Gordon Brown and Sean Morley, going over the day’s plan. We were attracted to the Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium by the high-level coaching, the venue, and the diversity of sea conditions that were virtually guaranteed. (OK, and the opportunity to leave Chicago in February.)    The hard part was choosing among the offerings. In the end, it came down to selecting classes that took advantage of the current, surf and rocks, or attending the revised BCU 4-star training. After much consideration, Alec chose the 4-star, based on the location, last year’s description, and the fact that Gordon Brown and Tom Bergh would be leading the class. Sharon chose a “master class” on boat handling with Gordon Brown, rock gardening, and a class on riding the tides.    In this, our last post from the GGSKS 2010, we’ll write about some of what we did and what we learned. Warning: long post ahead. From Alec:    The new 4-star is a leadership award. This means that beyond having to demonstrate a defined list of personal paddling skills, you are able to safely lead a group of four 3-star paddlers in specified conditions.  Gordon and Tom emphasized the gravity of the responsibility you take on by choosing to lead a group onto the water. The 4-star assessment also requires completion of a BCU-approved navigation class, a two-day leadership training and 2 day approved first aid class with CPR.    My first day involved a the full-day classroom-based navigation class, taught by Tom Bergh and Rob Avery. It was tough to travel all the way to San Francisco and spend a full day on dry land, although the weather made it a bit easier. The class was engaging and interactive, and covered a full syllabus of basic navigation skills, weather formation, rules of the road and buoyage. We created trip routes taking into account tidal currents, wind and as many other factors as we could glean from the charts and pilots. Though we stayed dry ourselves, the content was anything but.  The four-star training included group management under the Golden Gate Bridge.    Day two began the 4-star leadership training. After warming up and practicing some group management exercises on the water, we headed out to a point just below the north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge. The ebbing current created an eddy line that grew  stronger by the minute. Crossing the eddy line wasn’t that different from what I’ve done on river trips ( larger for sure), but we also had swell to contend with and the consequences of missing the eddy were serious: being pushed out under the bridge and into the busy  shipping channel there.  Our group...