Four or five years ago I thought about doing a rough water sea kayaking instruction event. I pitched the idea to a few sponsors, but without much success. On a whim, right after Geneva Kayak Center reopened in it’s new location, I chatted with Ryan Rushton about organizing a rough water Great Lakes Sea Kayaking Event. Over the last few months Ryan, myself and Bill Thompson from Downwind sports in Marquette hashed out a lot of key details.
So I am super excited to announce the first annual Gales Storm Gathering in Marquette Michigan. Oct 8-10 2011.
We will open registration soon.
The super awesome part about the collaboration with Ryan and Bill has been seeing what each person brings to the table. Ryan’s guiding and coaching expertise in addition to his experience organizing the Windy City symposium brought a wealth of experience to help guide the logistics, venue and mission.
While Bill’s local knowledge, coupled with his experience running two kayaking symposiums, GLSKS and Ladies of the lake each year, (plus tons of other events like the ice climbing festival) brought a ton to the table.
My own experience with WMCKA each year at Camp Pendalouan has been great to get an idea for the pitfalls of a sea kayak symposium. That and clearly drive and enthusiasm!
The Great Lakes has a large number of sea kayaking symposiums each year.
The Gales by picking to do the event in October is hoping for the conditions that the other symposiums dread, namely wind and waves. There are many many students who come back each year to all of the symposiums above who are looking to make a grab for that next rung on the ladder.
The Great Lakes have so much to offer sea kayakers. Lake Superior being the largest freshwater lake in the world makes this even more special.
So head on over to the Gales Storm Gathering website. Registration up soon, along with other exciting details.
A very special thanks to James Heirman for the design of the Gales logo and artwork. Fasco Lives.