Any reviews for us East Coast paddlers? Shall I make an effort to attend sometime? Sandy *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Sandy wrote: >Any reviews for us East Coast paddlers? Shall I make an effort to attend >sometime? Sandy, et al (long post warning): I can offer you my reflections only, for the most part. I hadn't been to the West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium for 15 years or so. The last time I got yancy after only a day, and had wished I was on a paddling trip instead. Not having gone to a big symposium in so many years (I've only attended small ones), I was blown away by the sheer size and scope this year. Here are some good things and bad things: Registration - Somewhat disorganized. People got into loooooong lineups, and not until they finally spoke to someone, did they realize they were in the wrong lineup. Simple signage would have been nice. Food - Situation was bad. I was volunteering, so got symposium free in exchange for two, four hour blocks of volunteering, but no food or accommodation. I got food from in town, but did buy one meal ticket, so got to experience the food service. (Extra meal tickets were at an absolute premium - you were supposed to have preorderd/prepaid meals if wanted). You had to sit down at a table the cafeteria staff appointed, and wait to be served. Meal times were very short, and food did run out. Some of the staff were not very pleasant. Information - Not bad, but some people had a hard time finding classes at the beach, and a few no-shows were evident by the speakers. A map and schedule helped, but there were small errors, which is to be expected. Learning Facilitators - Most of the ones I went to, and the ones I heard about, were good, but not too many excellent, and a few really stunk. I had hear some of these lectures 15 years ago, so thought some of the stuff was fairly vintage. One lecturer, I interupted 30 times with corrections and qualifiers, so decided to not go to too many for sake of embarrising my self. (Ken Fink is still talking to me, however!). Weather - Outstanding! Summer finally hit the west coast up here. Hot, a bit of wind, bit of fog first day, not a cloud after that. Make sure you preorder good weather next year, and keep up their tradition of fine weather :-) Beach Demos - Seda and Easy Rider noticeably absent. Some new faces (I was told) apparent. Lots of boats to try. Lots of time between events and classes for try-outs. Part of reason I went was to see some new stuff, as year 2000 coming and figured lots of new models would coincide. Evening Presentations - Awesome. Moving. Beautiful images. Evening dance, well, Regea (sp?) band was hot, but mostly due to the weather! One retailer was seen doing the "Worm" across the dance floor - he was a little under the weather himself the next day. Retail Sales - No really great deals at the tent. 20% off, perhaps. I can't remember if boats were on sale, just clearance gear - however, I don't think retailers/manufactures should be expected to be "giving away" boats, as it were, just because it's a symposium. Paddlewisers - I put a stupid little yellow tag on my hat with a "P", just to see what would happen (there was a previous post mentioning this alert device). Mostly people in general asked why I had a stupid little yellow tag on my hat with a "P". I told them to pee off (not really!). It did work, and I met Nick 'Love my Mariner' Lyle, Hank 'Lightning' Hays, and Andree 'a decent ACA Person' Hurley. Matt 'no damn rudder' Broze also crashed the scene, but eventually coughed up some money :-) Personal Highlight - Harvey Golden, Inuit style paddler and builder of fine replicas. He has made 20 (cost $80.00 US each to make). He brought 4 or 5 of his kayaks, and spent the three days wowing the crowds and me, including Chris Cunningham. Delightful fellow (he has participated in the past with Maligiaq). I got dizzy just watching him. Best Mr Nice Guy - Nigel Foster. No one, at least no one of his experience and expertise, comes close to having such a balanced, non-ego centric personality. Other famous players should emulate this man. He had some really great ways of conveying concepts/ convictions on certain matters. Best Presentation - Chris Duff. His 'Round Ireland slide show and reading from his new book was truly moving. I assume this is what the symposium people saw too, as I heard him (along with Andree and Matt) at a separate, private presentation in town. I went with Matt for Pizza, but unfortunately missed Tim Lehman's Baffin Island presentation that was on at the same time back at the symposium. The Baffin slides were dedicated to a couple that died off Baffin last year. I'm doing the accident report for Sea Kayaker Magazine on that incident, and was truly sorry I missed out - oh well, at least Matt was good company. BTW, Chris Duff used a Nordcapp for his GB exploits, but is switching to a Romany for his upcoming New Zealand trip - the traitor! Another BTW, Chris uses a paddle tether *and* body tether. Best New Boat(s) - My wife warned me not to look and lust after young, hard-bodied women at the symposium. No problem. I was all over the new Nordkapp Jubilee. I have never had a chance to try it out. Lust, lust, lust!!!!! I would have liked to try out some Mariners, but the manufacturer was also noticeably absent - at least his boats and official involvement. However, Matt was busy down on the beach with a day pass, trying out all the new boats. In the late afternoon, he methodically measured every specification of as many new boats as he could, but he ran out of time. Matt keeps all these statistics somewhere. Ah Matt, so many boats, so little time!!!! Other Notables: The Dagger "Baja" plastic boat was a real screamer for a great day, rough-water play boat, though this would have to be verified in the rough. Kajak, makers of the rubber hatches, had some great new boats. They also have a variety of rubber hatch sizes, from large oval, right down to small knee tube size, for retro fitting to other boats (ie, you can order hatches separately. I have address, if needed). Current Designs had a new, improved, Gulfstream. There were lots more good boats too. Gear - Stolequist, Palm, and Kokatat had some great PFD/integral tow system stuff, all using the preliminary bungy in-line connection from the PFD's back "D" ring. Volunteering - They forgot to put me on the Saturday list, so I only had to do one block on Sunday. It was in the rescue boat with a US Coast Guard Reservist female gender unit. Had a great time chasing wayward kayakers. "Hey you, you are only allowed 50 feet from shoreline, please!" Hope this never becomes a reality for all kayakers one day, on all waters. Coast Guard lady also hit (!) a kayak with the Zodiac (didn't see the novice coming from behind a moored sailboat). Due to my, err, excellent quick thinking, I dived over the edge and grabbed the coaming of the victims kayak, preventing a knock-over and impressing the ocifer - oooohhhh!. Anyway, it felt great for me to be a rescuer for once, rather than the rescuee :-) All in all, I'm glad I went. Now I just have to explain all my purchases to my wife this week - brand new, first in North America, redesingned CD Bent Shaft paddle with graphite/nylon blades in whitewater shaft layup, Sea Kayaker vest and shirt and back issues, double chamber paddle float, water bladders, etc, etc. Well, at least you guys understand! BC'in Ya Doug Lloyd (Caveat - I am in no way connected to any of the above retailers, though I do tether myself to Nordkapps) *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Thought I'd mention that the women were all interested in having a website for women, so I cloned HDC and added a guestbook, chat page and bulletin board...I'm going to try and type up the flip chart work (we did brainstorming and breakout groups with each group presenting it's findings). I have four sets of notes now, from the four classes I've taught. Everything from how to work with men on trips, how to work with those personal issues only women have, and the issues somewhat common to both sexes like boat fit, efficient paddling, etc.....The url for this is http://www.onwatersports.com/waterwomen/ Also, I wrote a very opinionated thing and also posted it at my web site. It's very long so I'll just give you the url (http://www.viewit.com/KIX) - follow the link "My Opinion" if you would like to read it. I added a guestbook to accumulate "your" opinion, if you would like to give it. It has to do with industry stuff, like what to introduce to beginners and when, rates of pay for guides and employees, etc. Later! Andree Hurley Hurley Design Communications - ICQ# 27469637 On-line Editor - http://www.canoekayak.com Other Kayaking - http://www.onwatersports.com Web Sites for Specialty Businesses - http://www.viewit.com/HDC/ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
"Any reviews for us East Coast paddlers? Shall I make an effort to attend sometime? " Sandy I tried about forty other boats during three days at the West Coast sea kayak symposium. I found none that I liked better than my Mariner Express. Some boats had similar maneuverability, but lacked the easy glide of a Mariner. Some others had the glide, but lacked either the quick turning or the extra solid secondary stability. There was no way to test for any of the boats behavior in real wind or waves. Conditions were light offshore winds and flat water, so the comparisons were necessarily limitted. I am 5'- 91/2" and 155 pounds and I like to paddle in wind and waves. I tended to test boats of moderate length and that do not need a rudder. There were a few boats that I thought were good enough that maybe I might like them as much as a Mariner if I could test them thoroughly and get to know them well in a variety of conditions. The two kayaks that impressed me the most were the Legend, designed by Nigel Foster, and the new "Jubilee" version of the Nordkap. There were lots of other boats that I liked, but these two stood out for me. Nigel Foster's Silhouette was interesting, but I couldn't give it a fair trial since it lacked foot braces. I still have a hard time entering the extremely small cockpit on the Silhoutte as well, though Nigel made it look easy; I am sure that I could re-enter the tiny cockpit with practice, but I like the larger cockpit on his Legend much better. I had a chance to paddle a Futura surf ski, it was very fun and amazingly stable, but it is another kind of boat. There were of course many other boats that I didn't try. I was left with the knowledge that I want at LEAST three kayaks: A long fast boat, a short surf boat, and the medium sized boat that I already have. I am still glad I picked the mid sized boat first. It is fun for playing in the waves, but long enough to go cruising and has enough volume to carry camping gear. Nick Lyle *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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