“And a great time was had by all!”  You already know that byline right?  We all went to the symposium and we all learned stuff, connected with old friends, and had a great, fantastic, marvelous time!  That’s true too. We did. As for me,  I finally was able to actually paddle Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore.  In fact, since we took a few camera nuts out, it meant we were not under any pressure to do a 15 mile day or hit some arbitrary target that standard day trips seem to impose.  Instead we diddled and dawdled.  If you ask me, that’s as it should be.  To my mind, flying by the scenery just to hit some arbitrary target misses the whole point entirely.  I could lead dawdle trips every year!

Bryan Hansel cruising past a calico wall.

I spent time teaching rolling with Mr. Salsa Hip himself, Roy Martin.  Roy’s got his own way of teaching of course, but when people try to get too judgmental about it, they should also note his success rate.  It’s pretty good.  In fact, I share many points of view with Roy, even if we may express it in different ways. It doesn’t matter if you are teaching Euro rolls or traditional Greenland style, the foundation of Greenland rolling will bring people along faster and give them a more “bomb proof” roll in the long run.  I can teach people a C2C or a modified sweep in old school style, but honestly if this is their first roll, I feel like I’m robbing them of some important foundation skills.. That’s why I tend to begin with a traditional rolling structure even if I know it will end up applying to a Euro roll. I think the best part of the weekend for me was churning out students with a brand new balance brace.. Especially since I can’t do it.  I’m not sure how that works, but it does…  Go fig!

So yeah, GLSKS was a great gig.  It always is.