Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium
Myself and 4 friends (Bob, Kim, Maxine, and Cathy) from GonePaddling, a Greater Seattle area kayaking group headed down to this years Sea Kayaking Symposium held in Marin, CA just across the bay from San Francisco. We joined a couple hundred other paddlers from around the country and from around the globe to soak up as much information and new skills we could from some of the best paddle coaches in the industry!
Cathy and I drove down on Thursday while everyone else headed down on Wednesday to break up the drive. I brought along a P&H Delphin 155 on demo from P&H and my NDK Romany Excel. Cathy brought along her Valley Pintail and came back with a NEW Tidrace Xtra!
We left Tacoma at 6am and arrived in Larkspur, CA just after 6pm, just in time to meet up with the rest of our group and a couple more Seattleites; Ed and Melinda for dinner at the Marin Brewery Co. After dinner we got checked in at The Marin Headlands Hostel and started mingling with familiar and new faces alike.
Friday, Day 1 of the Symposium
Bob, Maxine and myself took the BCU Coastal Navigation and Trip Planning class while Cathy and Kim attended the Rock Garden Safety and Rescues class. The coastal nav class was my last prerequisite for my BCU 4 Star Assessment. Our instructor was Mark Tozer from the UK. He did a very good job of teaching the class and I walked away with a a good sense of what is expected of me during my assessment in regards to navigation. For a few others in the group it served as an eye opener to what they needed to work on. I would highly recommend taking a class from Mark as he goes out of his in preperation for his classes.
I had heard that in years past that the meals at GGSKS left little to be desired. At least for this year, nothing could be farther from the truth. Dinner Friday night was provided by the Bay Area Sea Kayakers. It included homemade penne pasta, green salad, lots of green sald, parmesan bread, and a vegetable medley finished up with awesome fudge brownies. After dinner there was a small raffle and the grand prize this evening was a Kokatat Drysuit. The winner was not me, go figure, The lady that did win evidently won the same prize last year as well! Can Someone say rigged :)
Saturday, Day 2 of the Symposium
Bob went off on his own as he enrolled in the 2 day BCU 4 Star Training. Kim, Maxine, Cathy and Myself were in the Intermediate Rock Gardening Class along with Ed and Melinda. Our Instructors for the day were: Paul Kuthe from Alder Creek, & Jeff North of Liquid Fusion Kayaking. The class descritpion:
This class is not for beginners. You should have some experience paddling in rough water and in and around rocks and surf. You should have good boat skills, be confident in self and assisted rescues and have the makings of a combat roll. In this class, you will learn how to take these skills further by exploring every feature of the coastline that it is safe to exploit under the guidance of top coaches. You will develop your skills and more importantly your judgment as well as have a ton of fun. Plastic kayaks are highly recommended! Helmets are mandatory!
We had a blast learning about group dynamics in rock gardens and how to read and time the features. It took some of us a long time to get our timing down and some of us were still struggling with it even after the symposium but is was all good FUN!
We got off the water around 3 or 4 which gave us some time to get cleaned up before dinner. After our delicous dinner of chicken fajitas with rice and beans, we all headed over to a local school to attend the night’s presentations and raffle. The presentation was in a local schools assembly hall and there was standing room only. The night started off with a remembrance and a celebration of life for a fellow paddler that passed away this last year, Eric Soares. I barely knew of him before this weekend, as I have not been paddling long myself. I was struck by how he had managed to inspire so many paddlers.
The next speaker took the stage after a brief introduction and started talking about seemingly random thoughts. He fell into a story telling mode so fast and so bizarre I actually thought to myself, is he high? It took a good 10 minutes before I finally figured out what he was talking about and why he was even talking to us. I am talking about Jon Turk and his recount of his circumnavigation of Ellesmere Island with Eric Boomer. If you ever get a chance to hear Jon speak, GO! He is an absolutely fascinating story teller and keeps you on the edge of your seat. BTW I don't think he was really high.
The raffle preceded Jon's talk and they had a hug amount of stuff to auction off from hats to Go Pros to a P&H Delphin Surf. I did not win the Delphin, but I did win a Snap Dragon Spray Skirt courtesy of California Canoe & Kayak! The tunnel is a small and the deck is a medium so I can’t use it. Watch for it on craigslist as it is brand new with tags still attached!
Sunday, Day 3 of the Symposium
It was a bummer to wake to the last day of the symposium. I have had so much fun this far and I did not want it to end. If this was to be our last day atleast we ended it with a rockin cool class, Advanced Rock Gardening with Roger Schumann of Eskape Sea Kayaking. The class description:
This class is for advanced paddlers who have plenty of experience in coastal conditions, including the surf zone, as well as a reliable combat roll. Solid paddling skills are needed – strokes, braces, rescues. Coaches will encourage students to move beyond their comfort zone whilst using good judgment. They will teach specific rock gardening skills such as the pour-over, paddling through arches, exploring caves, etc whilst working on timing and appropriate stroke sequences, communication, and group dynamics. Plastic kayaks are recommended. Helmets are mandatory. Participants should be in good physical condition as this will be a strenuous class.0
This class pushed us all out of our comfort zones and once again set our bars a little bit higher. Some of us took that literally and tried to perch themselves as high on the rock features as they could. Some were successful and others not so much. You will have to watch the video to see what I I am talking about.
I cannot stress enough how awesome the coaches were in all of our classes. It was well worth the time and expense to come here and paddle with a fine group of people. If you have the opportunity to attend this symposium next year not only do I HIGHLY recommend it, Ill see you there!