WOW! What a difference a day of lessons with real pros made to me and my Wife. Robert and Druce Finley of kayaking lake Meade provided us with a fantastic day of paddling in the Black Canyon on the Colorado below Boulder Dam. Focus was on paddling technique, self rescue,assisted rescue,bracing and entering and exiting the boat. The water was clear and Cold and the air was clear and hot.The scenery is amazing. Check out their web site at kayakinglakemeade.com. Will be practicing these skills over the next few months and then go for a more advanced lesson next summer.Thanks to those on this site who strongly advised lessons for those new to the sport.
Technique
Kayaking stroke is a learned skill
– not inherent in our dna from birth.
Lots of people play golf and swing poorly also
Lessons help make sports enjoyable
I only wish I had heeded that advice!
Had I taken a lesson before embarking on buying a kayak, I probably would have purchased differently. That’s a common refrain here, and for good reason.
Those lessons were invaluable. I found that just trying to use rowing or canoe skills alone, plus Web and YouTube instruction, really didn’t do the job as well as having a patient instructor show me some basics and watch me practice them. Plus, what you learn about types of kayaks, sizes and performance, and safety really are the icing on the cake.
Glad you enjoyed your lesson.
Some of us should have heeded that advice when we began paddling.
May you truly learn to enjoy the sport of paddling. Whether a canoe or kayak.
glad to hear
Glad to hear that the lesson was worth your time.
I have paddled for years without lessons
I’ve been canoeing for over 40 years and kayaking for over a decade and only got some good kayaking lessons in the past two or three years.
I would higly recommend them to anyone and wish I had gotten then before. They have made my paddling much much better. Advice from friends is excellent, but actual courses from friends are better.
It is too bad instruction for canoeing and rowing are not as easy to find as for kayaking.
It’s the simple things…
We made someone’s day this last summer just by standing there and supporting them while they capsized and fell out of their boat for the first time. They had usually paddled by themselves and had not had the nerve to try alone. The guy did a dandy job of falling out and it totally improved his comfort paddling. He tends to stay near shore so just knowing he could do that makes a big diff in safety, since he stays in swimming distance.
We’ve had similar results from taking people out to show them some basic rescues, again things that they just weren’t going to really try on their own even though they knew they should.
We’ve also taken people out who paddle solo and needed to know that they were unable to do an on-water self-rescue, at least as of that moment in time. It wasn’t news they liked, but they still preferred knowing that to making decisions about how far from shore on a guess.
Lessons done right get someone by this basic stuff early, and are able to get in front of some paddling habits that could leave injuries behind. The fussiness of some about the idea of lessons often fails to take these advantages into account.