Join Nate Hanson (ACA L4 IT, L5 Instructor) to assess and improve your teaching abilities in an authentic instructor assessment. Click on course title for more information.

L4 Open Water Sea Kayak Instructor Certification is offered for existing L3 Coastal Kayak instructors who are prepared to expand their teaching skills into more advanced environments, and provide more effective and differentiated instruction in authentic paddling environments. Click on course title for details

Join Nate Hanson, Josh Hall, Todd Johnstone-Wright, and other talented ACA Instructors and British Canoeing Coaches for a weekend of sheltered water through advanced open-water development. We aim to have fun playing in a dynamic and aesthetic environment, developing performance, building community, and breaking down barriers to paddlesport in small groups of eight paddlers. Click course title for details.

Training to become an ACA-Certified Coastal Kayaking Instructor is an excellent way to formalize your own kayaking skills and gain the tools for effectively sharing kayaking with other paddlers.  Nate Hanson (ACA L5 Advanced Open Water Instructor, L3 Instructor Trainer, L3 River Kayak Instructor) is offering an ACA L3 Instructor Development Workshop (IDW) at Pinniped Kayak.  Candidates will leave with refined personal skills, an improved arsenal of instructional tools, and a personalized action plan to prepare for an Instructor Certification Exam (ICE) (e.g. Aug 10-11th).  Click on course title for more details.

Reprising last season’s most popular course, Todd Wright (Synaptic Sport) and Nate Hanson are taking you back to the end of the earth (err . . . the end of Maine anyways), for a versatile skills and leadership training event. With awesome venues such as Cobscook Reversing Falls, Quoddy Head, and the Bold Coast within reach, how could it not be a great time?! Click on Course title for more details

During this 4-day sea kayak journey, we'll work together to refine the skills required for multi-day kayak touring in an exposed coastal environment.  At the intersection of significant tidal flows from the inland bays and the powerful Bay of Fundy to the northeast, this area presents amazing beauty but also considerable challenges, and the goals of our trip will be to develop the skills required to safely plan and execute journeys to such remote and exposed destinations.   Click on course title for complete details.

Join Nate Hanson (ACA L4 IT, L5 Instructor) to assess and improve your teaching abilities in an authentic instructor assessment. Click on course title for more information.

Three days of comprehensive skills development for competent ocean paddlers who are looking for new challenges.  Each day we will choose a venue based on conditions, to make the most of the learning opportunities that surround Mount Desert Island.  Paddling environments will likely include reversing falls, coastal tide-races and rock gardens.   Click on course title for more details.

Last minute availability! We have space to add a 2 or 3 day WW for Sea Kayakers course, next week! Please get in touch ASAP if you may be interested in joining.

Great things happen when sea kayakers take to the river for whitewater training. We’ve had an awesome time introducing many of you to the river in the past few years, and we're looking forward to more. This year we’ll again offer our course on the famed Penobscot River, giving us access to reliable flows and beautiful riverside camping, and allowing for a wider range of challenges. We’ll build skills for understanding whitewater, moving boats with finesse, and making confident moves in whitewater rivers.
This course is appropriate for competent sea kayakers with no river experience, and for newer whitewater boaters looking to expand their abilities and safety. Click on course title for more details.

During this 3-day sea kayak journey, we'll work together to build the skills required for multi-day kayak touring in a coastal environment.
This is journey is the culmination of our “Foundations” series of sea kayaking classes, providing a great progression towards becoming a competent coastal sea kayaker, capable of taking your own coastal and multiday adventures. Click on course title for complete details.

“Yikes, that landing looks tricky!”   “Hey, where’s his boat?”  “Sasha, was that hole there before lunch?”

Todd Johnstone-Wright (Synaptic Sport) and Nate Hanson team up for this two day course, geared towards better understanding the environment, and having more intentional adventures. Our philosophy of preparedness is that you only know what a solution will look like if you have actually practiced it in challenging, realistic conditions.  In this scenario-based course you’ll build and explore your risk-assessment and safety-planning toolkit, so that we can avoid catastrophe whenever possible; and we’ll go make a bunch of mayhem to practice sorting out the messes that the ocean sometimes throws your way. Click on Course Title for details

Todd Johnstone-Wright (Synaptic Sport) and Nate Hanson join up to create two days focused on Sea Kayak Play in Rock and Current environments.

This course is focussed on the fun - making more of your rough-water play in sea kayaks, with more finesse and less stress.  Click on Course Title for details

Training to become an ACA-Certified Coastal Kayaking Instructor is an excellent way to formalize your own kayaking skills and gain the tools for effectively sharing kayaking with other paddlers.  Nate Hanson (ACA L5 Advanced Open Water Instructor, L3 Instructor Trainer, L3 River Kayak Instructor) is offering an ACA L3 Instructor Development Workshop (IDW) at Pinniped Kayak.  Candidates will leave with refined personal skills, an improved arsenal of instructional tools, and a personalized action plan to prepare for an Instructor Certification Exam (ICE) (e.g. Aug 19-20th).  Click on course title for more details.

Pinniped Kayak is happy to be hosting The Power of Water for a week of fun and skills development along the coastline of Downeast Maine and Mount Desert Island.
The Power of Water provides outstanding paddling instruction and worldwide adventures, based in Lansing, MI.

This three-day IDW focuses on the skills and process to deliver intentional learner-centered and learning-focused sessions in advanced open water environments. Click on course title for details.

A tenant of my coaching philosophy is to teach for independence. I aim to develop paddlers who have the skills and judgment to play and make decisions safely in dynamic environments. This 2-day course will be aim towards three goals: expand personal skills in Tide Races and Rock Gardens, develop the judgement and abilities needed to avoid problems in those venues, and gain experience addressing capsizes, tough landings, damaged equipment, etc. Click on course title for details.

Nate’s looking forward to working with all you sea kayakers of the Midwest! See you at the symposium!

For more information and to register, check out the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium online.