[Paddlewise] BCU Issues

On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 4:18 PM, <rcgibbert_at_aol.com> wrote:

>
>
> I first learned about Greenland paddling from Sea Kayaker magazine.
> However, it was the BCU that went to the trouble of hiring someone, flying
> them to the symposium destination and paying them to teach. That's not a
> particuilary wise move if you want to run a control scheme, but they do it
> at all of the symposiums I've been to and ones I see advertised.
>

Curmodgeon mode: on

That is exactly how you'd do it if you wanted to take control over a sport
and become the de-facto authority for bestowing credentials. You would get
your own people involved in every symposium, give them maximum exposure to
the most potential students and get maximum exposure to media. In fact, it's
a classic move. Get in first, get in quick, and get established.

This is not to say that all the BCU instructors are interested in control...
or even any of them. But what it does mean is that right now BCU is
positioned to be *the* world-wide authority over who is "qualfied" to be a
coach, instructor, or even a paddler at certain levels. Once that authority
is established it then becomes easy to encourage insurance underwriters,
clubs, schools and other symposia to use the newly establlished criteria as
the base line for activities involving those skills. And BCU-certified
paddlers would be crazy not to be enthusiastic over something that helps
them get more clients and/or more jobs.

Why do I think that it's about the money? Partly because I've noticed that
classes leading to BCU certs are more expensive... and it's multi-tiered.
Step one is to take a course to get you ready for the test. Part two is take
the test. This is a classic way to maximize income. And also because the
credentials require you to make continued payments to the BCU to retain them
(I don't even have to do that to the FAA to maintan my pilot's license). If
your membership lapses so does your certification. Unviersities would love
that scheme too. Got a BS degree?.... only $1000 every four years to your
alma-mater to keep that degree valid. Or spend four years in classes and
then pony up another $10k to take the exam to get your diploma.

Does this remind you of any other professional accreditation systems? Like
the PE (professional engineer) exams? Fifty years ago only a few
structures-based engineers bothered to get a PE; now it's almost all of them
if they want to be in a supervisory position.

Are the courses useful? Well of course. They'd have to be in order to cement
their position as *the* authority. If the courses weren't useful then no one
would take them serously. That people do take them seriously as a training
venue doesn't necessarily mitigate the other scenario.

Schools love this because they make money in every direction. Once the
school has a BCU coach qualified to anoint other coaches and bestow stars
they can get a leg up on the competition. "We have the only 5 star BCU coach
on the West Coast."  Where can you get certified? By someone who is already
certified. Profit from the class and then profit again from the test.

Q) Does it mean that no one without BCU credentials will be employable as a
guide or instructor?
A) Not right now but I predict that it will be the minimum requirement
before long and that will be pushed by insurance underwriters at first...
and then required before long.

Q) Does it mean that you will need BCU certificaton to rent a kayak?
A) Yes, almost certainly this will be imposed by insurers on businesses who
rent kayaks. Level 1 or 2 would be the minimum.

Q) Does it mean the end of kayaking?
A) Well no. But it could spell the end of what many of us now think of as
the freedom to kayak. Bureaucracies love paper solutions and there's not
much better than a credential to make them believe that all the potental
problems have been solved. Witness the application of uncommon sense to
offshore kayaking in Australia and NZ. You could be asked to show your BCU
card to harbor patrol, USCG or other police agency. This would absolve them
of any liability. "We don't know why he died but when we saw his BCU 4
certification we figured he was qualified to paddle in those conditions so
we let him be." Don't have the certification card? Get back to within 100
yards of the shoreline please.

Q) Will authorities come to rely on BCU certification as the primary
qualification to engage in paddling activities.
A) Yup. I think that it's only a matter of time. And your membership better
be paid up.

Curmudgeon Mode: Off.

I don't know if this will be good for paddling in general or not but I'm
pretty sure the overall panorama of kayaking will be changed by the advent
of BCU ratings. Change happens, of course, and I can remember when we
thought nothing of paddling on Puget Sound in work boots, wool shirts, and
jeans. Even *I* wouldn't do that now. But I bet there are guys of my
generation who would. So maybe it will be good to have some criteria. I just
don't think so. But the fat's in the fire now, regardless.

Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
www.nwkayaking.net
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