Intermediate Open Water Canoe Skills
The purpose of this course is to develop your skills and confidence in Force 3/4 winds on larger areas of open water.
By now you'll have had some experience paddling in the wind, you'll no doubt have some gaps in your knowledge and room for improvement in your skillset. This is what this weekend is for; we'll look at our core skills, check that they're fit for a more challenging environment and then tweak and adjust them to help us achieve some challenges. These could be making progress upwind, controlling your direction confidently and assuredly or coming up with tactical solutions to make life easier.
Along the way we'll journey through the environment, looking to be efficient and effective in the wind as well as possibly harness it to assist us and to use it to our advantage. We'll also look at our forward cruising strokes aiming to get faster and further but expend less energy.
Canoes are synonymous with a range of traditional skills and these are something we can explore as an alternative and enjoyable way to travel, we can look at poling, sailing and using ropes to propel and control our boat.
Skills you can expect to learn about and improve:
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Developing effective cruising using a J-Stroke or Canadian Stroke
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Using trim to help us maintain direction in the wind
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How to change direction without fighting the boat.
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Working to be efficient and enjoy ourselves.
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Poling, Sailing & Lining
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Staying safe, assisting others and rescues
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How to plan trips on open water
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How best to outfit our canoe for our intended use.
£199 per person
FAQs
Where do we meet?
To make the best use of water and weather conditions, the exact venue will be decided day to day, this is normally a dropped pin shared in a whatsapp group chat.
How long are the days?
This is a two day course. We’ll normally meet at 9am and aim to be off the water before 4pm
What do you provide?
Two days of expert guiding and coaching tailored to the group and with emphasis on enjoyment. This course doesn’t include equipment but I may be able to help with certain items, feel free to ask and I’ll see what I can do.
What do I need to bring?
Open canoe with bouyancy & swimlines
Paddle & Spare
Pole (optional)
Any sailing equipment (don't worry we'll have some)
Bouyancy Aid
Suitable Clothing
Packed Lunches
Personal Medication
Is this suitable for me?
This is aimed at paddlers with a little open water experience looking to paddle in new places, improve their skills & confidence and maybe try their hand at something new. If you're not sure please do get in touch and we can chat, maybe there is another course that is more suitable to your needs
Where can I stay?
Assuming you agree, we'll have a Whatsapp group chat with everyone in, this will allow you to potentially share lifts & book accommodation as a group which helps keep costs down and reduces our impact on the environment. We'll also use this to share photos and videos taken during the course. Depending on where this course takes place I have got a few suggestions on where to stay. Get in touch at the time of booking and I'll give you some reccomendations.