After a fruitless search for a flatwater instructor willing to provide one on one instrution I took Seadart's advice to take a whitewater clinic. Sort of. I talked to the wonderfully helpful people at Zoar Outdoor. They have a good reputation in my area for providing good instruction and good times. I purchased a custom clinic. One on one. I ended up with an instructor namsed Fergus. Great guy. Asked me what I wanted to cover in our 8 hours or so of paddling and didn't laugh when I told him that I knew nothing and wanted to leave knowing at least a little something. I had only paddled about 6 hours total before I took this clinic. Fergus taught me the basic power and control strokes, I had already played with leaned turns and he got me to lean further by teaching me to high brace. Cleaned up my low brace. And then after lunch (catered by their own staff chef) taugh me how to fall out (38 degree water) and self-rescue. He even let me try a roll at the end but I could only get about 280 degrees around before I flopped back under. I thought I made a good showing for a first try though. I have tons of stuff to practice but now I know how a stroke is supposed to be and what my form should feel and look like. I also have more confidence in my leaned turns now that I understand how to brace. The only downside is that he let me paddle the ww boat and I loved its ability to change direction in the blink of an eye so now I have to try that too.
The most important thing I got out of this clinic was my moneys worth. I paid good money for a days instruction and got more out of it than I could imagine. Can't wait to go back for my rolling clinic. Until then practice, practice, practice. And maybe a little WW trial.
Ed
Congrats!
Maybe I’ll run into you at the Deerfield this summer. 
sing
I read the title of the thread
and thought this was going to be about a prostate exam and a hair plug!
Good for you
Glad things worked out. Watch out for the little boats, they are addicting.
ALL boats are addictive
to those of us with that type “B” personality.
Great!
Definitely get that roll dialed. The roll will give you confidence to go further and expand your paddling world.
I am thinking about buying a ww boat
fairly soon. All I neeed is a boat and suitable paddle, so it won’t be nearly as expensive as the first boat and setup. I think I am developing a problem. I also want to check out the surfing thing you do.
Ed
In my spare time.
After I find a job and such I am going to have to start looking for paddling buddies so I can practice rolling, aggressive bracing (to the point of losing it so I can go deeper and recover successfully) and rescues. I want the safety of having a buddy but don’t wish to keep paying a professional for their time. The more money I spend on training, the less I can spend on one of the little boats. That being said, good instructors are worth every penny.
IT’LL BE CHEAPER TO MOVE TO FT. LAUDER
dale where you can hook up with Paul (Brazilbrasil) & Kris (Greyak) and learn the ins & outs -not to mention the overs & unders! -of all those paddling maneuvers.
Plus, you’ll be able to do it year round and never ever need to be exposed to 38oF water and hardly ever exposed to 38oF air, for that matter -man, that’s cold, on BOTH counts…!
And you’re worried about having TWO boats…
c’mon, man -look at some of the fools on THIS board!
I daresay there’s one or two that have far MORE than one or two, or three or four, for that matter!
Get over it -just start looking around for more storage space, so you can diversify your boats to match your kayaking (and maybe, who knows, as time goes on, even canoeing) needs as you
PADDLE ON!
-Frank in Miami
Oaddling buddy == join a club!
The AMC, while mostly a hiking club, actully has a pretty active kayak program in both their CT and NJ/NY chapter (www.ct-amc.org, www.amc-ny.org). The CT chapter does the Deerfield a lot. And the NY chapter does some flat water in the Hudson.
At $50/year and $5/trip, it’s cheap enough to get a lot of pratice in different rivers and coast. And once you get to meet a lot of the people there, you can easily hook up with paddling buddies that fits your schedule and ability.
Already looking into the AMC
Thanks for the info. I have already looked into AMC and some of the other clubs around New England. I am also looking for others in my area with the same interest in finding a paddle buddy that is close by. I figure that the easier it is to hook up and paddle then it will be an activity that will be more regularly pursued.
Ed