C-Forum

This year Phil Foti taught a OC1 group. Two firsts- an OC1 group of women and 2 teenagers! The Lost Tribe of young men may have a Lost Tribe of young women. Keep building the sport folks!

One of those teenagers was my daughter, Corinne. I had to get her home early today so we made a morning run of the Nantahala from Quarry to the NOC. No swims, no drama, only the two of us on the river. And on the way home I got a phone call that Wendy had given Corinne a better paddle. Thanks, Wendy. She'll love it.

what a great Boater Chick clinic...

My initial reaction was two teen-agers, OK beginners lessons... So we all rounded up and grouped in semi circle, to do that usual name-years experience-favorite river kumbaya (just short of hand handling) and out of one (Sarah) comes I've been tandem paddling for 10 years with my Dad, and years upon years solo... it was pretty much verbatim from the next young lady. It didn't take very long to realize forward strokes were all pretty good, way better than some advanced (guys) clinics from over the years. A few minutes talking about boat leans and eddy turns.. forget it... no problems here(there).

Before the day was out we had quickly gone through a mental check list of what I had thought we would do, to moving on to much more advanced topics... everyone quickly caught on to doing upstreams leans, in all manner of uses. If memory serves me, besides my uprighted condition, there was only one other bottom up boat (out of both days). We had negotiated back ferrying, to using rock pillows more effectively (on purpose), to ways of reducing number of strokes, more on timing strokes, and back to using/getting more of out of core strength and big muscles... so we added a little slalom work even before the end of the first day. The amount of technique they worked through was truly impressive. It was not that every move was mastered, but their ability to apply technique immediately, it belied a understand of why or how these things worked.... and less about muscling their way through a move.

We had several trying out different boats, and Corrine simply shined in Wendy's Spanish Fly. She was the smallest of the group, and in a Probe13...she really didn't think that much about swapping, but sort of just went with it. About 3 drops down, she's all ear to ear grins (smiling), and she quips - I can do anything I want (or something close to that)... Dad (ncdavid)- you might have to fight to keep that Prelude to yourself.

Having watched the whole ALF crowd, these women will have no problem keeping up with the guys. Maybe some of the steep creek crowd might push some, but the bulk of this group would fit right in with most (all five) - except that one had already made the move to C-boater (at 14?).

And VERY much thanks to Richard for his invaluable assistance, and river knowledge. A good job was done by all including (and not the least by) Lisa and Shannon who I failed to mention. You'll certainly see these two styling it for several years to come.

Thanks for the kind words about Corinne. She's been paddling about 6 years now. I did a better job with my 9-yr old, Rose. She started at 2 1/2, made her first Nantahala at 4 1/2, and has already claimed my Zephyr. She's okay in it on flatwater, just a bit short to handle it in moving water. Maybe next summer.

I really enjoyed paddling with Corinne on the Nanty 2 months ago. Shannon can seriously style!

Good job Phil I think this is what it is going to take to keep our sport alive.

definitely...

At last years BoaterChick Fest, there was no open canoe instruction offered. And this one was a last moments deal. So maybe next year a couple different things might be arranged. I know for certain there was interest in a Cheoah trip. So maybe a couple different levels of instruction, with one offering some play-boating.

philcanoe wrote:At last years BoaterChick Fest, there was no open canoe instruction offered. And this one was a last moments deal.

Phil - thanks again for a GREAT weekend of instruction. I figured we'd show up and there would only be kayak clinics. Little did I know we'd get some wicked awesome stuff from such an accomplished c-boater! I was able to implement some of it immediately and still have great stuff to work on here at home!

Phil, Phil, Phil

If I had known you were offering canoe instruction at Boaterchick I would have rearranged my schedule and made sure I was there. (Note: evil face is because I missed a chance at getting some good instruction and encouragement from an awesome openboater).

Next year post it on Cboats so the Cboat chicks will know about it.

Wow - thanks you two!

but you do know what they said, "Those who can't... teach".

Very funny Phil.
But you know that's not true in your case.

You can come back to earth now............

So Phil and Richard,

When could we do an intermediate to advanced class for the up and coming c-boaters wanting to move up to the next level. How many guys would it take for a class. I could probably bring me and two others.

thanks D-Caption

when is the only question I have

D-Caption wrote:So Phil and Richard,

How many guys would it take for a class. I could probably bring me and two others.

thanks D-Caption

Given the conversation in this thread maybe the question is whether Phil or Richard are interested in teaching a class full of guys. I mean OC-1 classes filled with women and teenage girls..... I'm just saying.