Paddling exercises that don't bore Nate

I know there are some kayakers who go to the gym, run, and stay in top physical condition year-round. For the rest of us, tricking ourselves into getting fit in the spring is an important start to a safe, successful paddling season.

The problem for me is that I don’t actually like exercise. I enjoy hiking, kayaking, or even moving firewood around, but if it involves a gym or a machine of some sort, I lose interest pretty fast. Of course, I recognize how much my paddling performance is improved by good physical conditioning, so I’ve had to find some tricks for getting in shape without noticing that I’m exercising. None of these are revolutionary, but perhaps you might find them to be useful.

1) Go kayaking! If you can, get out and paddle early in the season! It’ll create a strong foundation on which to build the season’s skill development. If you happen to be stuck at home during a global pandemic, or if you only have 30 minutes, you might resort instead to some indoor games that are closer to kayaking than to “exercise”.

2) Balance games! When we’re kayaking, we use a whole constellation of core muscles to adjust our posture and balance. You can recreate that simply enough in your living room using a back roller (a 6-inch diameter foam cylinder, or padded plastic tube, used for rolling out muscles in your back). Set the roller on the floor, put a small dense pillow on top, and sit down with your legs in front of you, such that you are wobbling side to side. You’ll feel your core muscles firing to maintain your balance on the roller. To raise the challenge level, move your heels closer together, or rest one foot on top of the other!

3) Heavy spare paddle simulator! Sitting on your floor (with or without the roller), you can strengthen upper arm and shoulder muscles by “air paddling” with a piece of pipe, a branch from your yard, a garden implement - whatever you like.  (I use a 3-foot length of 1” black iron pipe). You want something beefier than your nice light carbon fiber paddle, and short enough that it doesn’t hit the floor when you paddle. Even though this DEFINITELY ISN’T “EXERCISE” it might just happen to help with endurance and improve our form at the end of a long day. Just pretend you’re using that heavy old battle-axe of a paddle that you got for free with your first used kayak. Focus on a nice high “home” position (when your paddle shaft is horizontal between each stroke), and an upright posture.

4) Bungie paddling! Ok, this one is kind of like exercise, but it still feels pretty close to kayaking to me. Attach something stretchy to one end of your piece of pipe from above. I use Theraband (those giant rubber strips you get from your Physical Therapist), but you could also use some spare deck bungee cord, or other similarly stretchy (not too stiff) material. Tie the free end to something solid near the floor, perhaps a door hinge or couch leg. Brace your feet against the wall to one side of the bungee. Then using good torso rotation, unwind against the bungee. Keep it slow, and imagine using your bottom rib to stretch that elastic. Keep your chest parallel to that paddle shaft. Repeat on the other side.

If you’ve got some other suggestions I’d love to hear about them, and if you’d like an actual paddling workout, one of my Long Term Students passed this one along from AMC. It looks good, it features a jug of maple syrup, and if you aren’t allergic to proper exercise, it could be useful to you! Thanks Jeff!

I hope you are all surviving this crazy spring without too much stress or frustration. I don’t have any idea of what the paddling season will look like, but I hope to paddle with you all as soon as it’s safe to do so. Courses are (optimistically perhaps) still listed on my schedule. In the meantime, you can visit with me this Wednesday at noon, as I’ll be hosting a live Q&A on the P&H Sea Kayaks facebook page. Hope to see you there!

Be well,
Nate

COVID-19 Update

S.N.A.F.U.

During this unprecedented global event, making plans for anything is very difficult. While our course schedule will remain online, courses will no doubt need to be rescheduled or cancelled as the early season unfolds, and refund checks will be mailed. If you wish to make a course reservation you may. Rest assured that refunds will be allowed at any time if you must later cancel due to travel concerns, personal health reasons, or public health guidelines. Our first priority is being a part of the solution, and then, when it is safe to do so, we’re looking forward to getting out on the water with all of you.

In the meantime, I’m considering some possibilities for filling some of the gaps left by spring program cancellations, such as online training, video stroke analysis, or some recorded content. If you have suggestions, please send me a note. I’d love to hear from any of you. I’ll provide updates here.

Take care, exercise your body, rest your mind, and connect with friends and family in whatever ways you are able.
-Nate

Spring Newsletter - Stir-crazy Edition!

What follows is my usual spring update, drafted a couple weeks ago and suspended in limbo since. Clearly, Covid-19 has overtaken our attention as we adjust to a new reality for a while. Caring for our families and those in our community has rightfully been the priority. Some of you may not be thinking much about kayaking at the moment, understandably, and perhaps others are keen to distract themselves with some plans for outdoor adventure. Do what feels right for you, and I look forward to getting back on the water with you when you’re ready. 

Hello from Downeast Maine!

It definitely feels like late-winter here - and not a beautiful, bright snowy late-winter. More of a mucky rainy one, but we’re remaining positive, knowing that the rain is filling the rivers, and warming the sea. I know I’m itching to get out on all kinds of water, and I’m looking forward to paddling with many of you again this year.  

I’ve published a schedule of courses on my website, including ocean skills courses, leadership training, instructor training and certification, as well as options for whitewater training. 

For folks from NYC I’m offering a training right in your area in mid-June. This two-day course offers you the opportunity to start your season with individualized coastal instruction, without having to travel. I’ll work with each of you to build comfort and confidence in coastal conditions, and identify strategies to help you grow towards your paddling goals through the upcoming season. You can find more details here.

Back in my neck of the woods, I’ve got two multi-day skills courses offered in July and August. These have been a great way for paddlers to experience a variety of amazing venues in the Mount Desert Island area, and work with me in tidal currents, rock garden and rough-water environments. Those three to five day options are listed here.

Whitewater training for sea kayakers is once again a signature offering at Pinniped Kayak, and this year we’ll offer two levels of training.  We’ll offer our Whitewater for Sea Kayakers in Vermont on the White River again in early June. Paddlers who have already take WW for Sea Kayakers, or who have previous WW experience can join us in August for a “Step 2” WW training on the Penobscot river and tributaries, deep in the woods of Maine! 

There is a wide variety of Instructor and Leadership training at Pinniped Kayak this year, including ACA, British Canoeing and Maine Guide License programs. Todd Wright will be providing our upper-level ACA programing, as well as BC coach education programs. If you’d like to discuss which of these options will best suit your needs, please give us a call or email. 

As you wait for the weather to warm up, get that equipment ready! Touch up your gelcoat, check your gaskets, and consider whether you want to update any of your gear. As always, I’m happy to get you into a sparkly new P&H Sea Kayak, Kokatat PFD or Drysuit, SnapDragon Skirt, or Werner Paddle. There’s still time to get stuff to you in time for this season, so let me know how I can help!

Though it’s hard to know how the Covid-19 situation will play out this spring, we’ll continue taking course registrations as normal. As usual, if we need to cancel a course, all deposits will be refunded. Additionally, if you feel you need to cancel for health reasons, your course deposit will be refunded ANYTIME before a course. 
Be well, stay in touch, and get out for some great hiking with family this month. We’ve found that to be helpful for us here in Ellsworth this week. I wish you all good health and peaceful minds.  

- Nate

"Why am I doing this??"

Getting lost is more than just a navigational problem for kayakers. If our mind isn’t focused on what motivates us, this whole kayaking thing can feel a bit pointless.

This spring I’ve had a few people confide in me that after many years of kayaking, they’ve found themselves in the midst of a kayaker’s existential crisis - some variation of “What am I doing this for?” After kayaking for decades in some cases, routines can become a bit stale; initially thrilling rates of skills development can plateau; once lofty goals may look quite a bit smaller in the rear-view mirror; and sometimes the wake of our friends’ ambitions may have drawn us along on daliances that were more of a shrug than an enthusiastic nod. We may have lost sight of our goals, or simply moved past them. Whatever the cause, when we’re not in touch with what motivates us we suffer a double-whammy effect. We feel less enthusiastic about paddling, and - because state of mind has enormous effects on technical performance - we actually get worse at doing it!

Kayaking is an optional activity for all of us. None of us is out here because we have to spear the next meal, or ferry our family to far off islands to follow the seals. Even those of us who call kayaking our job have chosen that profession in lieu of pretty much any other, more prudent choice. It’s a passion, so understanding what motivates each of us to paddle is critical to enjoying it; and enjoyment is essential to doing it well.

When a friend confessed to me that their paddling verve was on a bit of hiatus, I shared the motivations that have driven me in my kayaking lifetime - and how those have changed a number of times. I came to the hobby of sea kayaking from coastal sailing, where my most enjoyable days were spent weighing my own abilities and judgement against the forces of the wind and waves in boats that weighed in tons, and hitting stuff wasn’t an option. Challenges in those boats were found pretty far from shore, and would take me a few days or a week to find. 13 years ago I had a couple very dependent humans at home under my care, so I needed a way to test my mettle against the ocean closer to shore, in much smaller time-slots. Having just moved to the Mount Dessert Island area, exploring my new Downeast surroundings by sea kayak one morning at a time seemed like a good fit. What motivated me in these first years was the quick-learning curve that we often experience when we’re quite new at something, and a good dose of adrenaline every now and then.

I realized a few years in that, while I was still having fun challenging my personal skills, I wanted to mix in something new. Training to lead kayakers, and working as a guide for a couple summers provided fresh challenges, but to be honest that path was a bit short-lived. I soon realized that I found conversations with tourists a bit dull, and what I looked forward to the most in a day with guide clients was the little bits of teaching. Following that motivation, I took off on a somewhat dizzy path of instructor training, practice instructing, starting a kayaking business, more training, shadowing mentors who seemed to teach so effortlessly, and so on. Trying daily to unlock the puzzle of how to foster learning in a particular student and in a certain environment is what drives me today. It’s a living passion, and following it is a joy - even as it makes me do all kinds of otherwise illogical things, like eating lunch on a rain-drenched rock in the ocean, on a miserable 40-degree afternoon in early May.

The question of what drives you as a kayaker, is worth reflecting on from time to time, because I’ll bet that answer has changed or evolved for most paddlers through their years on the water. The magic of sea kayaking is that it has so many facets. It can be a vessel for a wide variety of goals - serene camping explorations to charming little islands, complex expeditions to remote destinations, playing with boat control in menacingly rough waters, guiding clients in a coastal environment, or introducing friends to new skills. Knowing what excites us helps us spend our time more purposefully, whether that’s another stage of instructor training, a challenging tour with friends, working towards surfing some gnarly standing wave with grace, or doing more weekend camping with your kids.

Each of those conversations I had this spring, initiated by a kayaker’s existential woe, ended with a clearer idea of what excited that paddler. The result for one was to work towards a new certification, and for another it was turning a more analytical eye to their personal paddling skills. Personally, with my now-teenagers becoming far less dependent on me than they were 13 years ago, I’m realizing that I want to spend more time on the water with them before they move out!

Wherever the reflective process takes you this spring, I hope you find what drives your kayaking forward, and craft your paddling season to serve that passion. A meaningful destination on your horizon can be the difference between a long upwind slog, and ripping down-wind with the hissing crest of a wave under your stern.

Good luck! - Nate

I’d be interested to hear what’s driving you these days, and how you’re feeding your passion. Drop me a line at pinnipedkayak@gmail.com

Need some inspiration? Have a look at what’s on offer this season at Pinniped Kayak. Course schedule

Paddling Season is on the way!

You know what I did this week, instead of going surfing during a lovely February thaw? I finished up the 2019 course schedule for you! Proof that even extreme procrastination eventually must end! With all those hours at a keyboard finally behind me, I’m really excited to share another year on the water with all of you!

I’ll be kicking off my season at the East Coast Paddlesports Symposium in Charleston, SC at the end of March, and I’d love to see you there. It’s a perfect warm-water venue for those of us looking to escape the New England mud-season. (March 29-31)

I’ll start up in my home waters in early May, with a visit from Todd Wright. Join us for a 3-day “Season Opener”. We’ll hit some of our favorite paddling spots around MDI, including Reversing Falls, the spectacular cliffs, and wherever else the conditions take us.

You can take a look at the entire schedule at PinnipedKayak.com, and if you have questions about anything, or want to discuss your personal goals for the upcoming season, don’t hesitate to call or email me. I’d love to hear from you.

Among our varied course offerings, here are a few highlights:

• Whitewater for Sea Kayakers - Sure 97% of the earth’s water is salty, but some of the other 3% is actually pretty fun too! Let us introduce you to WW kayaking, to hone your rough water skills, improve your sea kayaking, and give you a taste of our other favorite realm.

• A hat-trick of our popular "3-Day Paddler Development Intensives" - Designed for maximum skills improvement, it’s sort of a soup-to-nuts instructional feast. We’ll make use of the best training venues that the MDI region has to offer, from Sullivan Falls to Otter Cliffs and beyond. Rocks, Tide Races, Open Water, etc. Available in May, July and August this season.

• Downeast Journey Training - Wondering what lies beyond the Schoodic peninsula? Come explore a vast coastline of challenging touring opportunities - the Downeast Coast! Nate will again run a fall training expedition to the Jonesport or Machias region for those who want to expand their trip-planning skills, tour through more dynamic waters than they’ve previously paddled, or just enjoy a great fall paddling adventure with a fun group. “Hey! I can see Canada!”

• ACA Instructor Training and Assessment available at Levels 2, 3 and 4. Sure it’s great for teachers and guides, but the biggest benefits I see from instructor training is the insight that candidates gain about their own paddling. It’s a worthwhile investment in your own personal paddling performance, and it can be a very rewarding process.

For those paddlers who are looking to make big strides in their kayaking this year (regardless of your current level), I am accepting Long-Term Students.  The most rewarding relationships that I have with students are ones which allow us to consider the long-view, and build a comprehensive plan for individual paddler development, throughout a season and beyond.  If you are interested in committing to 6 or more days of instruction this year, I will commit to helping you to make long-term gains in your paddling development, and spending time with you on goal-setting and practice-planning, as well as incorporating some more time-intensive coaching tools like video analysis into our sessions.  Please get in touch with me to discuss this possibility in more detail. 

Now is a good time to think about Equipment needs for the upcoming year.  I keep a number of items in stock, including a variety of Werner paddles, Kokatat vests, and Northwater tow systems. And I’ll be receiving orders from Kokatat, Northwater, Snapdragon, Werner, P&H, and Pyranha this spring, so I can help you out with anything I don’t currently have on hand as well. Drop me a line. (Discounts for Pinniped students!)

I hope you continue to find adventure in the outdoors this winter, and spend some evenings by the fire plotting grand summertime exploits on the water!

See you soon!

- Nate

"What will be covered during the Paddler Development Weekend?"

Recently, I received an email asking what is taught during the Paddler Development Intensive (next offered on August 25-27).    I'll admit, I've chosen a vague course title for these popular intermediate-to-advanced clusters of courses, so that I can individualize instruction to each paddler's needs and create learning experiences that are responsive to the students' skills, their state of mind, and the opportunities that the environment presents us with.  Fixed curricula or specific course titles sometimes impede learner-driven instruction.

"But really, what's covered in the course?"  Fair enough - you want to know what you're signing up for.  Specifics vary somewhat with weather and the group’s needs, but here’s a likely example of how it might go.

We’ll spend day one in a coastal venue with some surf, some ledges, some swell - working to refine existing strokes, and utilizing the energy in the environment to make maneuvering more effective.  One of our goals might be to improve our understanding of how the environment effects the boat, and learn how to select strokes to use that energy to our advantage.  

Day two will be at a Reversing Tidal Falls, and we’ll work on crossing eddy lines (from mild to extremely pushy, depending on each student's needs), use those skills to surf standing waves (from pequeño to grande, depending on each student's needs), practice rescues and perhaps towing in current, and maybe touch up our rolling technique in flat water and then in more challenging conditions.  Throughout, we’re looking for similarities between the different venues, and fundamental principles that improve our performance in all of sea kayaking.

Our venue for day three might depend on what the conditions are offering us, and perhaps what the students would like more of.  A likely option would be to seek a more exposed coastal venue, perhaps with a bit of offshore tide-race and do some more surfing and rock gardening, as well as a bit of safety and decision-making in rocky environments.  Incident management, difficult rescues, surf landing/launching, no-landing zone landings are all on the menu of possibilities.  In addition to continuing some existing themes (such as use of momentum, or stroke placement to improve turning effectiveness), this day might include some of the leadership concepts involved in planning and managing play in more complex coastal locales, and evaluating play spots for safety.  

This 3-day format has been well-received by students over the last few years, and I've been offering more of these options each season.  Participants have said that they appreciate the way concepts build through the three days, and how commonalities are woven from one venue to the next.  

If you've taken one of these 3-day clusters in the past, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the format, either in the comments here or in an email.   If you haven't, consider giving it a try, and let me know if you have any questions.  I'll try not to be purposely vague!

Looking forward to paddling with some of you in the coming weeks!

Nate