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"Believe me, my young friend. There is nothing, absolutely nothing,
half so worth doing as simply messing around in boats." 

The Wind in the Willows

Sea Kayaking Certifications in the Netherlands - Skill Levels

9/22/2018

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I don't have so many pictures of sea kayaking in the Netherlands yet, so I've thrown in some fun sea kayaking pictures from kayaking in New York and California to make this post a bit less text-heavy :) 
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Tom on the North Sea
(March 2018, Read about this trip here!)
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Sue on Lake Ontario practicing a high brace
(Aug 2010, Read more here!)
Before getting into it, just a heads-up that this article is based on information from September 2018. Requirements for certifications change often, so make sure to check out the linked websites throughout this article for the most recent status, should you decide you want to get certified! 

This summer I've regained an interest in teaching kayaking and more formally practicing/refreshing my paddling skills (i.e. not just joining trips, but really focusing on improving my technique). Teaching the recent introductory class helped with this, as it reminded me that I enjoy practicing technique (with a fun group of friends) almost as much as going on trips. 

This led me to wonder what types of paddling certifications are relevant in the Netherlands. Paddling skill and instructor certifications in the US and UK are managed by the American Canoe Association (ACA) and the British Canoe Union (BCU) - now known as British Canoeing, respectively. These pages provide descriptions of what is required for each level of sea kayaking (instructor) certifications:
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  • ACA Levels (scroll down to Assessments)
  • BCU Star Awards (though this page seems to be missing the 4- and 5-start awards)

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Teaching my first Never Dry introduction-to-kayaking course (+ new page!)

9/9/2018

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In this post, I briefly describe the experience of teaching my first Never Dry "introductiecursus". For details about the skills we covered, I've made a new page which I plan to update/improve each time I teach future intro courses. Did you stumble onto this blog, and are you interested in joining the paddling community in Rotterdam? Then please reach out! Contact form available on this page. 
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Nathalie and Marieke adjusting their footpegs before heading out for lesson #3
When new members join Never Dry, we invite them to participate in a 3-evening series of introduction courses to learn the basics of paddling (essentially: enough to be able to paddle alone on the Kralingse Plas in good weather). Having taught kayaking in the past, I decided it would be fun to give one of these intro courses myself. The opportunity recently presented itself when Nathalie (a friend of mine), Fran (a colleague of Henk's), and Marieke (who found me through this website) expressed interest in joining Never Dry. They were the perfect guinea pigs!
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Marieke practicing getting into the boat from the Never Dry dock.
In my (short) experience as a member of Never Dry, I've observed that the intro courses are fairly ad-hoc. Essentially, we tell potential members to "stop by on a Wednesday evening and paddle with a fellow club member". This works well when new members are highly motivated and comfortable meeting a bunch of new strangers at the same time and taking the lead in their own kayaking development (all good things). However, I know that I never would have gotten into kayaking if that had been my experience. I find it helpful to have a bit more structure when I'm learning or getting involved in something new. Therefore, I decided to bring some extra structure to the classes, both for the benefit of myself and (hopefully) the new members.

My goal is to help potential members feel more at home at the club, make their first Never Dry friends, and motivate them to stick around and learn more by joining the club and participating in broader club activities. Below are some ways I hope to do this:
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  • By sticking to a roster (i.e. students will be the same in all three classes, giving people time to get to know each other - a first step in building a network within the club) and setting the expectation that everyone is should attend all three courses
  • Organizing the courses on a non-club-night, so we would have plenty of space and few distractions, especially for the first one or two classes. 
  • Setting up a whatsapp group for communicating outside of class, to reschedule in case of bad weather, share photos, build comradery, stay in touch etc. 
  • Defining a flexible lesson plan (more on this later)
  • Managing expectations about what you should know at the end of the course, and which parts of the course are just a sneak peak into more advanced paddle techniques
  • Organizing some follow-up activities to help integrate new members into the club (in progress!)
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Nathalie about to put her boat in the water, being careful to protect her back!
I'm happy to say, our first set of classes were a blast! Fran, Nathalie, and Marieke were all enthusiastic, eager, and fun paddlers, and quickly picked up the basics of kayaking in the first two days. They were not scared away by our first rainy evening on the water. On the second day, Fran and Nathalie even practiced wet exits and assisted rescues! We spent the third day exploring more advanced paddle strokes. By the end of the evening I saw some pretty smooth edged turns and bracing. Marieke also practised a wet exit and assisted rescue. We have some new rising sea kayakers in our ranks! <insert heart emoji>
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Fran, Nathalie, and Marieke at the end of our 3rd class.
​So what did we do? Rather than write it all in this post, I decided to make a separate page where I will maintain and update a rough lesson plan. Since this was my first Never Dry intro course, I learned a lot and plan to make plenty of adjustments for the next one.

​See "Intro to Kayaking" under the "Resources" tab above, or click here to see the new page.

We also enjoyed a drink/snack/chat after each class, back in the cozy club house, when we would plan our next class and ponder what we could practice next time. ​I'm a bit sad that it's over, but we're already organizing our first real paddling trip, so stay tuned for that post soon :) 
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How to win a dragon boat race without practicing!

9/5/2018

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There goes our combined Never Dry - RCC - Staatsbosbeheer team!
It was an unusually hot sunny morning as I cycled down the Rotte River towards Crooswijksebocht (literally: Duckweed District Bend, where "bend" refers to the bend in the River). As I approached the bend, I saw a colorful crowd milling on the riverbank. Overheating, I removed my sweatshirt to reveal a bright blue t-shirt: our club uniform. I locked my bike on one of the many temporary bike racks and wandered into the crowd, keeping an eye out for other blue-shirted people. 

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Crossing the Wadden Sea: from Holwerd to Nes, Ameland

8/7/2018

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Paddling (and kayak sailing!) from buoy to buoy, across the Wadden Sea. Photo by Marianne.
In this whirlwind of a weekend, we camped and kayaked in Friesland, crossed the Wadden Sea to Ameland, camped and biked,  paddled back again, and made it back to Rotterdam in time for dinner. We encountered a bit of wind and waves, some friendly currents, big ferries,  and a (real!) message in a bottle. 

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Introducing pagaja, the first booking portal for paddle sports!

8/2/2018

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This post is a bit different from my usual trip reports, but don't be alarmed! As you can see, my site does not have advertisements, and I plan to keep it that way. However, I'd like to let (finally) tell you a bit about a kayaking-related side project I've been working on since January. 
While I was making my way down the length of New Zealand in January, dipping a paddle in the water whenever possible, I recieved a friendly email through the contact form of The Naked Kayaker.  Leigh and Nico, the founders of pagaja, were wondering if I'd be interested in spreading the word about pagaja, an (awesome) new website/service to providers of paddlesports activities in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg (and eventually elsewhere). What is pagaja, you ask?

First off, how do you pronounce it?! For English speakers, you pronounce it as <puh-gaah-yuh>. It comes from the word for "paddle" in French and Italian.  Elegant, right? Once you know how to pronounce it...

What is pagaja? It's the first online booking platform for any human-powered watersports. Kayaking (all types), canoeing, stand-up paddleboarding, and rafting are all included. Companies who provide rentals, tours, trips, and lessons can post their activities on the site for booking. To the customer, the website looks a lot like other booking sites (e.g. Airbnb, Booking.com, etc.). You choose a location, dates, type of activity, and immediately see a list of fun paddling activities that can be booked. The site works on commission fees, so providers don't pay anything unless one of their activities is booked. 

I was genuinely excited when I saw the site for the first time. If you've followed this blog for a while, you might be familiar with the where can I rent a kayak in Belgium/Netherlands map. I made this map in 2016 out of frustration - I wanted to go paddling in the winter and was having trouble finding kayak rentals in Belgium, let alone rentals in the off-season. So, as I often do, I took a systematic approach. I created a database and map of kayak rentals in Belgium and the Netherlands, which I have often referred to in the years since. I was also contacted by kanokaart.nl, who put the information on their nice kayaking map.  

In my experience, most paddling company websites are low-tech at best, and (instant) booking systems are rare. I've also navigated many non-English websites to find, understand, and book kayak rentals.  So I'm super stoked that there is now a centralized website to find paddling activities all over the world, and even more so that I get to be involved! 

So, to continue my story, I said yes, and planned a weekend to visit the pagaja headquarters in Germany! I stepped off the plane in Munich on a Saturday night, and Nico picked me up in his van at the airport. Yes... I got into a van driven by a stranger from the internet, in the middle of the night... Luckily, I'm here from the future to tell you I survived! We drove one hour southeast of the airport towards their headquarters - at the border with Austria, in the foothills of the Alps! It was dark, so I couldn't see anything, but I could tell it was hilly. 

The next thing I knew, I had dropped my belongings in a beautiful B&B and found myself with Nico in the local restaurant, having a beer! It was exactly how you might imagine a German bar: all wood with cute decorations and even waitresses in Bavarian dresses! I thought that only happened during Oktoberfest...

The next morning, I woke up and looked out my window:
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View from my room. Hey, there are mountains!
Not a bad view! I had an hour before I would meet Nico and Leigh for breakfast at the restaurant, so I decided to go for a walk. It was pretty, to say the least. I had somehow imagined it would be just like the Netherlands, not realizing you could have an awesome job running a kayaking website and live in a place like this:
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View of the mountains during my morning walk
Over breakfast I met Leigh, and the three of us discussed pagaja and how I could help get the word out to the BENELUX market. Later, we stopped by their snazzy office (it looks like a Bay Area start-up inside), and they showed me some of the nuts-and-bolts of the backend system. I was prepared with a list of questions, which they patiently answered. After another delicious meal at the town restaurant, I took the train back to Munich and flew back to Amsterdam - it was a whirlwind 24 hours! 

Fast forward a few months: Our collaboration is now official, I've registered myself as a one-woman company in the Netherlands, and I'm starting up with marketing efforts in BENELUX! We're looking for pioneering paddling providers who are interested in getting their activities up on the pagaja website. Contact me for a brochure with plenty more information!
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It's so official, I even have a headshot!
To make a long story short: If you are a provider of paddlesports activities and would like to learn more about how pagaja works, please contact me!

Okay, now back to packing for a weekend camping trip on the Wadden Sea!
​Stay tuned for that trip report next week :) 
​
happy paddling,
nena
Marketing Manager BENELUX for pagaja.com
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New page! Map of paddling clubs in the Netherlands

7/29/2018

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​This weekend I received an email from a paddling enthusiast who recently moved to the Netherlands and is looking for ways to get involved in the Dutch paddling community. I searched for a list of the paddling clubs (kanoverenigingen) in the Netherlands, and quickly realized there are no good/comprehensive/user friendly maps available. All I could find were long and incomplete lists of club names and cities, which are pretty much useless to a newcomer to the Netherlands. Many paddling clubs are located in small towns just outside big cities, and if you don't know the names of those towns, then you wouldn't know to look for them in a long list! So I was inspired to take various lists (from the Watersportverbond, TKBN, and some additional websites) and put them into a simple Google map. Ta-daaah!

For the interactive map, and more information, please visit the new page (available under the Resources tab at the top of the page). 
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Screenshot of the map (click map to see interactive version)
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A watery tour of Linschoten, Montfoort, and Oudewater

7/28/2018

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Paddling through the centrum of Oudewater, at the intersection of the Linschoten and the Ijssel River
Linschoten is a small village (~3500 inhabitants) in the Netherlands, between Gouda and Utrecht. Juliette, a fellow kayaking club member, recently moved there, and planned a trip for all of us to explore the area by kayak. This day trip took us from the town of Linschoten through some canals to Montfoort. From there, we rode the Hollandse Ijssel River to the old town of Oudewater, turning right onto the Lange Linschoten River. This lead us back to the starting point, but not before stopping at a "tea garden" along the way!

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Sea Kayaking in the Ionian Islands of Lefkada and Meganisi (Overnight Trip)

7/20/2018

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Henk paddling in the crystal clear water of the Ionian Sea
Greece, how you exceeded my expectations! When I first began brewing up plans to go kayaking in Greece (shout out to Doug!), I pictured steep coasts peppered with bright white houses and blue decorations. I had imagined that these dense developments would cover the Greek islands, and we would paddle from dense village to village, eating delicious Greek food and sipping red wine. So, when we began paddling away from the little town of Vasiliki on the Island of Lefkada, I was struck by how vast and natural the surrounding islands really were. Aside from some small villages in pocket beaches, we encountered undeveloped shorelines of steep cliffs, rocky/pebble-y beaches, and olive groves.

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Sunset over the Maas River in Rotterdam

7/18/2018

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One bridge permanently up, and the other just opening, and another in the distance. Two kayakers playing in the swirling water.
Today I'm just sharing a handful of photos from this evening's paddle on the Maas River in Rotterdam! The city shines at this hour. Led by Erik and Iede, a big group of paddlers (I didn't even count) went for a paddle through Rotterdam. We caught a nice river current on the way back. 

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Riding the IJssel River from Dieren to Olst (Overnight Trip)

7/12/2018

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Paddling past the city of Zutphen on the IJssel River
Last weekend (my birthday weekend!) I spent two extremely sunny days paddling along the IJssel River in good company, with plenty of assistance from the currents. We encountered sandy and very muddy beaches, swirling river currents, a little bit of wildlife (including a partying kayak-polo team), and an evening circus! Read on for photos, a map, and the story.

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    Welcome!

    This is a blog about exploring the outdoors (mostly by kayak), traveling, trip planning, and coastal engineering. It currently focuses on kayaking in the Netherlands and Belgium, but previous posts cover Upstate New York, California, and much more. See the Complete List of Blog Posts for a history of the site. Looking for something specific? Search the site here.

    In addition to the blog, check out the Water Nerd section, where I write about coastal engineering and hydrology. 

    ​Happy Paddling!
    ​Nena

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