CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF JAMAICA • ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION
Our Nordic Tour began on May 24, and we've had a wonderful summer running classes in Sweden, Norway and Denmark (with a break in the middle to guide an expedition in
South Greenland). We're writing this from our last stop on the Nordic Tour, Sandhamn, Sweden. Throughout the summer we've had bright and sunny days and warm water. Now the evenings are darker, the skies are cloudy and both the water and air temperature are dropping each day. It's still beautiful, but summer is coming to an end. In August we ran classes in Nynashamn, Stockholm, Mora, Karlstad, Malmo, Karlshamn and Sandhamn (Sweden) and Hundested and Svendborg (Denmark). The tour is sponsored by
Rebel Kayaks.
On Sunday the tour ends, and Mark heads to the UK while Helen heads to Minnesota for
The Traditional Paddlers' Gathering. In late September and early October we'll be running classes in Wales and Scotland, then later this year we have classes and symposia scheduled in the U.S., Wales, Scotland, Israel and Mexico.
After all of that we're going on vacation, so naturally, we're going paddling. We'll be meeting up with Wes Moses, and the three of us will attempt to circumnavigate Jamaica, the largest island of the Commonwealth Caribbean. To our knowledge, we will be the first people to attempt this circumnavigation. We plan to finish in late January… just in time for the Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium.
Interested in joining us for an expedition? Our Antarctic expedition dates are set for December 31, 2015 to January 27/28, 2016 (these do not include travel days to and from Argentina). Our next Greenland expedition is set for summer 2016. For more information on either of these expeditions, email info@greenlandorbust.org.
As usual, visit www.greenlandorbust.org for more information and our current Events calendar and Blog postings. For questions, comments or to schedule us in your neighborhood, email info@greenlandorbust.org.
Wherever you're spending the rest of the summer, we hope that you're enjoying some good water time. Happy paddling!
- Helen and Mark
Helen's Mentoring Madness
Practice makes perfect, and that practice is especially important when learning a roll, whether it's your first roll or your 50th. If you participate in a rolling class, you will hopefully pull off a new roll or two, but after that, it's up to you to practice to make that roll work for you every time. Once the roll is learned it takes about two times a week of practice for a month to make that roll consistent.
When practicing, keep your brain focused. Quality is more important than quantity, and it's better to do one good roll and take a break than it is to do ten rolls with the hope that a couple of them will work. A good rule to remember is that a roll performed badly three times in a row will reinforce bad habits, so keep your brain focused. As instructors, our goal for our rolling students is for the student to know why the roll works when it works, why it doesn't work when it doesn't and how to practice… after that, it's up to the student.
Program Schedule
Nordic Tour:
• May 23 to July 4 and July 24 to August 31
• May 24 to 25 – Helsingborg, Sweden
• May 30 to June 1 – Bergen, Norway
• June 7 to 9 – Fitjar, Norway
• June 14 to 15 - Bekkjarvik, Norway
• June 26 - Rungsted, Denmark
• June 27 to 29 – Copenhagen, Denmark
• July 1 to 3 - Oslo, Norway
• July 4 to 5 – Grebbestad, Sweden
• July 24 to August 4 – Nynashamn, Sweden
• August 5 to 7 - Stockholm, Sweden
• August 9 to 10 – Mora, Sweden
• August 12 to 14 – Karlstad, Sweden
• August 16 to 17 – Hundested, Denmark
• August 20 to 21 – Svendborg, Denmark
• August 23 – Malmo, Sweden
• August 24 – Karlshamn, Sweden
• August 29 to 31 – Sandhamn, Sweden
Traditional Paddlers' Gathering: September 4 to 7, Lake Carlos State Park, Minnesota
BCU 4 Star Sea Assessment: September 13 to 14, Anglesey, Wales
Intermediate / Advanced Leader and Trip Planning Training: September 22 to 26, Anglesey, Wales
Simplifying the Roll: September 27, Anglesey, Wales
Combat Rolling: September 28, Anglesey, Wales
Qajaq Immersion Weekend: October 4 to 5, Bute, Scotland
Lumpy Waters: October 10 to 12, Pacific City, Oregon
…And Finally
