my experience
My experience with the BCU has not been ridged but is it safe, effective, and efficient. I chose the BCU because I will not practice what is not easy for me. To get my 3* I had to practice paddling my figure 8 backwards for hours and I hated every minute. Now that the ACA offers assessments I may switch, because the BCU is not convenient, I have to spend a weeks vacation every year to attend a symposium.
Steve
Sorry to hear your opinion of backwards
> To get my 3* I had to practice paddling my figure 8 backwards
for hours and I hated every minute.
Yeah, me too, except for the “hated every minute” part. Since I improved a ton as I did it, I actually found it very rewarding. And now that I am reasonably proficient at it – with more practice still – it’s really great and very useful.
Then there’s the story of the paddler who may well owe his life – or at least the lack of a severe scare – to good backwards paddling. Finding himself swimming offshore one extremely windy Fall day in Narragansett Bay, nobody in the group could bring their boat around to get to him very quickly. But one companion took a skillful and efficient backwards route and did the rescue handily.
–David.
American Canoe Association
Do you also think the ACA should remove ‘canoe’ from its title in order for kayakers to respond positively to it??
jim…
i don’t know exactly what the point of the post was but would surmise that kelly is gauging where they are in getting the message across - what is the perception of the program and it’s paddlers? how and what can they do to get across bcu awareness and interest in the program? that sort of thing.
if bcu paddlers keep responding it may not be too helpful, right? we’ve already drunk the kool-aid jim - we’re on board.
my tuppence.
Web site
I went to the BCU web site to find out about the training. As stated above I found very few opportunities in very few places. I then tried to figure out what the skills each “star” consistented of. . . no explanation. I tried to figure out what training I would need as a basic beginner . . . again no explanation. I looked at the list of “Coaches” trying to figure out if they work for an outfitter, offer group lessons, or if you hire them individually . . . no explanation. Even looked for a mission statement . . . none.
In short a lot of words but very little usable information for the novice and the novice is the person you need to attract. Make it easy for someone to understand your org. Make it easy to understand you training steps . . . The lowest level training I see is a 2 star. Is that the basic? How do you enroll? To the person who knows nothing about BCU your current site offer no insight and very little useful information.
My suggestion . . . Get someone who knows marketing and/or communications to help you better communicate your message. Just because you are great paddlers does not make communicators and communications is what will get your word out. Getting the word out will fill your basic classes, which will eventually fill you more advanced classes as people want to move up.
This is not meant as an attack. I just wish to learn and can’t figure out how to do it through your site. It is meant as a cry for help in the very confusing realm of BCU certification.
two things…
you can sign up for an assessment without going to symposium.
If you are spending that much time working on your figure 8 to nail it, maybe you should seek out a different instructor.
Here’s the site for BCU info
You may not have found Atlantic Kayak Tours website, but they have the syllabus booklets on each of the BCU awards: http://www.atlantickayaktours.com/pages/literature/BCU-Literature.shtml
You will find lots of other great information on this site.
Instructors take some searching out - ACA the same way. Check through your local paddle shops.
AAM
Heard of ACA - Seen BCU here
Went to your North American site, and there are no trainers in Ohio.
Guess I don’t have to worry about it as I’m not likely to run all the way up to Michigan - - - Hec, I’m just trying to get more time on the water - not worry about some CERT.
Had great instruction
I have had great BCU training from Columbia Kayak Adventures and great non-BCU training from BCU instructors at Body Boat Blade (free plug:-). I have also had great ACA instruction. The key is knowlegable, kind, flexible, instructors who take both their paddling and their teaching seriously while being dedicated to keeping the experience safe and fun. That’s a tall order.
I think BCU and ACA are both becoming more open to Greenland stuff and I had a good discussion during 3* training regarding the pros and cons of different bracing techniques.
I would like to encourage both organizations to recognize the range of opinions and perhaps styles that exist rather than being too dogmatic. Also it is important to recognize that technique evolves.
I think it would be great if ACA and BCU recognized each others training levels. There are differences but I don’t think that they are so great that they can’t be dealt with during training sessions. From the student’s point of view that would open up a wider range of opportunities for instruction without being stuck in one track.
Rick
Mostly providing information (such as the link above)
Do you think exchange among paddlers with varying degrees of BCU experience is harmful in this case?
Yup. More kayakers, more $
Canoe groups not about canoes and British groups not in Britain are all uphill marketing.
If they want kayaker dollars - time to get with the times.
Not remove “canoe” either (make sense in UK, and ACA does have canoe roots) - add kayak - and not just some tag on like USCA Kayak does. ACKA, or something.
Simpler and more inclusive - APA (American Paddlesports Assoc) or other “P” name. I won’t begin to suggest linguistic variations to the Brits. I can barely speak their language.
Meant east/west coast for most
– Last Updated: Mar-20-07 8:07 AM EST –
Alaska would be fantastic and I want to get there sometime - but it is just too far away to be easy for most pockets of paddler on the east and west coasts. In fact plane fares to GB are often cheaper.
The places for reliable big water that people find easy to get to seem to be Oregon, Maine and some areas like the Triangle near Tybee. There is some 5 star training offered at these sites. Part of the hang-up has been having to build a sufficient bench of coaches that can work at that level, which the BCU has been really working on the last two years in this country.
But Wales is Wales - for example they have to wait for the fall storm season in the Northeast to be able to match what is there almost every day.
Great Lakes?
Are you within reach?
David’s Point Good
– Last Updated: Mar-20-07 2:06 PM EST –
I was the person sitting in my boat, with a good-sized person hanging off the back of my little Vela, waiting for that paddler who had to go backwards to get to us. There were major wind conditions with not easy waves, and a disconnect between the size of the person and the deck on my boat (front or back). Our friend in the Explorer did a perfect job of getting to us with his gorgeous big deck, and in the conditions that reigned backwards was the only way it was going to happen.
nope
– Last Updated: Mar-20-07 9:00 AM EST –
...just offering my opinion and if you took it wrong, mea culpa and forgive me...it's just that asking a guy that's already drunk a full measure of the kool aid may not be the best feedback mechanism...and it isn't a criticism - i enjoy the same kool aid.
the website is a great example...if folks can't readilly find the syllabi then maybe the site isn't as effective as it could be. if finding bcu info requires someone familiar with the bcu system and the site then maybe it could be better...and that might be the point of the post - how to make it better to folks outside of and unfamiliar with the bcu.
I did not know that . . . . .
" BTW, there is only a BCU fee if you pass an assessment. There is no BCU fee if you do not pass. "
I have not really looked too heavily into getting BCU assessments and so I was surprised when I read that about the BCU Assesment process.
Jeff
My only take on the staunch euro
thing for instruction is,
you really should be able to teach with both.
To really understand how to teach both kinds of strokes.
2 cents.
Figure 8’s…
… swimming pool rolls, esoteric paddle strokes judged as if they were compulsories in some Russian figure skating competition. My impression of the BCU(and the ACA) is that each is trying to be the big fish in an irrelevant small pond. I would echo the comments of eel and others above, that kayaking should be about the adventure, not the star level. I know one paddler who is so enamored of his merit badges that he has them sewn onto his drytop. BCU 3-star here, WFR certification there, LNT trainer and ACA coastal instructor over on that side.
Who really cares? And how does all this beaurocracy benefit kayaking? Wasn’t the reason you started paddling more about adventure and discovery than about technical accomplishment?
I know I’ll get flamed for writing this, but before you start building the scaffold and testing the rope, ask yourself these questions: Why are there so many posts here about the technical advantages or disadvantages of kayaking programs? Why do we natter on about the good and bad points of organized kayaking yet spend so little time celebrating the act of kayaking itself?
To answer the initial question: BCU paddlers are the same as the rest of us, no better, no worse. Any perceived difference is simply a combination of marketing, hubris and misplaced values.
Let the lynching begin.
no lynching…
Judging by the majority of the posts here, there aren’t all that many BCU zealots on this thread.
If I saw someone with all the certification patches sewn on his drytop or lifejacket, I think that might elicit a few chuckles from me. Maybe that person was a former boyscout and really likes collecting merit badges. 
Ironically, I actually just received a BCU merit badge in the mail yesterday and it immediately found its final resting place at the bottom of some drawer. To be fair, my QajaqUSA badge also met a similar fate.
Oh and as far as celebrating paddling goes, I’m leaving work early today to do my first whitewater playboating run of the season (first time since January) and I’m STOKED! In a week or so, the lakes will melt as well and I’ll get to see if I still remember how to use a wing paddle. Life is good.