Crash and bash at Penrhyn Mawr, Anglesey. PADDLERS: SIMON OSBORNE AND GINNI CALLAHAN // PHOTO: AXEL SCHOEVERS
I practiced, and by the time the as- sessment came around I could do it without fail. The hardest parts were the leadership and navigation as- pects. You never knew what they were going to throw at you.” In 1994, Ide became a senior in-
structor and, along with New York’s Bill Lozano, was handed the unenvi- able task of administering the BCU in North America—while the tea-sipping
grandfathers watched on from across the pond. When Ide sanctioned Lash’s 5-Star Sea assessment on Lake Su- perior, the old guard balked. “It never really flew with the people in Britain that we could have an endorsement that was non-tidal,” says Ide. Sam Crowley, an Ide-trained sea
kayak instructor from Marquette, Michi- gan, says there were complicated poli- tics involved: “The BCU has always had
Sea Kayaking’s top Certs Today, all three major certification bodies in
North America (BCU, ACA and Paddle Canada) offer equivalent courses aimed at preparing sea kayakers to lead multi-day trips in rough sea conditions.
BRITISH CANOE UNION (BCU) 5-Star Sea Award Course conditions: Tidal areas, periods of no less than sea state five (2.5 metres) or equivalent tidal race conditions, an exposed rocky coastline with difficult landings and open crossings, moderate surf—
bcuna.com;
bcu.org.uk.
AMERICAN CANOE ASSOCIATION (ACA) Coastal Kayaking Level 4 Skills Course conditions: Open water, wind 11 to 16 knots, surf to 3 feet (one metre), current to three knots—
americancanoe.org.
PADDLE CANADA Sea Kayaking Level 4 Course conditions: Open coast with infrequent and sometimes difficult landing options, strong winds (near 20 knots), combined sea state one-metre or better with a moderate to rough sea state, surf one metre or greater, current three knots—
paddlingcanada.com.
this thing where some have aspired to go global and others have wanted to stick to England. In the late-1990s, the ‘stick to England’ camp won.” The BCU withdrew high-level in- struction in North America for a time. As the BCU’s influence here waned, homegrown American and Canadian paddlesports programs flourished. Both the ACA and Canada’s national paddlesports organization, Paddle Canada, developed beginner to ex- pert programs with skills and instruc- tor streams that parallel the BCU hier- archy. Yet interestingly—whether out of deference to the legendary status of the BCU’s top honour or just poor marketing—both labelled their top award a level 4. Both level fours have yet to equal the 5-Star’s prestige.
B
ack in England, the BCU re- mained the domain of some of the world’s best sea kay-
akers. Today the BCU torch burns brighter than ever in the hands of a fresh, younger generation of expedi- tion paddlers and ocean playboaters like Jeff Allen. To understand the BCU program,
says Allen, an instructor, expedition paddler and owner of Sea Kayaking Cornwall, you have to realize that its awards are based on the sea condi- tions of Great Britain’s North Atlantic coast. “The biggest problem with the run-
ning of 5-Star assessments in the U.S. is the lack of strong tidal flow,” says Allen. “It’s not that the U.S. doesn’t
42 ADVENTURE KAYAK | EARLY SUMMER 2009
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