Re: [Paddlewise] teaching styles and gender

At 02:34 PM 3/9/01 -0800, timbre_at_spiger.com wrote:
>At 12:02 AM 3/9/01 -0800, alice wrote:
>>I don't know if gender enters into
>>this at all but it seems that giving me the suggestion to do things familiar
>>to me (swimming underwater etc.) then graduating to the more usual teaching
>>method was far less stressful and *doable* than insisting I fit into a
>>pattern that the instructor had determined was less stressful.
>
>
>i completely "got" what alice and natalie were writing about, and indeed 
>i'm working on my re-entry and roll.  

It sounds like you had bit of "experiences" with wet exits during your
BSK class.  Were those done with a spray skirt attached.   Something
else I've done when teaching people wet exits, is that if they're really
anxious about it, I'll have them do a couple without a spray skirt on first.


>my husband and i took BSK from a "master" sea kayaker .  this guy paddles 
>and rolls everything, sea kayaks, playboats, river stuff, surf-skis, 
>canoes. 

Many wouldn't consider being able to roll all those boats a "master" skill.
  Once
you learn the basic technique, going from one craft to another isn't that
different.
I've never tried to roll a canoe but I've rolled the rest on the list and
wouldn't by
any stretch of the imagination consider myself a master.


>when we had a session on rescues with him in the pool, though, we learned 
>that he's also supremely arrogant.  and, perhaps more to his detriment, 
>both impatient and rigid, rigid, rigid.  he has a religion about how you 
>"have" to do things; 

Did he have any "credentials" other than his reputation?   BCU  and ACA
trained

coaches are often taught a specific way of performing various skills and
often
they can be fairly strict about doing it "the right way".   Go over to
rec.boats.paddle,
a predominately whitewater kayaker group and when the topic of rolling
comes up
you'll often hear one phrase:  "up is good".   That is,  a successful roll,
even if it
isn't pretty, is good.  That doesn't mean that there are specific parts of
a roll that
when done "incorrectly" shouldn't be worked on.   Pretty much anyone that has
learned how to roll, can muscle up a whitewater kayak without much of a
hipsnap
but if you put all the pieces together it's almost effortless.   

>i am new so i am not belittling him, but i am also a 
>professional violinist and teacher and i know that a "my way or the 
>highway" attitude tends to be the mark of someone who is insecure, 
>impatient, or both.  in our t-rescues he insisted on "hands in front of the 
>paddles!  hands in front of the paddles!" for the rescuer.  it's a good 
>idea.  but, well, duh, if the paddles are a. leashed, or b. attached to the 
>fore or aft deck, maybe we could loosen up about that a little??   

There are probably some good reasons for the details he was asking for
and it might not be because he was insecure.   He was likely trained the
same way.

I had the great fortune to take a rescues class with Nigel Dennis (of Nigel
Dennis Kayaks) last summer and even though he's a high level BCU coach
he was pretty loose in his instruction and taught a variety of techniques, a
couple of which I had never seen before.   One interesting variation on the

t-rescue involved the swimmer assisting emptying the water out of their
boat by going to the opposite side of the "t", placing your feet on the side
of the rescuers boat, and leaning back.  That pulls the bow across the 
boat, and eliminates the vulnerable position the rescuer can get in when
trying to lift the bow up onto their boat to empty the cockpit.  The swimmer
then enters their boat by climbing across the rescuers boat.

> for 
>that matter, both my husband and i have a significant "gut factor" that 
>impedes this:  the paddles don't lay straight across your lap and tend to 
>slip out.  i know a lot of people on this list have a similar factor and 
>probably have worked out a good adaptive solution.
>
>it was hard for me when he told my husband, "well, we're going to have to 
>focus on her for a while" (no one likes being discussed in the 3rd 
>person....at least, i don't)  " since she will need more help at rescues 
>and self-rescues than you will".  then when we DID focus on "her", a few 
>times he said, "you <have> to do THAT, NOW.  i wish you'd just quit fooling 
>around and do it my way".   uhhh, i knew his way wouldn't work for me, and 
>i was trying to think of something that <would> work.  so, i did it his way 
>and i 1. hurt my hand and 2. capsized, several times. 

*lots* of people capsize during rescues.   Be persistant, and keep practicing.

> after the session i 
>developed a variation on his way  (this was flipping the rescuee's boat in 
>a t-rescue) that works beautifully for me.  DUHHHHHHHhhhhh.

I first read that as flipping the rescuers boat and was going to write BTDT
(as
the rescuer).   Only, it was a little more embarassing because I was trying
to show someone how to do  hip snap of the bow of someone elses boat.
She grabbed onto the grab loop of my boat and before I finish explaining
what to do next she capsized toward me.  Unfortunately, she was ahead

of the bow by a couple of feet and it pulled the bow sideways.   I
practically
braced myself out of my cockpit to keep from going over but she didn't
let go.   She still hadn't let go of the grab loop when I tried rolling up
so I
eventually had to wet exit.   I then thanked her for volunteering to
demonstrate
to the rest of the class an "all in rescue".

>this person, mind you, is very competent.  he is regarded as sort of a 
>minor god by the paddlestore we do business with (and with which we've been 
>happy), and even by kayakers 50 miles north of there where we do pool 
>practice.  he is an excellent kayaker.
>
>but if you ask me he is a sucky instructor, and an excellent kayaker doth 
>not an excellent instructor make. 

True.  That's why the BCU has different assessment tests for personal
assessment
(BCU 2/3/4 Star) and Coaching (Coach 1/2/3).  

> obviously i won't be working with him 
>again.  i am a perfectionist, i admit it, and i expect a lot of any 
>instructor.  i'm also exquisitely sensitive to criticism. hell, i'm just 
>exquisitely sensitive, period, and i take responsibility for that too.  but 
>still, this was a really yucky encounter (that we paid significant $$$ for) 
>and i felt bad for days about it.  

It sounds like that instructor forgot the most important thing to take away
from that class;  to have fun.  

>there is a book, "sea kayaking for women", that addresses some of the 
>gender-specific issues.  women, or THIS woman anyway, feels a fear of 
>seeming incompetent.  that is a guaranteed technique- and 
>confidence-freezer.  

A couple of years ago at the LL Bean symosium I arrived early for a talk on
a topic that I can't even remember and caught the last 10 minutes of a talk
titled "Kayaking for Women, or how to pee in your kayak".  It was very 
entertaining.

>i believe women learn differently to men and that 
>difference needs to be addressed.  for instance, i like to hear instruction 
>and then be left alone for a few minutes to visualise doing it.  i also 
>like to watch someone else do it once before i do it (any given 
>maneuver).  then i often can do it, if not perfectly, then well the first
time.

I don't think it's as much a gender issue (although I've often heard that
it's 
much easier to teach women how to flycast than men) but the fact that
people in general have their own preference it how they're taught something
and a good instructor will be able to quickly tell which approach will work
best for which student.  It's not easy, but one has to be flexible in their
instruction methods to accommodate all students.

>
>just a few thoughts,
>
Thanks for expressing them.   One of the things I really like about this
list is the value of the contributions by those that are not "master" kayaks.
I think that it's important to always listen to that perspective.


***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed
here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire
responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author.
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************