Brewster Academy Training

Brewster Academy is a private boarding school in the Wolfeboro, New Hampshire area and sits on the shore of Lake Winnipesaukee, the biggest freshwater body of water in the state.  In the summer months Brewster Academy offers adventure programming to their visiting students.  In addition to sailing and backpacking, they also do a great bit of canoeing and kayaking in their programs.  Seven Rivers Paddling trains the summer program providers for skills & leadership on the water in canoes & kayaks.  Peter asked me to help run the program with him and I could not resist.  He has a true love for paddling and is easy to work with.

On Day One we worked out of touring canoes and ran some basic skill sessions to get everyone up to speed.  Strangely, some of the teachers joined us on the water and in my mind, brought down the program some.  It was a surprise to me, but I didn't question it since they often join and were taking pictures.  However, it did become distracting to students and undermining to Peter and myself.  I just reminded myself that it's their program and they're eager to see their new summer staff succeed.

I try to coach at a slow pace whenever I can.  I think a solid foundation is really important for all paddle sports, but large groups like this sometimes means you need to go faster, because they need to follow a curriculum.  It's tough to deliver, but I think Peter and I trimmed enough out of their list to leave a good focus on the most important stuff.

Day Two we worked in sea kayaks until lunch, just about the same time the rain started falling.  Luckily, Brewster Academy has a world class boat house on the water's edge and we could seamlessly cap off our program with some serious on-land teaching sessions and trip planning problems.  Interestingly, these forced indoor sessions turned out to be my two favorite sessions of the whole weekend.

I look forward to returning next year.  Here are some pics.

ACA SUP ICW - Portland Maine

This marks my 3rd course in Portland Maine and my sixteenth course overall.  Not bad considering I usually offer only 2-3 courses per season.  Last year this course was full with 8.  This year we struggled to get only 3 and ended up dropping it to a 2-day Level One course, which turned out to be the right move because the candidates weren't ready for Level Two just yet.  Cathy, Caitlin & Emma all did awesome and Portland Paddle is lucky to have all of them as instructors and guides.  Big thanks to Portland Paddle for hosting me again this year!

East End of Casco Bay is a tough venue when looking for Level One conditions.  Turned out that we had to make our way into Portland Harbor each day to work in a small pocket of perfectly flat water, quite nice spot to teach actually.  I enjoyed this because it gave me a real good look into each candidates skills while paddling in wind on the way to the harbor and back.  What was only a 5-10 minute paddle gave me tons of insight into their experience and comfort level on a board. 

The course was awesome.  Super fun, beautiful weather and some great progression.

What really stands out though, is that I realized Level One courses are way more appropriate these days.  Most courses I've run in the past have been combined L1 & L2, which is great when you have paddlers filling out the spectrum.  What often happens though, which I dislike, is that some paddlers assume they're paddling at L2 standards just because we're covering it.  They don't always understand where they fit on the L1/L2 spectrum and it's hard to tell them they're not as skilled as they think they are.  The other thing I really don't like that has happened over the years with combined courses is that some people are meeting L1 standards, not quite L2, but might be close enough to send them home with a workplan to meet those standards quickly.  Typically we call this a continuation.  Sounds great right?  It can be, but most often what happens is people go away with a continuation and never really put the work in to meet the standard, and my time gets wasted.  What's the takeaway?  I'm not offering combined levels anymore. 

ACA SUP ICW - Cape Cod

I returned to Cape Cod this year to train SUP Instructors for Mike Morrison at Rideaway Adventures.  Rideaway is an awesome paddle sports outfitter in the Cape with multiple locations, serving paddlers and bikers with classes, tours and rentals.  All of their sup and kayak instructors are ACA certified.  This year Chris, Kara, Katie & Jase wer going through the program in a combined Level One/Two Instructor Certification Workshop. 

It was a fun course, as usual and as expected.  If these courses aren't fun, I'm not doing my job.  In my experience, learning comes easier when a group of people get comfortable with each other quickly, and fun is a way to do that.  I felt a bit off at times, but it's early season and it takes a bit to warm up again, right? 

I'm happy to have been joined by Adam Mayer of Go Paddleboard CT.  Adam is a past student and a highly skilled teacher and paddler.  He is a teacher by trade and has a knack for helping people understand things quickly, which is one of the biggest challenges coaches have.  I hope to work with him again soon, because he's incredibly easy to work with and has great ideas about the sport.  If you're in Northwest Connecticut, take a class with him. 

We spent three full days on Peter's Pond in Sandwich, going over a huge range of paddling strokes & skills, working on leadership and practicing teaching skills.  The candidates were fairly diverse in terms of experience and skill level coming into the course.  All improved a vast amount during the course, which makes me so happy to see.  I love to watch people improve their paddling, and these courses are the best way to do it.  When you're on the water and focused on paddling for two to three days at a time, you have enough time to progress slowly & build skills steadily and build a strong set of foundation skills to pull from. 

After hours we spent a little time visiting Naukabout & Lambert's Farm Market - I will return to Lamberts at some point in my life.  It's a must in that area.  Then, I even got in a quick visit with my parents, who happened to be visiting the Cape that weekend, staying at their friends family cottage. 

Anyways, CONGRATULATIONS to Katie, Kara, Chris and Jase! 

The crew, from the left: Katie, Jase, Adam, Kara, Me (Matt), Chris 

Peter's Pond.  Perfect Day.

Playing with fins.

Adam Mayer is so comfortable on a board.