Re: [Paddlewise] BCU Issues

This thread has been a fascinating anthropological/psychological event
to witness.  I have learned a lot about my fellow paddlewisers and about
the issues.  Thanks!

I have been an ACA member since 1966.  I was a member most of my life in
order to be eligible to be in kayak races.  Even a large number of years
ago I recognized the BCU coaches in the racing disciplines as terrific
folks who really knew how to coach.  When the opportunity arose in my
post-racing life, as a sea kayaker, I joined the ACA Coastal Kayak
Committee.  My dream was to help professionalize the ACA instructor
training and, thus, improve ACA instruction to equal or surpass the BCU
system.

Through no efforts of mine, the ACA now has a great core of Instructor
Trainers and IT Educators who have set and maintained high standards. 
The ACA has done a good job of improving the standards, I'm proud to be
a part of it.  I wish the administrative side were a little tighter, but
we do have good instructors.

One consideration of the BCU thing is the enormous popularity of
paddling in Great Britain and the more socialistic nature of British
government.  There are tons of people there who paddle and they are more
accustomed than we are to regulation and rules for everything.

I have no concern that BCU certification will ever be necessary in the
US.  Politicians can easily be swayed when their patriotism is
questioned - no one, I think, would ever vote for requiring a foreign
certification system in the good ole USA when the AMERICAN Canoe
Association has its own certification.

I think part of the attraction of the BCU system for paddlers is that it
is foreign and we tend to be, in this country, a bit provincial when it
comes to things British.  Another part of the attraction is the BCU was
more organized than the ACA a while ago when a lot of current paddlers
got into the sport.

Finally    I lead wilderness therapy trips for a local youth counseling
service.  We go for ten days or so trips in the Everglades and Maine
every year and have gone to Glacier Bay, Alaska and Georgian Bay,
Ontario and other neat places.  The insurance company has never asked
for anything in the way of certification for any of the trip leaders. 
In fact, I'm the only one who is certified in kayaking.  I'm not happy
that the other adults on these trips are not good paddlers, but I train
them as best I can while we are underway.  The main thing is we take
very little in the way of known risks.


Jim Tibensky
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