Saturday, May 16, 2009

MAKF Day 2

Today is Saturday and the festival has really starting to get underway. There were more people here and there was actually live music. I was registered for two classes today, the ACA L3 assessment and Incident management. Since I was the only person registered for Incident management, I was moved into Rolling in Conditions.

ACA L3 Assessment
After registering for two classes for the day, I then learned at the festival that this was supposed to be a full day assessment. But since it was only two people again, it turned out it was possible to condense the assessment down into a half day. I was glad for that as I really wanted to get out and learn more stuff. The same person I had as an instructor for the BCU 3 Star training turned out to be my assessor for the ACA L3. This was both good and bad. It meant he already knew what level I could paddle at, and I was going to have to show improvement in order to pass my assessment. What I had going for me was that I learn very quickly and this was the ACA system, not the BCU system. There were actually a few differences between the two systems and I was learning some strokes as I was trying to demonstrate that I knew them. I did get hung up on my sculling brace and the reverse hanging draw stroke. He told me that if I could demonstrate I could perform those strokes before he left, then he would pass me. So I was still in limbo and still on edge.

Lunch
Since lunch was two hours long, the festival coordinators had small little lectures on various topics scattered around the room. I chose to go to the navigation talk as I wasn't all that sure about how to do navigation either from the cockpit of the kayak nor how to plan before a trip. I thought this would be a good class to take and I was right. I learned a lot both on how to figure out where I was as well as how to generate a set of bearings to follow while on a trip to stay on course.

Rolling in Conditions
I went out in the afternoon with a larger group. In fact this was the largest group I had been with, anything more then 2 students was larger. This was a nice group size. I wasn't sure about taking the advanced rolling class as I had missed my roll twice the day before. I figured even if I couldn't get my roll down I would at least get a chance to go out in conditions and play around a little bit. We actually worked a little on rescues to make sure no one had to swim so at least I had that covered. A few of us with less then perfect rolls ended up working in a more sheltered area on rolling and I worked a little on the strokes I needed to pass my assessment. The wind had really kicked up in the afternoon and sheltered locations were few. I still felt I got a lot out of the lesson even if I couldn't do what they wanted, I could at least see how it was supposed to be performed and once I get my roll back I can work on learning those new skills.

Wrap-up
The evening entertainment was actually given by several people. I listened to a talk about saving sea turtles out in Baja. I heard a short talk about the Arctic Voices paddle as well a short video about commando paddling. All very good and interesting. I was really happy to hit the sack that night. I had plans to get up early with the other girl I was taking the assessment with to practice the few things we needed to pass. Hope all goes well in the morning and I pass.

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