NZ Kayak School

Over the last week or so, I've been talking to the NZ Kayak School about learning their style of teaching, i.e. observing some of their beginner classes. They've been open to the idea, but encouraged me to focus a little on my own paddling first. In order to do so, I signed up for an Intermediate/Advanced Kayak Course with the school. It was a four day course that was definitely challenging, informative, and rewarding.

We worked on so many things over the course of four days: pool session every morning to work on perfecting our rolls; flatwater sessions to work on drills and boat control; river sessions to work on the application of those flatwater skills; and some river rescue/safety skills. (This picture is taken during one of the river rescue scenarios.) We would start at 8am and finish our third session of the day, usually, at about 6pm. That sounds like a normal day, but the amount of focus required and the physical demands had us all quite exausted by the end of each day. The course ended a couple of days ago, and I've been just recouperating ever since. I'm still quite sore in a few places, but really glad for every bit of the course. I have plenty of things now to keep practicing.

The intermediate/advanced class included: (from left to right) me, Emilene (from Ireland), Mike (from the States), and our instructor Zak Shaw. Jenny (not pictured) was taking a beginning course on the same days as our course. We all stayed at the lodge during the courses and had a great time. Even though we were exausted at the end of the day, we all ate meals together and were able to process our experiences and bonded quite well. I now have three new places in New Zealand where I know people and can visit while I'm here. Yay!

In January and February, the NZ Kayak School will have a number of beginner classes going on, so I might be able to observe some of those, but for the next month or so, I have a little time on my hands. I haven't decided exactly what I'm going to do with that time, but I'm guessing it will probably include some kayaking. It might be a good time to check out some other areas on the South Island. I'll keep you posted. . .