At this year’s Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium, we had the opportunity to work with students who signed up for the “one-coach track.” This meant each of us worked with five students for the entire weekend, rather than being assigned to teach a series of two-hour skills sessions with an ever-changing group of participants who signed up for each of those courses. We chose the one-coach track because we were interested in working on a progression — one of our responsibilities as BCU Coach 2 trainees. But we did so with some regrets because it meant we wouldn’t have the opportunity to work with other coaches and participants at the symposium. We’d be off on our own little learning island. It turned out to be a terrific opportunity. We began by discussing their goals and then videotaping each of the 10 participants performing a set of two-star skills: efficient forward paddling, moving sideways, maneuvering in a small space, and performing a low brace. Some of the participants in our one-coach track watching their videotaped performance as Alec offers observations. Over the course of the next two and a half days, we were able to help them improve those skills. We began with the fundamentals: posture, connectivity, power transfer and feel. We then applied those and other concepts to everything from the forward stroke and edged turns to bracing and rescues. Our standard for everything was “safe, effective, efficient,” enabling them to understand why particular approaches make the most sense and to choose what works best for them. Thanks to the weather, the course culminated in taking those skills into bumpy water for a real-world application. Finally, we videotaped again, allowing our students to see how much they had progressed. It was a rewarding weekend for all of us. One-coach participants testing their skills in bumpy water. The one-coach track allowed us the freedom to work on skills without feeling the two-hour clock ticking, to establish a well-paced progression, and to provide varied practice over two and a half days. In the end, if was a more optimal learning experience for them, and a more satisfying coaching experience for us. The 10 participants and two coaches from this year’s one-coach...

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...

Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the midwest supports eight kayak symposia, from the old (Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium) to the new (Windy City Symposium), from the family-oriented (West Michigan Coastal Kayakers Association) to the all-female (Ladies of the Lake). Some are traditional (Greenland Symposium and QUJAQ Training Camp). Most are “bicultural” (Door County Sea Kayak Symposium, Inland Sea Symposium). But all have some key attractions in common: They offer an opportunity for students to take a wide range of classes from numerous instructors in a concentrated period of time; they enable vendors to demonstrate and explain their gear to potential buyers, and potential buyers to test paddle a variety of kayaks; they provide beginner and intermediate paddlers with access to top-notch coaches from around the country and the world; they feature presentations by world-class kayakers who’ve completed expeditions the rest of us can only dream about; and they enable a gypsy group of local kayak instructors to reconnect several times during the summer months. The rodeo at the Western Michigan Coastal Kayakers Symposium, where students and instructors apply their paddling skills to absurd challenges. Many symposia include trips. Here, students and instructors paddle through the Apostle Island sea caves during the Inland Sea Kayak Symposium. Doug Van Doren checks out a waterfall along Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore during the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium. Most of us who teach at these symposia do so as volunteers. We provide all our own gear, pay for our own transportation, and donate our time. Students are sometimes baffled by this generosity.In fact, it’s really not so hard to understand what motivates us: a desire to offer newer kayakers what was once offered to us, a dedication to sharing our enthusiasm and knowledge about a sport we love, and the pleasure of hanging out with other people who feel the same way.In the five short years that we’ve been paddling, we’ve grown very fond of our fellow midwestern instructors. We are a family of sorts, full of larger-than-life characters, crazy stories, mischief and compassion. We strip in parking lots, debate the stink-resistance of various types of clothing, eat one another’s food and watch out for one another. If that’s not family, what is?Students pick up on this camaraderie. We still recall our first symposium, where we were impressed by how much fun our instructors were having and how much they enjoyed one another’s company. Thanks in part to them, we became skilled enough to offer the same inspiration and instruction to the next cohort of paddlers.Symposia aren’t a substitute for taking full classes at a reputable kayak center. They’re more like a tasting menu, while full-length classes are a multi-course meal....