Archive for August, 2008

The last couple days have been a bit rough. Among the many things I brought back from Michigan, one thing was a screaming case of swimmer’s ear. So for the last couple days I’ve been once again working through the pain. Finally yesterday I broke down and went to see the doc. I told him straight up I knew I was being a bit of a wimp, but after 2 days without more than a few broken moments of sleep and my head feeling as if it would break open at any point, it was time to call the cavalry. The funny bit, if there is one, is that the doctor would like to take some kayaking lessons! So as he handed off my prescriptions for pain killers and antibiotics, I wrote down my email on his prescription pad. “Keep dreaming about paddling, and call me in the morning!”. Of course it will be another day or so before the antibiotics kick in and at the moment I don’t dare touch my face. Until then I have to just wince and type, type and wince.

Swimmer’s Ear is an infection of the lining of the ear canal. It can occur when the ear remains wet for a long period of time or when the skin inside the ear is scratched.  Either way, at that point the bacteria take over. The pain can get quite intense and run down into your neck and jaw. It can also cause dizziness. As you would guess swimmers, surfers, kayakers and anyone who spends lots of time in the water can be susceptible. While there are all sorts of precautions and home remedies available it can still get the best of you. Ear plugs work wonders however when you teach or are just being social it’s hard to wear them since you can’t hear what’s going on around you. So  the next line of defense is to try as you might to get the water out with various products or a mix of alcohol & vinegar. Again, usually it works but sometimes it doesn’t. As we drove home Sunday night I told Alex I knew I was in for it. He reminded me that this was another good reason to wear a Tuilik. Yeah, good point.

It’s always exciting to announce the up-coming release of Justine Curgenven’s latest DVD in the “This is the Sea” series. As you have come to expect this latest edition, “This is the Sea 4” takes you on another Sea Kayaking World Tour featuring expeditions to the Queen Charlotte Islands with Shawna Franklin & Leon Sommé, a beautiful Bass Strait crossing and of course Justine & Barry’s amazing trip around the South Island of New Zealand. In addition you’ll catch up with Dubside, go rock hopping in Baja with Jen Kleck, paddle in Israel and much more. Oh yes, and visit my neck of the woods with a trip to Lake Superior and the Apostle Islands.

Again I worked with Justine on the cover design and the web stuff. We’ve put up a preview video clip  from the South Island of New Zealand which you can watch here. Starting today you can pre-order this 2 disc set at CackleTV.com.

Now here’s where things get fun. This year Justine will be coming to North America for a This Is The Sea Premiere Tour. Justine & Barry will be at each event other than the Sea Kayak Georgia premiere which will be presented by Shawna & Leon. Details will be posted soon on her site. Here in the Midwest the premiere will be presented by Geneva Kayak Centre in Chicago IL. On Friday, November 14th.  (contact them for details) So I’ll see some of you there right after I get back from the symposium in Israel.

It’s ok.  I really do understand.  You’ve thought it might be interesting to go to a traditional training camp but then you wondered if you were going to have to wear one of those weird black rubber things. . .

After all they do look a bit odd and maybe they won’t let you in if you don’t wear one?  I mean, even their beer bottles wear Tuiliks right?

I do know how you feel.  Up until I went to QajaqTC last weekend I had never worn one.  Being sort of a bi-paddler I’ve never totally slipped to the dark side.  To be honest I was just a bit worried I’d look a bit like an Oompa-Lompa!

So I thought today we should have a look at what those Traditional paddler types wear. . and help you work through your concerns. . .

Maybe you think you will have to wear the flag of Greenland sewn onto black garb. . .

Or a scarf on your head when you sit at the bar.

Maybe you’ll have to show up looking all buff.
Like you just paddled around an island.
Do you have to look Tuff??

Would you have to wear shorts, a red apron and cook?

Do they wear pointy hats? Do they mind if you look?

Must you dress like some Greenlandic friend of Saint Nick. .
as you try as you might to roll with a stick?

Maybe you’ll have to shave your head. .
or wear babies draped over your shoulder?
Wearing a baby is something to think over.

Do you have to wear Canadian postal macs?
Along with short pants, dress shoes and socks that are black?

Do you have to wear Crocs. . . Pink on the other and yellow on one,
as you walk down the beach and talk to your son?

Do you fear floral with stripes?

Do you have to wear name-tags all day. . and all night?

Do you have to wear heels on the beach when you run?,
Then just leave them lie there. Not both, but just one?

No you don’t have to wear any of these things. You can just dress like you. Whatever it takes.

You can wear what you like, both women and boys.
You don’t have to wear a Tuilik. . .
but you must talk to Roy!

It’s a long, long road, from which there is no return
While we’re on the way to there, why not share?
And the long doesn’t way me down at all
He ain’t heavy – he’s my brother
- hollies

I regularly attend my son Gryphon’s martial arts training. From a coaching perspective it has opened my eyes to methods of mentoring. A style of instruction that not only has a lead instructor or “Master” but also puts a focus on teaching students to work together and be good coaches themselves. As I watch Gryphon’s classes I’m inspired to see the teenagers teaching the young kids, right down to the yellow belts working with the white belts. Mentoring is not just another one of those PC power words but is simply a way of learning together by teaching each other. It’s also the basis of, and a distinction of traditional kayak training. Just like my son’s martial arts classes, it’s an inspiring thing to be a part of.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, when folks started learning traditional paddling skills they had to do it with their friends. There were no formal classes or symposiums to go to. Often you just had to figure it out together. This fostered the idea early on of what a training camp should be about. It shouldn’t be a seminar or a place where the experts tossed down their knowledge from Olympus. Students also shouldn’t have to miss one type of training for another or miss out working with a particular coach if they so chose. Instead it should be a process where everyone came together and learned together however it best suited them. The trick was how to make that work and still send everyone home getting the skills and attention they wanted. QajaqTC has really got that down.

At the Qajaq Training Camp all the coaches come together early on to talk about how the event will go. Coaches sort of divide up based on their expertise or sometimes just what they enjoy teaching. A loose organization is put together where each coach or group of coaches will find their own little spot in the water where students can come to them for help. No one is assigned a “class”, they just choose their area of learning. After breakfast everyone heads out on the water. Many students will jut out to those groups. Near shore people can find coaches to work with them on their first rolls. They can also find others to work with on balance bracing and advanced rolls. Interspersed with these open sessions are a few more formal classes on strokes or rescues and of course specific traditional skills such as making your own Akuilisaq (spray skirt). Students are free to work with anyone (or no one) as they like, then jump off to a class for a bit, then head back to a group as best suits them. Sessions are simply held morning and afternoon each day.

To keep things organized there are always a couple of boats out there helping move more coaches to larger groups when needed or to help students find the group they are looking for. Students are not required to stay in one class, but can move freely from group to group as they choose, using the time as best suits them.

In addition students are encouraged to work with each other along the way. You will often find folks who spent time learning something with a coach, then gathering in smaller groups to work together on what they had just learned. If you sneak in and listen you will hear them sharing the bits they took away, all the little tips that made it work for them and of course a lot of encouragement. There is a certain power in students working together all at a similar stage in their learning. What’s more, just like those martial arts classes you’ll often see the more advanced students putting a lot of time in with new students as well. In the end everyone gets all the personal attention they need to get what they want out of the weekend.

From the shoreline you see a kaleidoscope of kayaks gathered in little distinct pods in every corner. Between each pod are other boats moving between or taking a bit of personal time. You may find someone just rolling and rolling and rolling or a top name coach working one on one with a first time paddler. Something that it seems to me only this format will permit. You’ll also see folks just floating and talking or playing. Each one choosing when and how much they need to learn and when they’d rather just be hanging out with friends. Something that seems to suit all learning styles.

Coming as I do from a more standard background of ACA or BCU learning I can see how this looser method has many advantages. Students don’t find themselves missing something if they feel they need to take a morning off the water. They can also spend more time, or even the whole weekend on one skill if they wish. They also have access to multiple coaches which allows them to see things from a variety of perspectives. There’s a lot of good here. Certainly at large formal symposiums it would be hard to replicate this style of learning to some degree. (You can’t just zip out with someone for rough water training for example.) On the other hand I can easily see a way that the big gigs could set aside a rotation of coaches for mentoring sessions where there were always coaches available to students who wanted to focus on certain skills. I hope we talk more about that in the future.

All in all though, the training camp style is a wonderful learning experience for everyone and is certainly a compliment to sea kayak training in general. Later I’ll talk more about the people behind this program. It only took a few little quiet observations to see why they organized QajaqTC the way they did. In a way, it’s just an extension of the people who made it all happen.

Mr. Salt: What is this, Wonka, some kind of funhouse?
Willy Wonka: Why? Having fun?

Dark matter makes up a large part of the universe. Humans being part of the universe must therefore be made up, at least in part, of dark matter. Well, the question then is how to test it. One should never make assumptions after all.  One thing that did seem logical was that dark matter being matter must take up space. In fact as you may know, dark matter tends to clump. So it seemed logical to me that if I sat by a campfire and slowly poured sand on various staff and participants at QajaqTC we could find out exactly what percentage of dark matter they contained. (Not to mention where it tended to “clump”.) In fact in my scientific testing I found one student to contain just over 30% dark matter. Well, at least her knee did.  It would have to, otherwise the sand would have built up over time and not, as it did in this case, roll off. Of course you need to repeat the experiment regularly so I’ve asked her husband to continue with the research. He seemed happy to oblige.

Now the problem with carrying out such scientific studies, especially in the company of strangers, is that people often think you’ve been consuming large quantities of alcohol. While that’s certainly possible, it’s much more likely that you have consumed a measured quantity of alcohol also and believe that famous quote that “A little non-sense now and then is relished by the wisest men”. Now of course days of stoicism with occasional bouts of lunacy does tend to make one, as my  new friend Dominique pointed out, somewhat hard to read. . . or possibly bi-polar. . .

What really amazes me however, is that it seems camp organizers may contain no dark matter what-so-ever. Truly something to marvel at. If I do say so myself!

From the day we arrive on the planet
And blinking, step into the sun
There’s more to see than can ever be seen
More to do than can ever be done
There’s far too much to take in here
More to find than can ever be found
- elton john

Before I go on to tell you about the Qajaq Training Camp I should probably take a moment to talk a bit about paddling. One of the most important concepts behind becoming a better paddler is learning to master boat control. Simply, making your kayak do what you want it to do. Classes, symposiums, training camps, friends, clubs and lots of practice get us there. We also learn quite quickly that boat control is NOT about the paddle. Well, the paddle is involved but at the same time we tend to way over focus on our paddles, but that only gets us so far. What we really need to be focusing on is our bodies. When we figure this out we really begin to accelerate in our learning. Thing is, what’s the best way to do that?

There is no one way to learn. In fact if you focus too hard on one style or methodology you may be holding yourself back. In Euro paddling we may turn to the concepts of Body, Boat, Blade. An idea that basically prioritizes your focus. What’s your body doing? Then what is your boat doing? Lastly. . (see that, “lastly”) what is my blade or my paddling doing?. So “Body, Boat, Blade” is one step in our learning process. Another way we learn is through play.

It’s Chris!

Play is, and always has been an important part of proper development. Play asks us to step outside the “proper” and do something imaginary and yes, silly. In kayaking we play games, we crawl all over our kayaks, we flip, we spin, we fall over, we roll. Play allows us not only to see things in new ways, but to FEEL things in new ways. Play makes us better paddlers.

Another way to learn to be a better paddler is to go back and figure out how it was all done in the beginning. To the Inuit kayaking was not “body, boat, blade” exacty. It was not about play. It was serious business. It had to be. In the harsh conditions of the North Atlantic there was just not much room for error. Obviously they had a lot to teach us. The problem was that the lessons of these expert sea kayakers was almost lost to the world. Sadly there are some things that probably were lost. On the other hand thankfully a few innovative paddlers started asking questions. They began to wonder if we weren’t re-inventing the wheel. Maybe we were missing something. . .

Dan Segal

In various places around the states guys started trying to figure out what those original kayakers were doing. People like John Heath, Dan Segal, Doug Van Doren, Turner Wilson, Greg Stamer and many other dedicated folks began to dig. They found many things that were quite different from what we were doing today. The boats were different. Why? The paddles were different. Again, why was that? The kayak roll was different. In fact, the Inuit had a whole vocabulary around rolling alone! It was something like discovering an ancient text that had to be deciphered. Then without always having people to teach them, they had to re-discover how it all worked. Sometimes they got it right, and sometimes they got it wrong but in the end they were always learning. The resurgence of what we now call “traditional” paddling has been a watershed. It wasn’t long before folks were traveling up to Greenland to hunt down that old knowledge. They found in fact that all was not lost. Even though few were still hunting by kayak there were people who remembered. Older men who hunted in their youth. Others who had knowledge passed to them by parents, grandparents, uncles, and friends. There was so much to learn!

Greg Stamer

Thanks to all these dedicated paddlers, students, researchers, and mentors we are again gaining this priceless knowledge. However, once something becomes established it’s hard to introduce new (or in this case, old) ideas. So for a time traditional paddling seemed somehow out of the main stream. People to this day still want to debate Euro-blades vrs traditional ones, skin boats vrs fiberglass, and on and on. Something akin to arguing over whether the earth is round or flat. Dogma is a hard thing to break. To be sure that goes both ways. Some felt that those old traditions were the only way to paddle. Some modern paddlers thought those old skills didn’t apply to our modern world.

To complicate things more even these new age traditional paddlers couldn’t always agree. When we were finally getting good information from Greenland some doubted its authenticity thinking that modern ideas had occluded the old methods even in Greenland itself. Some preferred their early ideas over what they were actually hearing coming out of Greenland today. Debates went on over proper strokes, paddle shapes, and on and on. All the while, all these debates kept the paddling community wondering. In a sense sea kayaking divided into groups. Euro vrs Traditional and region vrs region. Thankfully this all is starting to dissipate. We’re figuring out that everyone was essentially right.

So that long winded little story brings us back to where we sit today. Paddlers who are truly looking to grow regardless of their chosen discipline have a lot to gain by delving into the world of traditional paddling. Luckily we can do that quite easily thanks to all the hard work and debate of those “early adopters”. Gatherings like Delmarva, SSTIKS, and of course QajaqTC are where we can go to learn more. If you’ve heard that traditional gatherings are not for everyone, it’s time to put away those old ideas and come join us. Next I’ll tell more about what I learned at QajaqTC 08.

If you’d like to learn more about Modern Greenland (or Traditional) Sea Kayaking you may enjoy this video.

As good as you’ve been to this whole wide world,
As good as you’ve been, babe,
So good I wanna be here.
- janis Joplin

We arrived back in Wisconsin in the wee hours of morning after a wonderful trip to the 2008 Qajaq Training Camp in Michigan. Over the next few days I’ll share some thoughts, pictures, ideas and stories of this annual traditional paddling event. While I get all my rambling thoughts molded into something coherent, I just wanted to pass along to you that everyone say’s “Hi”!