coast Guard announced a water spout offshore. Ominous clouds circling offshore at Grand Marais, MI. But the wet and wild weather didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of coaches or participants. Hey, it’s a water sport! These students couldn’t be stopped. Over the next three days, we paddled in wind and waves, as well as on flat water. We sweated in light clothing and shivered in dry suits. It was a weekend tour of midwestern summer weather, and a great demonstration that neither snow nor rain nor heat not gloom of night stays these paddlers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. *More posts about this symposium will follow in the coming...

Danny Mongno, Wener Paddles regional sales manager and field marketing coordinator, paddling past sailboats in the Grand Marais harbor. The Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium (GLSKS) is a venerable event. It’s the longest-running sea kayak symposium in the midwest, held annually in Grand Marais, MI, a tiny town (population about 300) that just won $40,000 in the We Hear You America contest to help rebuild its harbor breakwall. When GLSKS comes to town, Grand Marais explodes with activity. Woodland Park Campground is awash in tents and trailers, the beach is covered in kayaks, and Lake Superior Brewing Company is packed every evening.  The symposium offers three days of tours along with two and a half days of instruction, both on and off the water. Coaches from around the midwest and far beyond come to teach, present, socialize and compete in the manic kayak race to win rights to wear the ceremonial paisley vest. An ominous designation for a paddling destination. We don’t mind driving long distances for a good symposium, but we took advantage of the opportunity by adding a visit to Whitefish Point, the “Graveyard of the Great Lakes” and home to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum.  With Keith Wilke, we learned about some of the famous and not-so-famous wrecks that lie just offshore–some under just 20 feet of water. Interestingly, wrecks in this area were not solely caused by storms and shoals, as they were in the Sleeping Bear Dunes area. Here, many were caused by collisions as shipping traffic converged to move through the relatively narrow channel between Lake Huron and Lake Superior. We couldn’t resist getting on the water, of course. Sharon and Keith prepare to paddle around the tip of Whitefish Point. The beach, too, looked like a graveyard–of driftwood, not ships. From there, we drove to Grand Marais. The next day, we led a group on an 18-mile trip along the west side of Grand Island, which is accessible only by ferry or boat. We paddled along the coast, beneath waterfalls and through arches, admiring the clear water and stunning painted cliffs. A calm day on the west side of Grand Island. Then the symposium began in earnest, with nonstop classes and activities. For students, this is an opportunity to learn from a variety of coaches; for instructors, it’s a chance to work together and learn from each other. For everyone, it’s time on the water, which is always good. Steve Scherrer teaching a course on boat control for wind and waves.  Each symposium has its own personality. This one’s character is highly influenced by Bill Thompson of Downwind Sports, whose enthusiasm, energy and openness make everyone–instructors and students alike–feel welcome and appreciated; and by Kelly Blades, who possesses a...