I spent last weekend at the Midwest Canoe Symposium in Peninsula Ohio (near Akron). I don't know the exact count, but I believe there were just over 20 students, a similar number of instructors and a hand full of significant others, holding down the fort.
The weather was quite cooperative, with the only significant rain being on Friday night, after most of us had turned in. The residual rain on Saturday didn't disrupt anything. By competition/exhibition time, the sun was back out and barely a breeze to ripple the water.
Classes spanned the spectrum of both solo and tandem. There were students for most of the quadrants. Additional classes were in touring technique, forward stroke tune up, moving around in the boat, exhibition, canoeing essentials and likely more that I've missed.
Instructor updates were offered in L1-L3 Touring, L1 Kayak & L2 River Kayak. A Canoe Camping endorsement class was also held.
I had the privilege of working 1 on 1 with a 13 year old in a cross forward class. The young man was amazing and kept a grin on MY face throughout the entire class. He did a demo of most of the basic FS maneuvers, prior to the competition. There is a video of it on the FS Facebook page.
As always, the food was great as were the social aspects of the event. The Freestyle Pickers performed several times.
Kudos to Bob and Elaine Mravetz (our hosts) for a job superbly done.
The weather was quite cooperative, with the only significant rain being on Friday night, after most of us had turned in. The residual rain on Saturday didn't disrupt anything. By competition/exhibition time, the sun was back out and barely a breeze to ripple the water.
Classes spanned the spectrum of both solo and tandem. There were students for most of the quadrants. Additional classes were in touring technique, forward stroke tune up, moving around in the boat, exhibition, canoeing essentials and likely more that I've missed.
Instructor updates were offered in L1-L3 Touring, L1 Kayak & L2 River Kayak. A Canoe Camping endorsement class was also held.
I had the privilege of working 1 on 1 with a 13 year old in a cross forward class. The young man was amazing and kept a grin on MY face throughout the entire class. He did a demo of most of the basic FS maneuvers, prior to the competition. There is a video of it on the FS Facebook page.
As always, the food was great as were the social aspects of the event. The Freestyle Pickers performed several times.
Kudos to Bob and Elaine Mravetz (our hosts) for a job superbly done.