Did any of you attend the West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium in Port Townsend last weekend? I was there, and the attendance was pitiful. The beach on Saturday was fairly busy, but the workshops were generally poorly attended, and the exhibitors in the big tent were trying to sell stuff to each other. I'm wondering why: Was it the terrorist activity last week, or poor publicity, or is kayaking on the decline, or what? It seems to me that attendance has been declining slightly for the last couple of years, but this was a big drop. The Trade Association and the Symposium are under new management, but you would think they would inherit the momentum of the previous administration for the first year. I wish I knew the exact attendance figures. I went to see a concert by Richard Stoltzman on Sunday, right after the Symposium, also at Fort Worden, and that was a sell out, so the terrorists hadn't managed to put a damper on that. Ken Rasmussen kayakfit_at_fidalgo.net *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
At 07:14 PM 9/17/01 -0700, Kathea and Ken wrote: > Did any of you attend the West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium in Port Townsend >last weekend? I was there, and the attendance was pitiful. The beach on >Saturday was fairly busy, but the workshops were generally poorly attended, >and the exhibitors in the big tent were trying to sell stuff to each other. >I'm wondering why: Was it the terrorist activity last week, or poor >publicity, or is kayaking on the decline, or what? It seems to me that >attendance has been declining slightly for the last couple of years, but this >was a big drop. The Great Lakes symposium in July was way down, too. I don't go every year, and had missed a couple years, but it was notably smaller than then. A lot of people had ideas about why attendance was down, but nothing that really stuck. -- Wes --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wes Boyd's Kayak Place http://www2.dmci.net/wesboyd/kayak.htm Kayaks for Big Guys (And Gals) | Trip Reports | Places To Go | Boats & Gear --------------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Kathea and Ken wrote: > > Did any of you attend the West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium in Port Townsend > last weekend? I was there, and the attendance was pitiful. Might I venture to state the reasons why I did not decide to go this year, as opposed to last. 1) Cost. I think $60 per a day is a little much, in addition to a ferry ride and somewhat long drive. I don't really understand their reason for charging people who are there to shop for a boat to buy, or try out accessories or check out new gear. Last year, since I was shopping for a boat, $240+ I considered money well spent. 2) Mysterious schedule. There didn't seem to be any reason why they couldn't put together a tentative schedule a few months before the convention, listing names, events, and times so I could plan to go see what I really was interested in. Not all of us can come for three days. Last year, I had a list of the scheduled events and I reached a decision to go based on it. For Saturday, this I what I was interested in: "A Lightharded Look at Expeditions" "Vancouver Island Paddling Destinations" "North to Baffin Island" "Paddling in Vietnam" "Fiords of West Greenland" However, I had no way of knowing if these were scheduled early or late, or during the same times. 3) Poor on-the-water instruction. I didn't like last year's on-the-water classes, which were fairly chaotic, crowded, and the sign-up was poorly thought-out. People who came in on Friday signed up and took most of the spots before those of us on Saturday, and then of course there were lots of no-shows anyway. 4) I thought I'd be seeing a lot of the same stuff as last year. 5) I'd rather be paddling, which is what I did. I had a good time in the San Juans for four days and enjoyed the last of our mild September weather. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
I was grateful that as many people attended as they did. The beach from the cliffs looked as pretty as usual with all the kayaks and tents, and the water was populated with people demo-ing boats. My women's and currents course had 25 and 40 people in them, great numbers for breakout groups. While some speakers and attendees couldn't make their flights, others filled in. The new instructional program was practically overbooked. The people I spoke with felt that it was fun and one way to try to move forward doing what we love to do. Andree Andree Hurley KIX - http://www.onwatersports.com Viewit.com - Website design, maintenance, hosting Port Townsend, Washington http://www.viewit.com/ *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:23 PDT