Words and photos:
Dimitri Vandepoele

Let me introduce the concept of our Sea Kayak Training Camp (SKTC) and how it all started. In 2018, I was asked to coach an event on the beautiful island of Lumbarda, Croatia. A Croatian couple, Boris and Ivka, from Spirit of Korkyra wanted to start their own sea kayaking business and they wanted to learn a few things themselves. They had already watched the videos about our annual training day in Belgium, and they wanted something similar but spread over a week instead of just one day.

Sea Kayak Training Camp 2019: Croatia

They didn’t want a symposium, but a basic event where everybody is welcome to join regardless age or skill level to train together in a safe environment. I got their blessings on how I wanted to organize the event and they fully supported me in my decisions. Now we can say that the concept just feels good, both for us as for the participants. This one has been the second SKTC and there is already a third one is planned for 2020.

We keep the event rather small in order to provide quality. Up to 10 kayakers can join in and they will be coached for five days in a row. There’s a good mix between theoretical lessons and practical sessions. We provide some theoretic classes during the morning, during the first days and we combine this with training on the water during the afternoon.

Check out the video:

Day one

After getting to know each other, we teach the basics of sea kayaking. I made an important statement that I want to see a team by the end of the week, not just a bunch of individuals – that is one of the most important elements in my own NORTHSEAKAYAK team.

We emphasize the four rules:

• always wear your PFD,
• dress for immersion,
• check/field test your gear on a regular base so you can operate it when the need arises…
•  …and imagine the worst that can happen and prepare for it.

We give the forward paddling stroke some attention, leading us to the correct use of the right equipment and clothing to end with assisted rescues. After lunch and an obligate gear check, we go out on the crystal clear water to train together. Somebody once said, in a serious way, that if you train together with the people from NORTHSEAKAYAK, you’ll spend more time IN the water than in your boat… Couldn’t agree more, because we want people to feel calm and confident after a capsize.

We teach them to trust each other and to work together in order to perform a swift, fast and solid assisted rescue that will work in almost all situations. We pay attention to details, such as the placement of the hands during the rescue, we try to put a standard and clear way of communication between rescuer and swimmer. We make sure to train on variations so that the participants can perform the rescue in a comfortable way.

DAY two

After some theoretics in the classroom during the morning we got back on the water. Day two’s menu; consisted of the self-rescue. Every kayaker should be able to perform a swift rescue in the conditions he/she paddles in. Even a so called bomb-proof can fail if all the conditions are right (or wrong), and then it’s up to you to get back in your boat. I still hate the word ‘bomb-proof-roll’ even if my own last failed rolling attempt dates back from many years ago.

I’m convinced that one day I will find myself back in the water after a failed roll, and then I’m well prepared. That’s also the mindset that we want to create among the participants. Everybody spent plenty of time in the water, but we kept things fun and the learning curve was good. If I was paid with smiles, I would have been a very rich man!

DAY three

Best way to describe that day is a mix between boat control, with many varying strokes and different rescues along the way. When paddling around the small rocky islands we can teach a lot of steering and manoeuvring strokes. With the rocks close by everybody got to see how the boat reacts and it allowed me to give feedback on the spot. We put in some minor incidents where the whole group aided a capsized and injured paddler. It brought up both the tension and the way the group was becoming a team.

DAY four

Day four was for mixing all the previously learned techniques! We created unexpected incidents where we pointed out a few team members to solve a certain problem. This started with a simple assisted rescue to a more complicated rescue of an injured paddler.

We were a bit sneaky, from time to time as we pointed out a volunteer to do some unexpected things where the team needed to react in a safe and fast way. For example, we created a totally freaked out and panicking victim that had lost his boat, and paddle. It was great to see how the other team members handled situations like that.

We also put in some timed games., where five people in the water, capsized, and on my signal the other five paddlers (rescuers) started the rescue as fast as possible. We also visited a very old limestone quarry on one of the larger islands.

DAY five

The last day was the evaluation day! We made a longer trip to Korcula, a very beautiful and old city along the water. Everybody had to be a team leader during a part of the trip, where of course we put in many special tasks and danger leapt from every corner. We ordered some of the team members to wander off discretely, as we made sure that someone was badly injured, or seasick. This was to see if problems were solved by the team – participating the SKTC can be thorough.

After the last day everybody received a certificate of participation, but we emphasized that any certificate is only valued if you keep on training on all the learned techniques.