Barry and I recently returned from the first Port Austin seakayak symposium, organised by Riverside Kayak Connection, a large kayaking shop near Detroit.
It was a great fun, friendly event which was big enough to provide good coaching and a sociable atmosphere, but small enough to feel really personal so we could all get to know each other a bit. Having been at the Great Lakes Seakayak symposium on Lake Superior 2 years ago and at WMCA on Lake Michigan about 6 years ago, it was great to catch up with friends and see familiar faces again.
Port Austin is at the top of the ‘thumb’ on Lake Huron’ so I got to paddle in
another Great Lake. In fact, I paddled on Lake Ontario during the MEC Paddlefest a few years ago, so that only leaves Lake Erie that I haven’t dipped my paddle into. Unless there are more Great Lakes that I am unaware of?
I am always impressed by the Great Lakes – they are such large bodies of water that it really feels like the sea and I kept forgetting that I was in fresh water. It was lovely not to have to worry about the tide coming up and not to have to rinse the salt off my kit and body at the end of the day.
People who went on paddles could see the pretty Turnip Rock, or the Port Austin lighthouse. Classes on offer included many technique based ones and of course, when Kelly Blades is around, there is always a class that involves getting very wet – all in the spirit of getting more comfortable in your kayak and in the water, while hopefully smiling a lot. The class was a good test of my brand new Kokatat drysuit and I’m please to say my thermals were totally dry when I finished jumping around in the water (and falling in!). The symposium is going to become an annual event – contact RKC if you want to go next year.
After the symposium and a great paddle in Georgian Bay, we called in on the Riverside Kayak Connection Shop to have a look around their impressive collection of boats and gear. They have a good DVD collection aswell :-) I left a few signed copies of mine with them.
Thanks to Tiffany & Pat from RKC for getting us over for the symposium. Thanks to Sarah & Damon Smith who we stayed with before and after the symposium. They looked after us really well and Sarah cooked us lots of amazingly delicious food. Even Sarah’s dog eats better than most people! Perhaps that partly explains why Sarah and Damon are so fit and gorgeous looking. Thanks a lot to Jerry & Kevin for some of the photos.
On Sunday we paddled to & around Puffin island. The seals were as friendly as usual – this one spent about a minute howling at my stern toggle. I don’t know if she was frustrated by the toggle on the ‘Atlantic LV’ being on top of the kayak, rather than dangling down like on most kayaks. I enjoyed the attention, whatever the reason. Another seal ( or perhaps the same one) took a real interest in my paddle – maybe she liked the colour blue?
were exterminated. And 2 black guillemots which we don’t see very often around this way.
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