Just Some News
Click here - http://www.kayakinstructionexcellence.com/KIX/Newsletters/KayakNewsletterJune05.html - to see as a web page with some embellishment and photos.

Before I launch into Spring - this is the Wenatchee River Festival Weekend! Read more below....

Soooo...spring flew by as usual and now we are already creeping up on the summer solstice! With the days getting longer I'm getting spoiled and just want them to stay that way!

It seems as if the spring starts with the Port Angeles Sea Kayak symposium which is a great place to get reacquainted with old kayak friends and meet some new ones! I taught a couple of forward stroke clinics, set out the Kajak Sport and First Light Kayaks, and basically enjoyed myself! I also toured the new symposium in Tacoma and hope to have a booth there next year.

The Instructor Development Workshop in Port Townsend brought future instructors from as far as Portland this time - people gave great presentations and we had fun with our open water segment off of Point Wilson where we played at scenarios in the tide rips.

Vicki brought a veritable wall of visuals! Forrest discusses latitude, longitude and the shape of the earth	The most exciting weekend was our instructor exam out at La Push. A new location for me, I felt confident that I had a strong group to accompany me! We explored the open water all three days - which did put a dent in our time management - but it was really fun! With swell we explored the rock gardens that make up the Olympic Coast Marine Sanctuary, we did many of our segments on various sides of James Island, we shared the inner bay of James with a Coast Guard towing exercise, had some good surfing, and most of all were treated to some stellar presentations on wind and waves, navigation, signaling, marine environment and more! Plus, I brought a huge salmon for a great group dinner on Saturday. We handed certifications from essentials to open, and everyone knows they are welcome back anytime to upgrade. Upgrading can be done many ways - help with a class or IDW/ICE, meet up to surf or play in Deception Pass, send in a video, visit another IT. There are a lot of options! See the movies: http://kayakinstructionexcellence.com/Movies/InstructorTraining/LaPush/ . If you are a Windoze person you'll have to install Quicktime if you haven't already: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html . One thing I really liked about this course was how willing everyone was to help each other - be it carry boats, launch, sweep the kitchen, whatever - people were right there for each other.
For our surfing module we trainers tried to model what we consider standard of the industry. We sent one of our most experienced instructors out first, kept one on shore to help with launching and landing, and usually had just two people in the surf showing us their stuff at one time.	We had some creative surfing shown here with Steve J. and Connor! (images taken from video)
Despite long days, people seemed to maintain a great attidude!	Steve Exe led a great hands-on signaling class. We visited and called the local coast guard to inform them we would be setting off hand-held flares and then let people try it.
Self Rescues as seen through my new waterproof video case....hmmm.	Spring teaches my new dog Ci Ci to chase kayakers.

I also taught a couple of weekend long whitewater courses for OA - these really rocked as usual. With rivers being my first love, it's always great to be on one!

A boy scout troop had me lead them on their shake-down cruise to the northern Hope Island. Watch out - if you miss your timing you'll have mud, currents, and eddy lines! They were a really fun group - and I couldn't believe I was camping out with some really fun adults too!

This weekend (right now) (June 11) is the Wenatchee River Festival ! We are all very excited about this pilot event - I've heard the organizer wants it to be the Gauly Festival of the west! I'm slated for an all women's clinic on Saturday - this will be a tune-up sort of a thing - and have donated some gear to the auction. Looking forward to driving to the east side, checking out that nice dry climate and buying a bit of fruit! I might even get a burger at my old stomping grounds in Leavenworth.

So what's going on for the rest of the summer? I've had inquiries for private trips and courses so actually haven't gotten around to actually scheduling anything! Please inquire if there is something you want to do! Agua Verde is already going strong - a great place to meet for a short class or tour followed by great food!

Inquiries and deposits are already coming in for the fall instructor courses!

I added some new Quicktime movies to the directory:

Schedule of Classes

Instructor Courses:

September 22-25 Instructor Development Workshop and Exam, Whitewater, Leavenworth, Washington

September 30-October 2 Instructor Development Workshop Coastal Kayaking,
Port Townsend
October 7-9 Instructor Certification Exam, La Push, Washington

June 11 Wenatchee River Festival

June 24 - Introduction to Paddling, Seattle, Friday evening
June 25- Basic Sea Kayaking, Seattle, Saturday 10:00 - 4:00
June 26 - Strokes and Maneuvers, Seattle, Sunday 9:00 - 12:00
June 26 - Learning Mainstream Rescues, Seattle, Sunday 1:00 - 4:00
July 9 - Basic Sea Kayaking, Seattle, Bellingham 10:00 - 4:00
July 10- Strokes and Maneuvers, Bellingham, Sunday 9:00 - 12:00
July 10 - Learning Mainstream Rescues, Bellingham, Sunday 1:00 - 4:00
TBD - Introduction to River Kayaking
TBD - Intermediate Sea Kayaking, Port Townsend
TBD - Whitewater Update, Snoqualamie/Skykomish River
TBD - Coastal Kayak Navigation and Touring, one to two days, overnight

February - Heading back to Hong Kong to work with Outward
Bound (nice!)

Club Members:
25% off an existing class KIX course**
Organize a group lesson of four people for $50.00 each (normally $85)
Take one private lesson for $125.00 (normally $185)

*All courses use approved outlines of the American Canoe Association
*New! Many of these kayaking lessons will be opportunities to be assessed into the new ACA Levels program.
**Instructor programs excluded

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