Anyone ever been to this?
Went to the Qajaq event in Florida with TRAQS (Traditional Qajqers of the South) and found it very informative. If you’re interested in traditional Greenlander qajaq techniques then I would consider attending.
It would be fun, but gong a 4400 mile round trip for 3 days is not reasonable to m
many paddlers have been to this event. several frequent this board
If you speak of the Michigan event and not the one in Florida, I was hoping to attend but it seems the camp is full now. So maybe next year. I am going to try to get to one in Minnesota in September and also I hope to attend and help find students to attend a few training events in Wyoming next Summer (2026) when Jaqueline from New Brunswick, VitaminSea Paddling shop
is coming to Wyoming to put on classes in Greenland rolling and paddling. This set of events in Wyoming (and maybe Montana) is only in the 1st stage of organizations now, but unless it gets blocked by unforeseen circumstances it looks like it’s “a go”.
She and another lady instructor from Washington are planning the classes. I corresponded with her just a few hours ago.
She also will bring new Rebel kayaks from Poland if any are ordered, and deliver them here in Wyoming or in Montana.
I will set about notifying all the interested paddlers in the western USA I can, and even those back east that may want to do a vacation in Yellowstone National Park in the Summer of 2026. I will help her gather students as well as announce the availability of new Rebel kayaks in the USA.
Orders for the kayaks are being accepted now but if plans are to attend the classes please give me a little time to get exact places times and fees posted. I am hoping to have details to post very soon. Details abotu the kayaks available can be seen on the web page I posted above (Link)
If you want a kayak and are coming through Wyoming or southern Montana next summer, let me know — even if the class is not something you wish to attend. I’m offering to be a pick-up-point for any customers buying kayaks from her, so even if you miss her classes, you can pick your kayak up at my home at no extra charge on the way to or from Yellowstone Park.
I leave tomorrow for a week long paddling trip, so I’ll give an updated details when I return. Sat/12th 2025
Qajaq (Michigan) Training Camp is full, but the waiting list has emptied out. There is a fair chance that you could get in if you get on the waiting list. I have attended and mentored at this event since 2004 but I missed one year when a kayak camping trip conflicted with it.
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An excellent event. I’ve been going since 2015. As hdavies says, get on the wait list. A spot may open up.
It’s a paddle in camp. Your gear goes over on a pontoon boat. A warm in-land lake with access to Lake Michigan if interested. World class instruction on water & good times after.
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I attended three times – a bit of a drive for me from Pittsburgh to Lower Herting Lake but I have cousins I visit along the way and can crash with from Toledo to Pentwater MI. The training, coaching, workshops and camaraderie are first rate and the food is plentiful and ranges from scout camp mess hall grub to gourmet locavore fare. If you are Greenland paddle and technique curious these QajaqUSA sponsored events are fantastic and you will learn so much, a lot of it with hands-on one-on-one instruction with experts like Dubside in strokes, bracing, rolling and self- and assisted rescue techniques. Cool swag. auctions, games, gear swaps, raffles, lectures, slide shows etc. Workshops for carving your own Greenland paddles and target harpoons, even building your own skin on frame kayak.
Much as I would love to return for all the positives of the event and wonderful people, at 75 I am less enthused about the accommodations. It’s a venerable scout camp sprawled over a steep forested dune isthmus with no land approach. Only one of the primitive bunkhouses has electricity (reserved for attendees with medical devices requiring power) and one must trek some distance on narrow trails and staircases to the scant outhouses and shower shacks which is an effort not congenial to geratric bladders. The tenting area is nicely near the lovely white sand Lake Michigan beach, but a 5 minute effortful hike in the dark to the plumbing. I considered paddling back across Herring lake to where my camper was parked each night last time and sleeping there but that wasn’t really practical.
I have switched since 2023 to QajaqUSA’s similar Delmarva camp on Rehoboth Bay near Lewes, Delaware in October since it is several hours closer to me, has excellent coaches (a few being also the Michigan instructors) and is a much more comfortable venue, including a swimming pool for some demos and skills sessions and a range of well outfitted cabins and dorms with all the modern conveniences, all in a drive-in level wooded complex with a huge private beach, sheltered pavilions and a vast main lodge like unto a high end ski resort.
If I was 30 years younger either/both would suit me, but Delmarva is far more geezer friendly.
I go out for 2 to 7 day camping trips fairly often, and I am still doing ground sleeping as I have since I was about 6 years old. Now days I do have a good inflatable back-packing ground pad, but “accommodations” do not factor into my decisions all that much. What is my most limiting factor is simply distance which = time. To get there from here is a 24 hour drive and I can’t see a reason to get so tired I could become dangerous trying to do it all in 1 day. So 2 days there and 2 days back to attend a 3-4 day event may not be worth the expenditure of time to me.
Yet, such things are quite interesting to me and I do not say I’d never do it. I just have to do it when the time away from my shop is reasonable (I am not yet retired despite the fact I’ll be 70 before I can attend anything like this at the earliest.) I am keeping alert for similar events somewhat closer, perhaps Minnesota and Wisconsin.
A side note:
I am in the talking/planning stage with 2 instructors (one from Canada and one from Washington State) to do some classes in Wyoming and possibly in Montana next year. Locations being considered are Flat Head Lake, Ft Peck Lake, Yellowstone Lake, Flaming Gorge, Keyhole Reservoir and Buffalo Bill Reservoir. Nothing locked down yet, but the plans is being examined now and as I learn more I’ll post notices here.
Small in size, each class can be up to about 12 students, but several classes may be held on different bodies of water with the idea being kicked around for the times from about late June to Mid August. Smallest size class accepted is 5 students and largest would be about 12 but there could be up to 6 classes spread out for a few weeks and at different bodies of water.
Times and dates as well as fees are being figured out now. One of the instructors is Jacqueline from New Brunswick, and because she is a dealer for Rebel and some of the Aquarius kayaks, anyone who ordered a kayak would have it delivered to the event for free in most cases and in the rare event that some cost was attached to the delivery, it would be VERY low as compared to commercial shipping by truck. So any paddlers coming through Wyoming or Montana who didn’t plan to attend one of the classes can still pick up a pre-ordered kayak free of charge because I am going to help her as a Drop-off and storage place for the months in the summer of 2026. If someone wanted a new kayak and was not taking a class but was going to or near Yellowstone Park, Jacqueline can drop the kayak off with me and I will arraign to meet the owner so they can pick it for free at my home, and at their convenance.
Anyone interested (or tentatively interested) can PM me now, and we can talk over the times and places that would interest you most.
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