Funny Thing about Shipwrecks
Published April 16, 2008 | 
Another shipwreck, another earthquake
Another shipwreck, I understand it’s time to admit
Despite our endeavours
Cant find whatever we lost….
- staus que
Others find shipwrecks to be a link to a past swarming with history and stories to tell and retell. All you need to do is hook up with a Lake Superior Sea Kayaking Guide to immerse yourself in the legend and lore of the moody Gitchigumi.
Some more recent and famous shipwrecks are of course elevated to the class of “Memorial” in memory of lives lost. We dropped flowers over the titanic and placed a plaque Edmund Fitzgerald. Of course there are too many ships and too many lives lost to place plaques everywhere. My thought is that these few should probably stand for all.
Then of course we can jump to the other end of the spectrum. One way to look at a map of shipwrecks is to see a map of human waste. Garbage. Big Garbage. Hundreds if not thousands of ships that have been lost at sea and lay there in various forms for hundreds of years. Many of course provide new artificial homes for sea life and it could be said that when there is no harm there is no foul. Other wrecks are or have been very foul indeed.
This morning I was looking at a map of Shipwrecks in the Great Lakes. I couldn’t help but notice these oversize markers were covering the map in big black stamps that somehow seemed out of place on an otherwise attractive map. It crossed my mind that it would not take much for a more inclusive map to so cover the waters with black stamps that there would be no water left.
Day by Day
Published April 15, 2008 | 
Just a reminder to you and me that we take life day by day. You should never think too far ahead. At least not beyond general plans and goals. The problem is when you get too detailed about the future, it has a way of changing on you.
In your kayak you have to stay in the “now”. Sure we look ahead a bit and anticipate our next move, yet we don’t spend too much time being distracted by what lies over the horizon. It’s about that time that a wave comes in off your rear quarter and takes you for a ride!
Last night we helped Gryphon set up for a science fair project. He will be using an egg, salt, and a glass of water to demonstrate density. Which got me thinking. When you roll in salt water you go down slowly and come up quickly. In fresh water it’s the reverse. Of course it has to be calm day to notice that slight difference. I like the sea though. I’d always prefer to surface a bit quicker!
Just for sunday. . do bears?
Published April 13, 2008 | 
Reflections on Ice-Breaking
Published April 12, 2008 | 
Let’s not blame the day for the snow and sleet.
In fact it’s a blessing of sorts.
After all, adventure thrives in bad weather.
Bad weather adores adventure
Of course!
And even though it’s now forgotten,
drunk up, and spent
and lost
it can be said that people,
all people, thrive on adventure and loft
It’s no coincidence then that it is often said, or quoted or read
that death, or the art of becoming dead
is the last great adventure
The last reminder in case you forgot
That adventure will come if you want it
Or not
I may go paddling today in the rain
In the snow
In the sleet
In the gloom
In the wet
Then, when cold and tired and spent
I’ll return to my home and lye on the couch
sipping warm brandy
(while quoting Ogden Nash to no one in particular)
case in point
Published April 11, 2008 | .jpg)
So i was filling out this form a couple days back for the Qajaq Training Camp. I’m going to assist a bit and hopefully squeeze in a class or two. So I looked at this form and realized. I know what I don’t know. . and I’m not all that sure of what I know! Oh brother! . . TGIF!
it’s sociology
Published April 11, 2008 | 
And I have a lesson
That I must impart to you.
Its an old expression
But I must insist its true.
Jump up, look around,
Find yourself some fun,
No sense in sitting there hating everyone.
No mans an island and his castle isnt home,
The nest is for nothing when the bird has flown.
- tull
What I know I know. What I don’t know, I don’t. That was a real clear message in my BCU Coach training last year. Of course they have a different way of expressing it. Something like “at your level you are not qualified to teach such and such. . .” No wonder the pub is full after the class! All the students were feeling stupid. . Oh wait, maybe I was drinking alone!
My preference is to teach beginners. Navigating that set of self-doubt that new students bring to a class and coming away with them feeling good and knowing what they now know is a great challenge. Sending them away feeling excited about their next day on the water is wonderful. Thing is as you become more experienced as a coach, you find yourself spending more and more time teaching more advanced students. That’s when things get a bit tricky. Something I’m just learning to navigate now.
Frankly it’s a whole lot tougher. Students with a bit of experience behind them come into a class from a totally different angle. Often they not only know what they know, but they often think they know what they don’t know. It seems you always get the one guy who has read every book and watched every video and will question every step of every lesson. (and yes, it’s always a GUY!) My feeling is that this is a defining moment in their paddling career. They have demonstrated their dedication. You have to credit that. However they have also formulated a set of unbendable “rules”. How a coach handles this I think will decide if that paddler will become a better paddler or if they will become a know-it-all with a bruised ego and an attitude.
The first thing I learned was that although you want to teach this student, you can’t let them dominate the class. You have a bunch of other folks there too. I’ve watched a lot of nice coaches let their class get taken over while trying to teach by negotiation. It may work for that student, but at the expense of the others. I don’t’ think you can teach through negotiation. Not in a class atmosphere anyway. Another way the class gets hijacked is that these discussions open up opportunities for coaches to show off their expertise. Com’on we all like to show what we know. The thing is we have to fight that urge.
So when I have opportunities these days to watch great coaches I tend to try to look behind the scenes a bit. I want to watch how they manage their classes when it comes to students who know what they think they know.
Some of course can control the situation by sheer presence. Two coaches I admire a lot, Kelly Blades here in the States & Rowland Woollven in the UK, both have an amazing art of being able to shut down these situations when they have to and at the same time keep the class fun and keeping the students engaged. Just their presence and characters allow them to say something like “We can talk about that later.” And not come across as being “Cocky”. If some coaches did that they would just look like jerks. Thing is IF you say “we can talk later”, then you have to be open to spending that extra time after class. Great coaches always seem to have extra time after class to work with you. (of course I can hear them saying, “Yeah, but Derrick don’t SAY that!!!!”. – there goes lunch!) The point is; knowing when to be “tuff” and how to quickly spin that into a smile is an art.
Another method we can use has to do with using those “learning moments”. I like this approach too. I’ve seen Shawna Franklin (body, boat, blade) & Sam Crowley both use this amazing ease. They will just sit back and say, “show us”. They then let the student demonstrate their skill. Often with interesting results. Then they will find something, anything to compliment about the students approach. . . followed by a quick analysis and a demonstration of the alternative. The beauty of this is that the student can “feel” the comparisons, then freely decide without feeling they were shown up or put down. The coaches never criticize, just compare. If this can be done effectively and in a timely manner, everyone in the class learns. If not, then see above. . . 
As coaches we spend a lot of time talking about the “skill work”. How to demo and the like. We tend to focus on raw information. However, often the hardest part of teaching is creating a learning enviroment for a diverse group. It’s sociology. Being a skilled paddler does not make a good coach. What does make a great coach? Well, I have some ideas and I’ve seen some wonderful examples, but I think it may take a lifetime to learn.
In questions of who is the devil and who is the saint one truth emerges. Most are neither. . . and both.
Being online daily is a mixed experience as many know or are learning. Even paddle bloggers are not immune. I talk many times about how people learn differently. Of course they see the world through many different lenses as well. You could give a person a flower and some of course would find “evil” in the gesture. Usually we can agree to disagree. Sometimes though people feel they need to keep up a war. The problem with the online world of course is that it puts you in a place that’s very accessible. Friends, strangers, enemies, exes, are all given a ticket to your wanderings. With that comes all the good feedback you get every day, but also sometimes opens you up to harassment, stalking and daily attacks. Not always visible online, but behind the scenes. Still very disturbing none the less.
That brings me to my subject of the day which is not the normal cheerful stuff but is probably worth talking about; Online Stalking. Yeah, I know a couple other bloggers have dealt with this at one time or another. Usually it’s not a stranger, but someone you know or knew that wants to attack you for whatever reasons. Being online gives them a daily place to take out their vitriol energies. They can, if they have the choose to spend their time at such things, post to your blogs, Youtube accounts, Flicker accounts and everywhere else they can find you. And let’s face it, these days we’re everywhere! If they are feeling particularly nasty they can email anyone they think would care, cut and paste emails, change the words and context, even falsify documents and logins, edit pictures whatever they wish to make a case. These days it’s pretty difficult to sort out the real from the fantasy. Like in politics they can throw and throw and throw and hope that something sticks. Let’s face it folks, the digital world has a dark and seedy side too.
I’ve been dealing with one particular situation myself quite heavily for some months. It gets so you don’t even want to log into your site. I’m sure that’s their goal really. To keep you nervous, scared and generally unhappy. So obviously if they read this they know of course that they are having the effect they want. I know 3 other paddle bloggers who have went through this to some extent and it is hard sometimes. Of course each person who resorts to such things feels they have a right. Of course no one, for no reason has a right.
What we can do is often very little. An online restraining order is laughable if impossible to enforce. We need to address these things on our own. First of course we can respond to the person and try to work out the issues with them. Sometimes though it just does not work. Next we can block their comments. The thing is of course you still have to read them when you clean out your spam folders. If you own your domain you do have another option. You can block IPs. That means blocking the servers they use to access your site. This is a major step though, in that it also blocks everyone who shares those servers. The downside of course is that with each new door you close the more you can enrage the person trying to harasses you. Of course they are open to email you endlessly, and email anyone else they know and generally keep up their behavior as long as they wish.
The online world for better or worse does tend to make everyone “public” figures. You can’t always warn people to be careful. Sometimes all the care in the world will not stop you from stepping in it. For my part, I just keep moving along in the realization that for all the negativity in the world, the good always has a way of balancing it out. Eventually.
* image by Michael Pacher