July 4, 2004

Almost 3

While on shore I was chatting with Vicky, a student who was getting one on one instruction from Mark, and found out she had learned about his company from my web site! Vicky had said she learned a lot from Mark and couldn't wait to practice everything she learned.

Mark, half owner of Carpe Diem Kayaking Company whispered to me while we were talking about the test, "You want me to give her the 3 star assessment?"

We briefly discussed it and I asked Katie if she wanted to take the 3 star assessment and she said yes, so 3 star it would be.

Mark put her through the paces, and I cringed when he mentioned draw on the move - I had forgotten to teach her that... But after a try or two she nailed it.

On her reverse figure of eight, when she started off I thought "Man, she's gonna make ME look like a rookie", but half way into the first turn she got too aggressive and capsized her kayak. She tried to roll up but banged her head on something and wet exited. I think this shook her up a bit - she would tell me later she was very embarrassed by it. I noticed the rest of her moves didn't have an edge to them like I knew she was capable of doing.

She repeated the figure of eight, this time knocking it out, albeit without the edging I knew she had the ability to do.

The weather had been iffy all morning, but at this point it started to rain very hard. Thunder began to rumble in the distance and Katie and Mark started on bow rudders while paddling their kayaks back toward the launch.

From a distance I could tell she was having trouble. She became confused on which side to put her paddle, wasn't edging, nothing was working right. A maneuver I've seen her do dozens of times before.

We headed in because of the storm and Mark debriefed us on shore. The bow rudder wasn't up to 3 star standards, but everything else was there. He said she was well beyond 2 star and just a smidge from 3 star.

Tomorrow we'll work on her bow rudder and maybe sometime this week finish up her assessment. She can do it, of that I'm confident. We'll work on nailing down how to demonstrate it.

On the ride home I tried to get a feeling for what she thought. I think she was a bit disappointed in herself, even though she blew through the 2 star and most of the 3 star assessment. I know she was embarrassed about the capsize and I think that may have affected both her concentration and edging for the bow rudders. She was fairly nervous although she had been hiding it well.

But man was I proud of her. She'd struggle with a little thing here and there only to do the next thing flawless. I think Mark was very surprised at her high brace on the move. Joan and I kept saying, "wow, look at that!", out of earshot of Katie. I keep having to remind myself she is only 13 years old...

She'll get another shot at it later this week. Worst case I'll schedule her for another assesment in August to give her plenty of time to iron out her bow rudder, but I really doubt she'll need it...

Woody <- the proud dad