Craig: Curmodgeon mode: on Rob: you bet it is: http://www.myfreewallpapers.net/cartoons/pages/spy-vs-spy.shtml :) Craig: 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. Rob: In Paul Newman's words, impersonating Butch Cassidy: "Who ARE those guys!" Craig: 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. Rob: Is anybody but us paying attention? I get a few questions about *rowing* my kayak from neighbors or folks at the take out, but really, who ever heard of the BCU or the ACA for that matter outside the small sport of kayaking. It's barely an Olympic level sport that gets less coverage than Shuffling and those in the Olympics almost have nothing to do with the BCU. I'll tell you what, I have friends in the UK and I've been on a couple of Grand Canyon trips with many of them, they were as daft to *BCU issues* as most of us. In fact, one of them is currently the president of the BCU. If there was more than one member of the BCU on the trip besides him, I'd be surprised. One doesn't have to be a member of the BCU, to take a star (read: performance test), only if you are on a path to be a BCU coach. Craig, go over to www.ukskgb.co.uk, or the whitewater chapter of www.ukrgb.co.uk and delve into the British *BCU Issues* threads. They are pretty savage. For control mongers, I'd take them on, anyday. Finally, they are in absolutely no position to underwrite anything here, or be the defacto standard. Read this thread and tell me the *kayak dominos* are about to fall: http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=55873 Craig: 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. Rob: I'm not a member of the BCU. I took clinics and assessments from the. For the brief time I took a coaching clinic, I became a member. My motivation was that as an occasional trip leader for the Washington Kayak Club, if someone looked like they'd need some coaching, to put it politely, I'd do it the right way. Now, onto your other point, clinics that teach to a standard rarely have students that just nail everything and in 30 minutes after 2 days covering foundation strokes they just wow the coach and they move to the next level. I'd call that an extreme minority, or a person taking a clinic well below their level in the first place which is counterproductive. A clinic that requires an assessment after the fact usually has some weighty material and it might take some time to go over. In my experience, 2* was 20 minutes and a same day gig; 3* was cheap and fast; 4* was a 1 day affair, but not particularly expensive; 5* was a 2 day affair and it needed to be. You are a professional mariner, you know what the ocean is like, you tell me what kayak leadership awards should be on the open ocean. Craig: 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. Rob: Again, I make no continued payments to the BCU and was never required to under star or performance tests. To be a coach, yes, but I'm not a coach and only while I took a coach clinic did I subscribe to them. Hell, I pay the ACA 60 bucks a year for a family membership because my club requires ACA insurance for pools, trip participation or trip leadership. Craig: 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. Rob: Again, you use the word *authority* as if sea kayaking, people disappearing behind headlands, the ultimate low viz sport, meant anything to anyone but us kayak nerds. C'mon Craig, The president of the BCU has a day job. I know this for a fact. This is as low brow as it gets. Most kayakers are trying to find ways to make tie down straps because the tie down strap kayak mafia has it out for them. *Authority* and kayaking on fresh or salt has about as much impact as Tao Berman's underwear photo to the world of high fashion. Craig: 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."B Where can you get certified? By someone who is already certified. Profit from the class and then profit again from the test. Rob: and they are so rich, too. Look at them roll out of their Jaguars to teach the unwashed. And who is their competition? I see way more schools of the Otter Bar/Zoar/Kayak Academy stripe than I do anything affiliated with the BCU. This is no David vs Goliath moment. This is David's pet cat, Rico, vs Goliath. Craig: 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. Rob: Go ask your State Farm agent, or whoever you insure with what he thinks of Nigel's latest boat. Just like that. Let me know what he says. They are still barely trying to convey the recent addition to Websters: *Euro Paddle.* CraigQ) 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. Next time you are in Monterey, CA, ask them what you need. Last I checked it was a Monterey Bay Kayak certificate. Buy a Feathercraft and skip all the rental owner hubris. Or, build a folder based on Tom Yost's designs. Craig: 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. Rob: This would be the liberal wing of the American democrat party enforcing a solution to a non-problem. Ask Harry Reid what his take is on the latest Derek Hutchinson video is. Again, nobody knows what this stuff is. Ask a coasty what his preference is, the BCU or ACA. Craig: 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. Rob: THUMP! (The sound of my head hitting the desk.) Craig: Curmudgeon Mode: Off. Rob: Thank God! Craig: 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. Rob: When government decides to ask their best ally, the UK, to intervene on our behalf for small boat handling, you have more things to worry about than a flask of tea in your (mandated) day hatch. That last bit was a joke...get it? Cheers, Rob G B *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Oct 21 2009 - 04:31:52 PDT
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