Hudson Valley Paddlesports Symposium

I joined the Prime Paddlesports Symposium to gain some kayaking basics and get information for a story about the weekend-long event. What I got was that and a greater feeling of security than I ever had when learning a new sport.

For the symposium paddlers are paired up with others of similar skill and experience for the entire weekend. The curriculum is determined by the areas each paddler wants to work on. Because there is a low student to instructor ratio it’s easy to structure the day to fit everyone’s needs. According to Matt Kane, owner of Prime Paddlesports, it’s one of their most successful ways of ensuring paddler development.
“Our aim is to help build better paddlers,” Kane said. There were a first timers, beginners, intermediate kayakers and one group of 3 standup paddle boarders enrolled in the weekend.
Students, coaches, and instructors got together on the first evening at the Taconic Outdoor Education Center in Cold Spring to discuss their goals and what they would like to get out of the symposium. From there the coaches and instructors tailor a curriculum that addresses the needs of the group and can be delivered over the three days of the event

DAY ONE- Friday
There were 25 participants for the Friday session including many from Chicago. I was not able to attend the Friday session but Reyna Texler, from one of the intermediate pods, did participate in all three days. This was also her third year at the symposium. She worked with instructors Gerry Polinsky , Andrea Knepper, Carl Ladd, and John Carmody over the three days.
“The best part about this symposium is the meeting before hand at breakfast in morning when we discuss what we want to work on,” Reyna said.
On Day One she and the five other paddlers launched out of Croton with their instructor Gerry and their coach Ken. The coaches are local paddlers who are familiar with the water here and are able to help the instructors select the right location for the lessons they are planning. Instructors came from all over the Eastern United States and have a list of certification longer than my paddle.
Gerry is an ACA Level 5 Advanced Open Water Instructor, a BCU 4 Star Paddler, a NOLS Winter Outdoor Educator, and Wilderness First Aid certified outdoor adventurer from New England.
Reyna’s group wanted to work on forward stroke and the wind conditions provided a teachable moment to experiment with how the wind effects the boat and techniques to paddle efficiently and effectively in it. They worked on maneuvering their boat in wind, waves, and current.
Before retiring to their cabins at the Taconic Outdoor Education Center paddlers had a buffet in the lodge.

DAY TWO -Saturday
I joined the 40 other paddlers at the ongoing symposium Saturday morning at the Taconic Outdoor Education Center.
After being set up with a P&H Delphin 155 Sea Kayak, PFD, paddle, and a spray skirt we headed over to the Stony Point put-in.
Because of my basic athleticism owner Matt Kane, long time Hudson River guide and instructor, put me in a group of kayakers who were at beginner level but not first-timers and were working on incident management and rescue. Our group was made up of Kelsey and Jon, a married couple from Boston, and Dan from Cold Spring, Tom, a retired Army guy, and myself.
Our pod worked with coach Don Urmston, and instructor Gerry on day two, and Don and Andrea on day three.
I popped into the intro class as students were holding their paddles away from their body and practicing their upper body rotation and got some basics on forward paddle stroke. Stroke from your feet to your seat. No chicken wings.
After successfully entering my kayak from the shore our pod paddles to a shallow area to work on rescues. In spite of my intro to forward stroke less than an hour before I apparently fail to rotate my body, at all. Don, the coach, tells me not to chicken wing, or move my elbows behind my back, and that I can steer if I make a large sweeping stroke on the opposite side I want to turn.
I learn to wet-exit my kayak, first without the sprayskirt, and then with one. I flip my boat over and pull the tab at the front of the cockpit releasing the neoprene cover and swim out from under the boat. The water is like bathwater and feels really refreshing compared to the 90- 95 degree temps up top.
I learn that I have a lot more time submerged than I think I do. It only takes 2 or 3 seconds to release the spayskirt and resurface and I can hold my breath for much longer than that.
Grabbing the stern I flip my kayak back over and empty the water out. Time to get back in.
Heaving my body over the stern, I then mount the back of the boat like a horse by throwing my leg over the side successfully cowgirl self-rescuing, and abrading the inside of my thighs while scooting my butt up the boat. I plop myself back into the cockpit and slowly settle my legs back inside.
I pick up terminology as I go along- cockpit, bow, skirt, forward stroke, wet exit, chicken wing.
Back into the water I go to practice holding onto both the boat and paddle while I exit the boat. This is important in windy or wavy conditions so neither is lost.
Tom helps me do an Eskimo bow rescue. I stay in the skirt while the boat is upside down. I hit the bottom of the boat so others know I’m inverted. Tom paddles over and positions his boat to I can grab his bow and pull myself upright.
It works.
I appreciate that I am learning to rescue myself and to help others at the very beginning of my kayaking experience.
Saturday has to be an early day for me so the Eskimo bow rescue is my last lesson for the day. I head back to shore with Dan.
Reyna and her pod worked with instructor Carl Ladd for the day. He is an American Canoe Association L3 Surf Kayak Instructor Trainer, Level 4 open water Sea Kayak Instructor Trainer and a Level 5 Advanced Open Water Instructor.
“I don’t know how to explain how Zen he is. Patient and gentle. Relatable,” Reyna said about Carl.
A couple of people joined Reyna’s pod on Saturday. For the second day they wanted to work on blending strokes. They headed out to Garrison to put-in.
“We had a lot of on land instruction,” Reyna recalled. “In a lot of ways it’s better than in the boat because you can see how your entire body is working. It’s more about how to use your body. The paddle is secondary.”
They worked on bringing the skills from the first day and incorporating them into new techniques.
“We took what we learned about wind and edging and blended skills and worked on using our body to move the boat,” Reyna said.
They also worked on rolling. The on-land demonstration was awesome, according to Reyna.
“By being able to get a proper set up and maneuver the boat on land, it’s going to happen in the water,” Reyna explained. It’s a lot about body mechanics- 180, set up, 180 again.
While they were out on the river a Wounded Warrior flotilla sailed north.
“There were 25 yachts; we got like coastal waves,” Reyna said excitedly.
The manufactured waves allowed them to work on paddling in more challenging conditions.
After a long day on the water folks attending the whole weekend returned to the TCEC for a buffet dinner and a rest in their cabins.
Later that night the campers watched the Reel Paddling Film Festival (RPFF). The Festival is touring the world with the ten paddling films that won the RPFF competition. And then the campers headed back to their cabins to get rested up for day three.

Rayna doing a little on land roll practice .

DAY THREE- Sunday
Sunday morning, I get my Delphin back and our pod heads out to the same sandy beach around Stoney Point with Andrea to work on more rescue skills.
Andrea holds her 5 Star Sea Leader Award, her UKCC Coach Level 2 Award. She will be assessing her UKCC Coach Level 3 Award, one of the highest coaching awards offered, in August of 2016. She also holds a 3 Star in Open Canoe and her ACA L3 Instructor Certification.
On the way out to the beach we all work on our forward stroke. I’m chicken winging again and holding my paddle too close to my body. Andrea fixes this to a large extent by explaining that my hands should be over the narrow part at the top of the cockpit, but my arms should still be slightly bent.
We talk about pushing against the foot braces with our feet as we paddle to increase forward momentum.
When we reach our little cove Kelsey and I, and Jon and Dan, pair up for an edging exercise. Andrea tells us to tip our boats to the side a little bit and call this level one. Tipping a bit further into the water is level two, level three is just before we feel like we’re going to fall in, and level four would be upside down in the water.
I tell Kelsey her level one edge is at the bottom of the stripe on the side of her kayak, her level two is above the strip and level three is almost to the cockpit. She does the same for me.
Next Andrea throws a bunch of tennis balls into water and challenges us to throw the balls into each other’s cockpits. A game of cockpit basketball ensues.
We play around with this for about 15 minutes; Kelsey definitely hordes the balls, and Don is probably the worst shot. Everyone is laughing and paddling around.
Andrea asks who got a basket in someone else’s cockpit and we all smugly raise our hands.
Andrea tell us “Everyone with their hand up get out of your cockpit and sit with your feet over the side, now try and make baskets.”
It goes pretty well. Tom falls in but I don’t think he really minds- it’s a hot day.
“Get back with your partner,” Andrea says. Kelsey and I paddle over to each other.
“Now edge again and tell your partner what level they’re at,” Andrea says.
Kelsey tells me my level one is now where my level three was 25 minutes ago. Kelsey’s is too. What a great exercise for getting more comfortable in your boat. And it worked for a newbie like me and the more experienced paddlers too.
Next we’re going to work on T rescue. If a paddler falls out of their boat and rather than try and empty the water out of the kayak while treading water and cowboy back in, a fellow paddler can help them out.
I fall out of my boat and Tom comes over to help. The first thing he does is ask if I’m ok to assess whether he’s just going to help me back into my boat or if further rescue is needed.
“I’m ok,” I say. Communication is a large part of rescue so he tells me very clearly to come over and hang onto his boat. With my paddle.
Tom then grabs the bow of my boat and drags it over the cockpit of his boat. He edges his kayak to the side my kayak is on to raise my boat higher in order to empty more water out.
It’s easier to empty the water out before getting back in it. It takes a long time to pump out a boat, and a waterlogged-boat handles poorly.
Tom tells me to hang onto my boat while he maneuvers our boats bow to stern. He holds both sides of the kayak to keep it more stable and tells me to climb in.
There is more than one way to get back into the boat when someone is holding it for you. One of them is a heel hook. I think ‘oh I’m a rock climber, I can heel hook’. So I opt to heel hook.
I swing my foot up into the cockpit, grab the largest hand hold I see, the cockpit rim, and yarn on it hauling myself up out of the water.
Kersplash- back in the water.
But, ya know, rock climber. So I try the same thing again. This time Tom, who is a big guy, manages to hold the boat still while I climb up it and out of the water.
Andrea then describes the two different ways to get back into a kayak while someone is holding it for you. Without saying my name, she gently explains that it makes it very difficult for your rescuer to hold the boat still if you try to climb up it. It’s correctly done by swinging your leg over the back, while keeping your butt down swing the other leg over the back and then scoot up into the cockpit.
We practice this a bit. I hold the boat for Tom as he climbs back in.
Then we head to the shore for lunch.
After lunch, while still in shallow water, we work on bracing. Bracing is a way to keep the boat from capsizing in more developed waves.
I edge over until I feel like I’m about to tip over and then I slap my paddle onto the water using the surface tension of the water to push off. That works ok. Don tells me to angle my paddle as I’m taking it out of the water to make it easier and snap my hips to get a greater movement.
It works.
We scull a little bit too. It’s also a technique where I edge, then swirl the paddle back and forth to keep the boat in an edge position.
While in shallow water Andrea demonstrates her roll. She casually tips her boat 180 degrees. While underwater she repositions her paddle, and then levers herself the other 180 till she’s upright again.
I’ve learned that I have a lot more time underwater than I think I do, but still, she’s really nonchalant about the whole thing.
We work on some rescue scenarios: what to do if there are rocks nearby, what to do if the tide is pushing us into the rocks, how to utilize a third person to tow the boat away from the rocks, what to do if someone is unable to paddle.
We finish up the day in a scenario that involves towing our coaches back to the launch.
Apparently Tom is unconscious and Don has to hold him upright. The four of us clip into the bow cords of the kayak behind us with our tow belts. Jon, the strongest paddler, goes first and we paddle back.
While all of this has been going on the four other pods have been having lessons of their own.
Reyna’s pod was working with instructor John Carmody.
John Carmody is a BCU Level 5 Sea Coach, BCU 5 Star Sea Provider, a BCU Open Water Navigation Provider, an ACA Level 5 Advanced Open Water Instructor, an ACA Level 4 Surf Instructor, a Wilderness First Responder, a Registered Maine Sea Kayak Guide, and a Senior Sea Kayak Instructor.
A new methodology in kayak instruction is being driven by John Carmody, according to Gerry. John is internationally known for individualized teaching techniques and peer coaching. He has been a coach to every instructor who was at the symposium.
John took what the students in his pod wanted to learn and blend that with available conditions.
“We worked on being in tune with how the body works and how body mechanics are going to translate into paddling,” Reyna said.
The goal was to learn boat control not with the paddle but by using body position.
“What you’re are looking at is where you’ll go,” Reyna repeated a universal truth. It works in biking, skiing, snowboarding, motorcycle riding, skateboarding, kayaking, horseback riding.
They practiced this by taking their thighs out from thigh braces and loosing back braces. They learned to use The body to initiate their turn.
“By deemphasizing strokes it’s more efficient. Kayaking is a repetitive motion sport so it’s all about efficiency,” Reyna explained.
When Reyna participated in her first Hudson River Symposium she was a beginner. She is now has her Level 2ACA instructor certification.
“Every year I walk away with techniques for myself and how to help others,” She said in summing up her experience.

DAY FOUR- Monday
Most of us returned to world of work on Monday but some kayakers joined Andrea and her crew from Chicago Adventure Therapy(CAT) for a paddled down river into New York Harbor to take in the stunning sights of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty from the water.
Using outdoor adventure sports like kayaking, orienteering, camping, cycling, and rock climbing, CAT helps underserved youth in Chicago. What makes this day special is that we will have members of Chicago Adventure Therapy's Scotland Squad who have made the trip to participate in the Symposium.
Andrea is going to Scotland to assess for a Coaching award that isn’t yet offered in the States. She has to take students with her – students she’s coached for at least a year, and who can paddle in a challenging, dynamic environment.
A group of talented young people at CAT is eager to go, and has committed to an intense training program in order paddle at the skill level needed for this trip. They’ve developed a passion for sea kayaking and have worked really hard to develop the skill to match their passion.
The New York Harbor trip was a fundraiser for the Scotland Squad.
I do a lot of sports. Part of that is because publishing a magazine about sports requires being able to write intelligently about them, but mostly it’s that I want to do all the sport.
There are some universal truths. Don’t be scared, be careful. Know what you don’t know. You’ll go where you look. And communicate.
The weekend paddlesport symposium hit just the right note for me. I learned from my instructors, my coaches and my fellow paddler not only how to maneuver my boat, but many skills to help feel safer in the water. I know what I know, not much, but I do have a couple of ways to help myself or a friend.
Because the adventure starts when something unexpected happens, but only if nobody gets hurt.

Photos from the Paddlesports Symposium