Greenland Skills - Harstine Island to McMicken Island

Meet no later than 8:30am at Jerrell's Cove (private) Marina, located at 220 E Wilson Rd, Shelton, WA. You may arrive after 5pm on Friday June 16 to set up your tent to camp out the night before if you wish. Both the camping and the clinic will be based out of this private campground for the weekend. Water and power are available at campsite. Bring your own extension cord. 

Have your boat staged near water’s edge ready to go, drysuit on to your waist at 9:15am. (The Carry to the water is 2 minutes.)

Be sure and click on the blue "Equipment" tab for required equipment for the weekend.

Participants should be graduates from the Basic Sea Kayaking class, or have equivalency, and participated in a several SKII and a few SKIII paddles. They should be comfortable in paddling in wind and seas up to those listed. You should be able to paddle at a 3.0 kt pace for ½ hour, able to paddle in up to 10 kt wind and 1 ft seas, and be capable of covering 11nm in a full day (second day 9nm or less). Attendance at prior strokes clinics is not a necessity but will be helpful. Call Charlie Michel at (360) 710-0616 for permission to sign up or to discuss whether clinic is right for you.

Kayaking was born in the Arctic.  It was part of a sophisticated hunting technology that helped traditional cultures thrive in the far north.   Staying home to nurse a sore shoulder or strained elbow was not an option.  When the hunting was good, the hunter had to put out to sea in his skin-on-frame kayak and provide for his family.   Consequently, traditional kayaking techniques evolved with a focus on effective paddling in harsh conditions, but with ergonomically friendly technique.

Modern paddlers can learn a great deal from traditional paddlers.   Our keyboard dominated lives stress the tendons of our lower arms.   Civilized lifestyles mean our shoulder muscles are not as strong as they could be, so injury to the rotator cuff is all too common.   Especially as we age, we need a style of paddling that is effective but at the same time easy on the body.   For those of us interested in paddling for years to come, we need traditional paddling.

As one moves beyond flat protected water, conditions may conspire to knock paddlers around.  We will work on braces to prevent capsize and rescues for capsized paddlers that let them stay in their boats.  This is an essential element of traditional kayaking.  In cold Arctic waters, to swim was to die and therefore kayakers stayed in their boats.  With our dry suits and polar fleece base layers, we do swim and live to tell the tale.  Hence, we will break with tradition and spend plenty of time with rescues focused on traditional skin on frame kayaks.  

 Finally, no traditional kayaking workshop is complete without some time spent on rolling.  We de-emphasize rolling since it is far more important to have a good set of strokes than to know how to roll.  We will, however, spend some time on the basic layback roll and, for those with bodies/kayaks that support it, the balance brace.  More advanced rolling instruction might be possible, but this depends on the group, in which case we would have additional instructors on hand for this portion.

This workshop occurs over a two day weekend. Your camping fees are included in the price whether you choose to camp or not.

Day 1
1. Introductions
2. The Greenland Paddle.   Getting the right fit and how to hold the paddle.
3. The core propulsion strokes and the extended paddle position
4. Lunch with a short talk on the history of Arctic Cultures
5.Sculling and draws.
6. Turning underway: rudders and edges
7. Forward stroke refinements: sliding strokes and canted forward stroke.
8. The wonders of dead fish polo

Day 2 … dress warmly for immersion
1. Group paddle … to warm up and reinforce the strokes from Day 1
2. Staying in the kayak … boat-to-boat rescues
3. Braces and aggressive sculling. 
4. Introduction to the balance brace
5. Lunch
6. Skin on Frame rescues and towing.
7. The Hand of Pavia  rescue technique
8. Rolling … the basic roll or, for current rollers, the forward finishing roll
9. Aggressive dead fish polo … rolling and bracing in chaos
10.  Wrap-up Group paddle for last minute refinements.

We will be working in the area of Jarrell Cove as well as paddling to nearby locations such as McMicken Island and Stretch Point State Parks.

Instructors
Tim Mattson is an ACA Level 5 Advanced Open Water Coastal Kayaking Instructor, and is leading the ACA subcommittee on developing a Traditional Skills endorsement. Tim is also an ACA Level 3 Instructor-Educator (he teaches instructors how to teach).

Pat Welle is a retired ACA L4 Coastal Instructor and L3 Instructor-Trainer. Tim helped found, and both have regularly taught, at SSTIKS (South Sound Traditional Skills Kayaking Symposium). They are excellent at breaking down a stroke in to its component pieces and use a very methodical and effective teaching approach.