RACCC-ers in Big Canoe Courses 2013!
RACCCers - Lynette C, Jay M and Dot B took the Paddle' Canada's Intermediate Big Canoe Leader, Advanced Big Canoe Leader and Intermediate Big Canoe Instructor courses - all in 4 days!
Fantastic! The courses opened our eyes to the possibilities of big canoes, and how beneficial this training is for those who want to stern and lead Big Canoe trips! Besides just paddling forwards, we learned how to involve all the paddling crew. Plus....we got to do these craaazy maneuvers....
Challenge enough in a tandem or solo canoe... imagine a 26 foot boat with 8 paddlers in sync doing tight turns with outside tilts with gunnels right down to the water, doing a challenging sequence of moves (like English Gates)...forwards... AND backwards!
We learned some brand new strokes too: drop skeg / cross bow pry & cross stern pry (while tilting the boat).
It's really tough to do the correct stern strokes correctly... AND to think far enough ahead to 'command' everyone else in the boat with what to do, which side to do it on... plus... when to do it!
Many Thanks to a fantastic course crew and to PC Instructor Trainers, Priscilla & Dave (who came a looong way - from Alberta & Vancouver) to teach us!
Another BIG thanks to our 7 'guinea pig' students for our trial run Intermediate Leader course who also learned a lot & had a FUN day (lots of laughs) on the water on Saturday.RCCCers - Sylvia H and Catherine W were part of the student crew!
We are sold on big canoes and using our new skills to teach next year - we are looking forward to sharing this knowledge with you!
For now....we get to recover from sunburn, brain frazzle & sore muscles.
Let's get out in voyageur canoes again next year! Come paddle with us!