|
||||
  
 
 |
Kayaking lessons a new (and wet) challenge By
Maggon Osmond
Have you ever heard of an eddy turn, wet exit, side-surfing, hip snap or a stern draw? The students attending a USU Summer Credit Workshop entitled "Kayaking Skills and Drills" are learning the literal definitions to these words. "Kayaking Skills and Drills" is an intensive workshop that runs from June 20 to July 21. The workshop happens every Tuesday and Thursday at the HPER pool on the USU campus for several hours of hands-on experience. It consists of getting in the pool and practicing the skills of kayaking. The "wet exit" is learned by climbing in the kayak, paddling to the middle of the pool and tipping upside down. This skill is critical and seems to be learned very quickly. "I love it," USU student Nathan Wayland exclaimed. "I thought I would be scared hanging upside down in the water strapped to a kayak, but it is fun!" "Kayaking Skills and Drills" is designed to prepare you to kayak on the rivers of the West at your leisure and pleasure. Not only does the workshop teach you the skills of kayaking, but it also includes field trips that allow you to experience much more. This workshop includes pool sessions; lecture hours, a three-day local field trip and a two-day trip on the Snake River. On the field trips the professors, Darek Staab and Branden Moore, continually teach about equipment, river classification, river safety, rescue, strokes and maneuvers in moving water, river-reading strategies, Leave-No-Trace principles on camping by the river and much more. This workshop is an inclusive learning experience about kayaking and the endless world of outdoors. As participant Leslie Marley put it, "It's a new adventure and a new challenge."
|
Archived Months:
January
1999 January
2000 |
||