Shawna Franklin

A symposium is of course a torrential rain of experiences compressed into a bottle of a couple of days. When you arrive back at your home base and the gear is out drying in the sun, when you finally start to decompress, it can be hard to figure out how to begin without overlooking something. I’m quite sure it will take the next few days to talk share it with you.

One thing that the WMCKA symposium does like no other is recognize that more than just hardcore paddlers, the attendees and coaches are also people, often middle aged, and often with children. With that in mind they do an amazing job of spacing out classes in such a way that both coaches and students get adequate time to rest, prepare, eat, talk about and practice what they learn in each class. It’s often overlooked that this “break time” is the time where the knowledge is allowed to soak in. In addition their children’s program not only offers plenty of time on the water for the kids, but off-water as well. The flipside benefit to the parents cannot be overstated. They can come to the symposium, spend time with their families, and take all the classes they wish as well as attend social events knowing that their children are having a great time in supervised atmosphere all the while. It seems to me that a good children’s program should really be an important feature of all sea kayaking symposiums.

So while the kids were at the climbing wall or playing in their boats the rest of us took in classes from beginner to advanced. We learned strokes, rescues, braces, rolls and so much more. Kayak Uber coaches, Shawna Franklin and Leon Sommé of Body, Boat, Blade, gave freely of their time with students and coaches alike sharing all that amazing stuff they work out on Orcas Island with the rest of us. More on that later. However, I do want to credit these guys for their dedication to helping others with this little story;

Leon Sommé

As they often do, Shawna and Leon had some new tools for coaches to work with. With that in mind a pre-symposium class was worked out for instructors at a very small fee. Of course only some instructors were able to attend and the following day everyone was asking and talking about a couple new techniques they had taught. As each person would ask it seemed they were always willing to get back out on the water and repeat it for individual instructors. Each time they would start working with another coach, others would zoom out to join in. It became obvious that there were a lot of other coaches wanting to learn what new tricks they had up their sleeves. So they were asked to do another coaches workshop between classes. Even with that second class there were still many questions and little on water sessions with individuals and groups fit into every spare moment. Shawna and Leon would dive into each session with the same joy and dedication as the first to the benefit of anyone wanting to learn. It was really something to watch.

Beyond the new techniques they shared over the weekend they also taught something maybe a bit more subtle; dedication. For coaches symposiums can be hectic. We can get caught up on a bit of a race track running from assignment to assignment with seemingly little time between. We can be tempted to put off students needing a little extra help or looking for something “off program”. After all, sometimes we’re already deciding between lunch and changing into dryer clothes! What I learned from them over the weekend was to remember to pause, hit the reset button and give the time I have when asked. With the joy of watching others learn, who needs food anyway!?

- More to come. . .

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