Jack, I do not think your
post conveys the meaning you think it does. There seems to be something left out.
The others who have responded to it seem to me more befuddled than angry. Certainly I’m not angry. I just don’t see how your premise leads to your conclusion.
LOL, not mad at all. NM
You bet your sweet bippie that …
something was left out!
but it won’t be put in here.
cheers,
JackL
nuts
Not quite what I heard
Maybe I heard wrong, but my impression when I was at the LoCo Roundup from the head of BCU NA is that a 2* is not a prerequisite for the 3*. Unfortunately the storm we were expecting was a no-show so my 3* was a no-go. Good training, though. I was mainly taking it because it fit my schedule, not that I’d mind seeing how I’m progressing from their particular viewpoint.
I learned a huge amount being a trip-member on the 4* assessment. One thing is that overall fitness is certainly part of the assessment. You aren’t going to pass if you can’t maintain a suitable paddling pace in the required conditions. There was a big emphasis for the people being assessed to be neither reckless or overly conservative. They really had to read conditions and continuously evaluate speed, heading, group dynamics, etc.
I did the Fundamentals of Safety and Rescue Training and one of the things I liked is that it did involve canoes and WW kayaks. There have been times I’ve wondered if I was going to have to fish canoeists out of the water and how I’d manage to get them back in their boats. Deep water rescues in WW boats are a hoot - a lot like doing it with a skin on frame.
Overall I like the direction of the new BCU courses - more emphasis on seamanship and being a well rounded paddler at the level you are at. I suspect most of the people grumbling about the new 2* either wouldn’t be interested in any case, or have sea kayak specific skills well above the 2* level. Me? Maybe next year I’ll do a 2* just to get the canoe part. Those dang WW canoes aren’t like anything I’ve paddled before.
Getting back to the reverse figure-8 thing, I had an, um, lively discussion with an ACA coach about which strokes were allowed in their evaluation. Is a stern rudder in reverse (effectively a bow rudder) a reverse stroke? I like practicing the 8s but maybe I’m weird.
ACA, BCU, team-0: all good in my book.
Was it Bill Lozano?
We had the northeastern RCO calling the shots at the Downeast Symposium, so it would seem that the call was credible. But things are still a little unclear - I know of at least one well-ranked BCU coach who is not doing any assessments this year until the policies sort themselves out.
It is possible that things are still in motion this year.
How to practice figure 8
For those of us without ready access to BCU or ACA training, can someone describe how to practice the backwards Figure 8? Do you need to set up something in the water to paddle around? How far apart?
Find some moored boats and/or buoys…
– Last Updated: Sep-14-08 10:08 PM EST –
How to practice figure-8's? Find some mooring buoys and/or moored boats, and practice weaving around them in various ways. As you exit each turn, look ahead (that is, behind) and pick the next target or two. Vary the distances and tightness of the turns. Also work on multiple turn figures, not just 8's.
After a while at this (a) the reverse 8's will seem like a piece of crabcake; (b) you'll have great backwards skills in general, which is extremely useful and satisfying. The only thing you might want to add is going backwards from A to B at a decent pace, in some conditions.
you are arguing, I am not offended, and
at least you recognize that you one closed-minded dude on this topic.
Isn’t he the guy for North America?
BTW, terrific fellow with a terrific wife! I know he’s a BCU sumthin guru…but that’s not why I like him.
Bill and Steve
– Last Updated: Sep-16-08 6:59 AM EST –
Bill Lozano is administrator for BCU in North America. Steve Maynard is RCO for the East Coast.
Both Steve and Leon Somme (RCO for the West Coast) were present at Downeast.
Bill is just down the river from us and, along with his wife Janice, a neat person and great asset.
Or bilge pumps
– Last Updated: Sep-15-08 8:42 PM EST –
It really does help to have objects to maneuver around. If none (buoys, moored boats, etc) are available we've used bilge pumps.
Paddling backwards with control is not only a useful skill but a good way to stretch muscles...
nice back stretch
and good for the shoulders. love backwards paddling, effective for guiding situations, or when ever you want to socialize with a slower/weaker paddler.
Different assessors emphasize. . . .
. . . . different aspects of boat control. On the old 3-star, some assessors allowed stern draws and reverse low-brace turns, while any forward stroke was a disqualifier. Other assessors allowed reverse sweeps only. This limits your control to edge and an understanding of how portions of the sweep impact turning. Practice it both ways. You’ll become a better boat handler.
The BCU canoe requirement…
… for all 2* and 3* has an interesting history. Apparently Canoe England, the component national association for England, voted against it. But when all four of the associations got together (including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) it passed. Now it’s policy for all of the BCU, including Canoe England.
I know little more about the politics behind it, except to observe, from the above, that it was nowhere near a slam-sunk decision, and probably was, in fact, controversial. I do know it took a long time to finalize the decision, because we kept getting word in the US to the effect of “maybe, but not yet, not yet.”
Anybody know more?
Try it out in some wind
Put those markers no more than two boat lengths apart and try to go tight around them backwards in some wind in a sea kayak over 17 ft in length… then report back here.
I suggest that you wear noseplugs though, in case you get enough edge down to be close.
recent training with AKT
This past July we took a whole day of private training with Atlantic Kayak Tours. We had a very experienced coach working with us. We were interested in acquiring better skills (3* ?) but could not make any of the courses so we went “private”. Although the figure-8 may not be a requirement any longer, our coach wanted us to perform pretty much every forward skill, also in reverse. The exercises were such that edging the boat was necessary. Quite eye opening. I was surprised to notice after an hour of this, how much more confident I felt in normal forward paddling.
We hired the coach to help us improve out skills, with no particular consideration or goal of assessment, although I will not exclude that in the future.
Whether or not the BCU affiliation is the reason, I feel 100% at ease putting myself in AKT’s care and instruction, in courses or on trips. A little part of me believes that the rigor and discipline of the BCU program is helping AKT maintain a certain standard of excellence.
Avi
yep
nice guy to paddle and talk with.
Plenty of edging in old 2*
>> The old 2* was described to me once as “3* without the edging
Odd you say that – and you aren’t the first. Read the old 2* syllabus, and you’ll see plenty of edging. For example, you were supposed to do a circle on an inside and an outside edge.
I like to teach edging almost from the get-go.
–David.
A Small Correction
The 1 star and 2 star are general awards requireing kayak and canoe. The 3-star is discipline specific, so the new 3-star sea is much like the old 4-star with the conditions dialed down one notch.