Core Skills

This kayak class is about understanding cause and effect, ease and efficiency. Beginning with the body, we look at posture, connectivity and power transfer to get the most our of your skills.  Learn to move your kayak with the least amount of effort, while maintaining a sense of stability and protecting your body from unnecessary injury.  We will focus on developing the techniques of moving your kayak where you want it to go.  These techniques are the foundation all other kayak handling skills are built on. At any skill level, this is a great course to revisit for refining skills consider taking it every year! 

Effective, efficient, and easy - this class is the mastery of kayak handling skills intended for experienced kayakers looking to hone their skills to a high level of performance in dynamic environments. We combine an understanding of how the environment (wind, waves, currents) can affect our kayaks with the skills of solid edge control,  subtle and dynamic blade awareness, and an active posture.  The boat and blade become true extensions of your body. Combining technique with the environment that you paddle in, you develop skillful performance.  Our goal is efficiency (maximum certainty, with minimum energy expenditure, and minimum movement time)  which allows you to take your paddling in new directions.

This is our most comprehensive class. For 5 days, you will be immersed in sea kayaking. We will use the pull of the moon to go from one island to another, faster and with less effort. We will learn how to go from a "low oxygen environment" to a "high oxygen environment" with the drop of a leg and a sweep of the paddle. We will eat seaweed, see awesome wildlife, and roast marshmallows by the campfire. This is a learning vacation! With other paddlers and great coaches, you will learn about: kayak technique, kayak rescues, rolling, towing, reading and predicting currents, and navigation. If you are passionate about kayaking, have the stamina to play hard for five days in a row, and love to learn, this is a great class for you!

The forward stroke for is the most vital and yet the most neglected skill in paddle sports. As coaches and performance paddlers, we understand that the forward stroke is central to all other skills in paddling. It is also the most complex of all skills and the hardest to master.  In this two day workshop we will help you to develop a solid understanding  of how to move a kayak forward with maximum efficiency.  Through the use of video, we will analyze your forward stroke to find techniques to enhance your ability to go faster, farther and to paddle easier.

Deception Pass is famous throughout the Northwest for its 8-knot currents, drastic eddy lines, incredible whirlpools, and large upwellings. Many kayakers look at this pass with fear, but with the right coaching and leadership it becomes a playground and an incredible learning environment. We will spend two days using both the ebb and flood to work on applying a full range of strokes efficiently to moving water, including: ferry gliding, sneaking up current lines, entering current backwards, rescues, rolling, and dealing with dynamic water. This class offers tremendous opportunities for the intermediate paddler and will take advantage of everything Deception Pass has to offer.