Anarchist joins the club
When I wrote, “Adrift: An intermediate finds himself lost at sea and wonders where he should paddle now,” [Adventure Kayak online V5 I3] in which I lamented the pres- sure I was under to become a certified kayaker, I was hoping to generate some feedback and spark some debate. It turns out much of the debate has been
internal. I’m off to Orcas Island to do a BCU canoe/kayak safety course next week. Indeed I’ve come around about 180 degrees since last September. I’ve also done a BCU 3-star course, but have yet to be assessed. One of the most significant differences I’ve noticed between learning from skilled mentors versus professional coaches is that coaches have lots of techniques to get the lesson across. If you’re simply trying to copy a mentor you can miss out on a lot of the subtle little things that, when added up, make a big difference. You can mimic a skilled paddler doing a bow rudder, but you won’t know what the paddler is doing with the blade that’s buried in the water. Is the blade straight, is it angled, by how much, what happens when you adjust the angle? You can’t see the blade and if the paddler doesn’t tell you what they are doing you miss an important part of the stroke. I’ve also been nominated for a CRCA level II. I say nominated because the instructor has assessed my skills and qual- ified me but I have yet to receive my certi- fication. I suspect that if certain people in the CRCA have read “Adrift” and see my name they may choke. I hope they’re up on their CPR skills.
Gordin Warner Victoria, BC
WRITE US: Editor, Adventure Kayak, PO Box 70, Palmer Rapids, ON, K0J 2E0. Email:
editor@adventurekayakmag.com. We may edit letters for publication.
ADVENTUREkayakmag.com 9
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52