Experience levels .

easy
"beginners" are just that…people starting out with little or no skills.

“Intermediate” is most people on here.

“Advanced” is people that can actually show intermediate people something.

“God-like” is reserved for myself.

I just paddle…
…but my favorite was meeting some one in a guide training class who announced she was an intermediate and had been paddling for six years.



For some strange reason, though, she didn’t know how to do a rescue…

I’m not as good as I once was

experienced
Depends much on where you live. Can’t very well expect that a person that lives say in Kansas will have the open ocean experience that a person that lives on the coast has. Those on a coast may someday have to try a very large lake and see that their skills may not have prepared them for these waters either. Don’t be so quick to judge those that only paddle lakes.



Bill H.

context
Agreed context is important especially if using simple terms such as beginner, novice, intermediate, and advanced. This part of why both the ACA and the BCU often designate type or environment.



However, some paddling skills are the same and most skills transfer well. A major incentive when we started paddling and training in ww was to hone our skills for coastal kayaking.