- Joined
- May 19, 2007
- Messages
- 7,745
Some great stuff in this thread guys!
As part of my career change, I've been training as what they call here a "flat water canoe guide" which really means I can help someone put on a life jacket, and teach them how to make the pointy bit of the canoe go forwards, left or right! Amazing. Its been a heap of fun since I've been getting some good instruction on some of the more advanced techniques, and having to practice them since most of the rivers here are tidal, so they have some interesting current patterns. I didn't realize that I had a few bad habits from learning to canoe a long time ago in an old green coleman.
Next week we do our final training trip which will involve each person of our class of 9 being the "guide" for a couple hours over two days. Plus we have been told that we will probably have to dump our canoes just before we set up camp. Should be great, considering not everyone's waterproofing did all that well on the last trip. And as part of being the "class" we will have roles to play, like the kid who doesn't listen, the kid who wants to decide what to do, the kid who is tired, cold and wants to quit. That part should be a heap of fun!
So far I've taught a few classes, most have been fairly disastrous, not in the harm sense, but one group of 8 year olds I had got chased off the water by lightning about 10 minutes into the session. Another group got caught in a pretty severe wind as soon as we got in the water, (of course it was the day I had one of my potential employers with me) luckily the sessions ended up fun. Amazing how many games you can play with a rubber chicken! but not too many sessions where anyone but me learned much. Could be worse I guess, I haven't lost anyone yet.
Gearing up to teach has been an interesting exercise, since most gear here is really over-priced, and since australia uses a different ratings system than the rest of the world, if something were to go wrong, it would be hard to prove I had "adequate" equipment. oh well. also I sink like a stone, so I had to find a large vest that could tighten down enough to fit me, as a vest that would normally fit me, doesn't quite float me. not fun for a non-swimmer. But its not like I need to buy a boat or anything, anywhere I work will have all that, and paddles.
Question for you all though. what sort of seat-back or backrest do you guys use? or is there a technique for sitting on a flat seat without getting a tired back? The canoes that we are taking on the trip are plastic white-water style canoes, with buoyancy pods under the seats, so its hard to kneel anywhere but the middle. It probably won't matter much at the moment, since I'll really only be doing half-days mostly. But I'm kinda thinking about what sort of boat I want to get for myself in a couple of years.
As part of my career change, I've been training as what they call here a "flat water canoe guide" which really means I can help someone put on a life jacket, and teach them how to make the pointy bit of the canoe go forwards, left or right! Amazing. Its been a heap of fun since I've been getting some good instruction on some of the more advanced techniques, and having to practice them since most of the rivers here are tidal, so they have some interesting current patterns. I didn't realize that I had a few bad habits from learning to canoe a long time ago in an old green coleman.
Next week we do our final training trip which will involve each person of our class of 9 being the "guide" for a couple hours over two days. Plus we have been told that we will probably have to dump our canoes just before we set up camp. Should be great, considering not everyone's waterproofing did all that well on the last trip. And as part of being the "class" we will have roles to play, like the kid who doesn't listen, the kid who wants to decide what to do, the kid who is tired, cold and wants to quit. That part should be a heap of fun!
So far I've taught a few classes, most have been fairly disastrous, not in the harm sense, but one group of 8 year olds I had got chased off the water by lightning about 10 minutes into the session. Another group got caught in a pretty severe wind as soon as we got in the water, (of course it was the day I had one of my potential employers with me) luckily the sessions ended up fun. Amazing how many games you can play with a rubber chicken! but not too many sessions where anyone but me learned much. Could be worse I guess, I haven't lost anyone yet.
Gearing up to teach has been an interesting exercise, since most gear here is really over-priced, and since australia uses a different ratings system than the rest of the world, if something were to go wrong, it would be hard to prove I had "adequate" equipment. oh well. also I sink like a stone, so I had to find a large vest that could tighten down enough to fit me, as a vest that would normally fit me, doesn't quite float me. not fun for a non-swimmer. But its not like I need to buy a boat or anything, anywhere I work will have all that, and paddles.
Question for you all though. what sort of seat-back or backrest do you guys use? or is there a technique for sitting on a flat seat without getting a tired back? The canoes that we are taking on the trip are plastic white-water style canoes, with buoyancy pods under the seats, so its hard to kneel anywhere but the middle. It probably won't matter much at the moment, since I'll really only be doing half-days mostly. But I'm kinda thinking about what sort of boat I want to get for myself in a couple of years.
