April 16, 2004

ACA Basic Coastal Kayak IDW/ICE

Intro to Kayaking
Essentials to Kayaking
Basic Coastal Kayaking

My goal - my hope, is to certify as a Basic Coastal Kayak Instructor.

Day one starts at 9:00 am. Mike Aronoff, an Instructor Trainer Educator for the ACA, kicked off the class by having us interview our neighbor and then introducing them to the group. Our assisting instructors, Greg and Ciaran were introduced and Mike explained that to become certified, we need to demonstrate a wide range of skills, both on the water and off, correctly 70% of the time. It seemed like just a short period later we were sitting in recreational kayaks in the middle of Lake Fairfax.

Mike had a few of us swamp our kayaks to demonstrate the difference in emptying a recreational kayak with float bags, and one without. He also showed us a way to drain a rec boat easily that Ciaran had developed if it has a rear hatch by popping off the cover when performing a t-rescue to allow the boat to drain. I was shocked at how well this worked and filed that away in my bag of tricks.

Time flew by, and with 9 hours under our belt filled with student teaching sessions and technique demonstrations we called it a day.

On Day 2 we were falling behind with the huge amount of information we needed to cover, so we started at 8:00 am. We covered a wide variety of subjects from both the Instructors and the students as well as more demonstrations on how to demonstrate strokes and rescues.

I personally found it hard to think like an instructor. I found myself thinking of myself more as a student rather than an instructor. Mike kept reminding us we were there to become instructors, but for me I couldn't seem to make it sink in and I think that hurt my ability to contribute at times, or perform up to my own standards.

It had been 2 years since I taught much of a class at all. I helped last season with a rescue class, but even in that class I was more of an assistant than an instructor. But as we closed out day 2 after 10 hours of class and on water exercises, seeing Mike, Greg and Ciaran's enthusiasm for teaching caused me to reflect on the enjoyment I got out of teaching.

Day 3 started at 8:00 am at Mason Neck State Park. Mike separated the Basic Coastal hopefuls from the Essentials group so we could better work toward our goals and the Essentials guys could complete their certification exam.

Mike had us "coastal hopefuls" working on demonstrating basic strokes, keeping explanations simple so that we wouldn't overwhelm our students with too much information. It was a lesson I took to to heart as even within our more experienced group using less words were very effective in getting down the basics.

We ended the day paddling in the chop off the point near Mason Neck's launch. Several of us got some great rides in the large swells kicked up by the power boats as they raced by.

We said goodbye to the Essentials class, and I headed home tired, but feeling good.

The next day I would learn that none of the 5 in the essentials class certified at that level. There were 3 that certified at the intro level and one was pending a certification based on completing a few requirements.

Day 4 started out with us on the water and modeling strokes and our roll for the camera. Forward, reverse, sweep turn in place, draws all captured on video for our later review.

After the video session we headed off toward Smoot island. Mike ran through capsize scenarios and after I had performed several rescues Mike told me I was relieved from rescue duty and could only be a victim. Too bad as I was just starting to really have fun ;)

We split up in to 2 separate groups and practiced a few more scenarios. As our group continued on to Smoot one of the paddlers said to me that I must have something sneaky planned. When I asked why she replied I had a big smirk on my face.

But I didn't. The warm weather over the last 4 days had refilled my energy reserves, and on this last day it was starting to bubble out. Great weather, warming water, and just being out to play in it was forcing the corners of my mouth to reach skyward.

After lunch back on the beach, we paddled back to the park and watched the video recorded earlier. I actually looked better than I felt I had done, but there were a few things Mike pointed out that needed to be fixed.

After the video came a written exam. It was tougher than I expected, and some things I should have known, I didn't. We loaded our gear up as the tests were scored then Mike pulled us aside one at a time to give use the results of our overall exam.

It is a tough position to be in to tell someone they didn't pass. The rock of hurting someone's feelings is on one side while the hard spot of signing your name certifying this person as competent to teach others is on the other. I admire Mike and his assistants for being able to make the right call and not sacrifice quality for quantity

Of the 7 who were in the final day of class, 5 certified as Basic Coastal Instructors, and 2 certified as Essentials Instructors.

For me, I was disappointed in myself at not thinking more like an instructor. Even throughout this trip report I used the term "student" when I should have used the term "instructor candidate". It is a difficult change in frame of mind for me, but one I hope comes with time - and practice.