#121 - Coaching Insights and Tierra del Fuego with the Kayak Waveologist Greg Paquin

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Welcome to Paddling the Blue. With each episode, we talk with guests from the

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Great Lakes and around the globe who are doing cool things related to sea kayaking.

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I'm your host. My name is John Chase, and let's get started paddling the blue.

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Welcome to today's episode of Paddling the Blue. Greg Paquin is today's guest.

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And in today's episode, we'll talk about Greg's involvement with British canoeing,

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what keeps him going in paddle sports coaching, Tierra del Fuego, and the Autumn Gales.

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Before we hear from Greg, James and Simon at OnlineSeaKyking.com continue to

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produce great content to help you evolve as a paddler and as a coach.

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surfing, coaching, documentaries, expedition skills, incident management, and more.

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today's episode with greg paquin hi greg welcome to paddling the blue hello

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john how are you i'm doing very well it's a beautiful day i got out in the water

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today and did a little surfing so i can't complain ah good good so tell us uh

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you've got a quite a paddling history so tell us how you got How you guys started paddling?

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Well, I started sea paddling after I graduated engineering school,

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civil engineering school, back in the late 80s. That's when I graduated.

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And, you know, during that, being in college and before college and stuff,

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I was always really into mountaineering.

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Engineering, and any break I had, I was always running off to the mountains and things like that.

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But once I started an engineering profession job, I really quickly found out

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I could not do that often.

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But I do live in the Northeast of the U.S., Connecticut, close to Long Island

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Sound and Rhode Island and the Atlantic Ocean.

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And I also was into enduro motorcycle racing at that time.

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And again, I could not participate like I used to.

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So I sold my Husqvarna and bought myself an NDK sea kayak. Never look back.

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I do still think about riding.

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I bought an old Greenlander, original Greenlander, not the Greenlander Pro, but the Greenlander.

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And that was a tippy critter.

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But, you know, that's kind of how I started at that time, only because I just

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couldn't run off to the mountains anymore.

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But what attracted me to the ocean was that there's a lot of similarities to mountaineering.

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You know, you have your navigation and understanding the weather and being skillful at what you're doing.

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And so that just really spoke to me. And, you know, maybe it was an old sea kayaker magazine.

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That's kind of how I made the transition from a mountaineering,

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mountain climbing background to sea paddling.

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I just didn't have time to get away, and I had this great resource right at my fingertips here.

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Put the path forward anyways in that regards. So by proximity, that sort of helped.

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Sure does, yeah. All right. Do you get out and do any mountaineering at all?

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Maybe in the wintertime, but that's where the telemark skiing comes in.

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But, you know, I miss that too, but I've had plenty of sea kayaking adventures

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to take me all over the world to keep me busy. Is pedaling your full-time occupation?

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It had not been. And for a while, maybe 10 years ago, it was.

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You know, I needed the break from that engineering world that became so stressful.

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And you become a vice president and a manager and all this kind of jazz.

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And I just needed the break. and I had started my company already, Kayak Ravology.

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And I always thought that I could, well, it'll be a side business and,

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you know, I can coach people and go places.

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But, you know, for a few years, I did rely on it completely.

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So how did you make that leap from the engineering world to a full-time occupation

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in paddling? I think I was forced.

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I think it was the economy, you know. I was, you know, I was the highest paid

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non-family member, so to speak.

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And I went down the road. And when that happened, that was like ready. I was ready.

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My bags were actually packed to go to the Anglesey Sea Kayaking Symposium in May.

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And I got the word and I still went. I just decided, well, I'm just going to

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put all my eggs in one basket and just go for it.

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And really up my game with my coaching qualifications at the time and just give it a good go.

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Well, do what you love and it'll never feel like work. Yeah, it'll catch up to you.

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I mean, meaning like all the work that you put into it, you're going to get

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payback eventually. So coaching.

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So you stepped into that coaching world and you've got an awful lot of initials

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after your name in terms of coaching qualifications.

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So tell us about the coaching qualifications that you've earned.

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I would say that kind of goes with as you're progressing as a paddler.

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This is before that I worked full-time in the industry, but where I started it.

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When I first started paddling in the early 90s, I learned of the BCU, British Canoe Union.

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And there was actually in Rhode Island, And there was a BCU coach that came over from Wales.

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He was working for a company in Rhode Island.

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And, you know, I kind of heard about that. And I said, well,

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that seems really interesting.

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And so a friend of mine asked, hey, do you want to go do this three-star training? I'm like, sure. Sure.

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And that's kind of where I got hooked into it. It was hard.

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It took me three times to pass that old BCU three-star.

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And I did it in an old Greenlander, not a boat where they had to have a lot of rocker.

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And that was a hard thing to pass. But I liked that challenge, you know, the pass fail.

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Because if you failed, you knew what you needed to fix and you worked hard to

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correct those performance gaps to make things better.

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And that was kind of the start of it. And that was in the early 90s.

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Since then it was the VCU Four Star after that.

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So I did that in Sea Kayak, Georgia, one of the early symposiums down there.

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And that's when I met Nigel Dennis.

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And I was the only one in the past at that time with the group of people that were doing it.

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So then once I felt like I had enough knowledge about sea kayaking,

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then I felt like I could be an instructor and I could teach people the great

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things that I've learned.

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And at that time, what was most accessible was the ACA's coastal level four to level five awards.

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Awards so as i continued down the bcu star awards i also was starting my instructor pathway.

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Not a coach yet but i was instructing in 2004 a group of us were had been training

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and we went to angle c in october to do a five-star training and that was a

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good eye-opener and then we went back

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in 2006 to assess the, you know, the, the, you know, the buds that I had trained

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with to, to achieve this level.

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We went back and we did pass in 2006.

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So once I had that, then I felt like, well, then maybe I could do the ACA advanced sea kayak instructor.

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So I did that. Yeah. So I, I did attain those awards, and that's kind of when

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I started kayak waveology as well, back in 2008 is when I started.

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You know, one of my mottos was like, you know, for my company motto is kayak.

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Those who are looking to do more, to do more with their performance paddling,

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to do more with their sea kayaking.

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You know, I was pitching. I wanted to work with the higher level clientele because

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that's what I had time for because I was still an engineer.

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So I used both systems. Both were valuable. Both are valuable.

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You know, I did then start in the British Canoeing coaching pathway.

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And I started with Coach 2, soon did the Coach 3 training.

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But I was really applying a lot of what I knew how to do as an instructor to

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fit it into the coaching realm.

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What I see happening, and it has happened in British canoeing,

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is that a lot of the coaching science has come down from the universities,

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Olympic-level coaches,

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into the recreational coach level, which most of us coach at and teach at is

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in the recreational realm.

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But the push to go to this performance coach award was coaching science information

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that I had not been exposed to at all, being an ACA level five instructor.

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And it was new and it was like, oh, wow, this is something I'm learning again.

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And so that's what really – what I like mostly about the British canoeing system

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is that I'm continuously learning.

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They keep raising the bar in you. If you're a game, they keep following and

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learning. It just makes you better.

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So out of curiosity, the performance coaching pieces of that,

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in what ways do you apply that to recreational paddlers?

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I would say that the obvious thing, the biggest thing is being –.

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Making it individualized to that learner. And you could have five,

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six people in a course and to be delivering a, it could be a surfing course,

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sea kayak surfing course or something, which I like to do.

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And each one of those folks are, they're performing similarly,

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but each one of them is their own person.

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They learn a particular way better, different than somebody else.

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And to be able to pick up on how they learn and how you can deliver something

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to help them so the light bulb goes on for them.

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Individually, for five people, while you're running an overall course,

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it becomes quite a challenge to do.

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But there's lots of methods to try to attain that, those learning moments for these performers.

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But that starts to fall into a craft of coaching rather than instructing somebody off a syllabus.

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And you're customizing the program and meeting people where they are.

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Exactly. And it's getting better at doing that, which does good for any business,

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brings more clientele in, and people return.

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Turn and, and, and you,

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you just, it's exciting to see the growth of paddlers once you've changed to

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that individualized coaching practice and using different coaching tools to do that.

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It's exciting to see, you know, their growth and where they end up going after.

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It's exciting to see what you've created and how far they go.

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And I think that's what keeps me going with coaching.

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As British canoeing has changed, everybody remembered the Star Wars awards,

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three star and a five star. That's what people in America remembered.

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So that's not that linear pathway anymore, which makes it confusing.

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But the way it's aligned now is because not everybody maybe doesn't want to

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go down the leadership award pathway.

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So now you have the personal performance awards, you know, two-star to five-star,

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if you will, in each discipline of paddle sports.

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I only really deal with sea kayaking discipline.

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So someone can travel down the personal performance awards, which are a lot

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like the four-star and the five-star when I did it back in early 2000s.

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It's a lot like that.

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And then you can do those parallel to a leadership pathway if you choose to.

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You get to the coastal personal performance award. And that's the same skill

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set for the sea kayak leader.

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So a lot of people like to go down the personal performance award pathway to

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make sure they have the right skill set to even make that jump to another pathway

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for the leadership awards.

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You don't have to, but it just gives people another option.

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Sure. Yeah. I mean, making sure that your personal skills are sharp before you're

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moving into a leadership role is important.

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Right. So, when you're in the leadership award qualification programs,

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you're still being tested on your personal battling skills. Of course.

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It's not like that goes away.

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But you're not learning it for the first time when you show up at a sea kayak

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leader training either.

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Which had always been a problem that people were coming to the trainings to

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actually get the skills that they need.

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I mean, that's one way to do it. Yeah. So there's other ways to get the skills now.

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But not everybody wants the responsibility of being a leader.

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So that's why they created that personal performance pathway.

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And then your third track is the coaching track. Coaching track as well.

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So that really starts, the coaching pathway starts when you have your first

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leadership award, right?

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So it's called moderate water. That's where the Sea Kayak Leader remit of sea

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state conditions are. It's called moderate water.

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You know, at least three foot breaking waves on surf.

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Sea state four could be as high as the door in your room. You're out there in

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the swell. You have tidal tide that you need to start dealing with now.

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Tidal planning, because there's current involved, but no tidal races.

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That's kind of the moderate water environment. And then advanced environment

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is with tidal races, flows over two knots, winds higher than force four.

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So in the current system and those three tracks, where do you fall?

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Like my personal skills wise, I had the old five-star.

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I had the performance coach award, and I have an endorsement off of that advanced water endorsement,

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which I needed all that in place to be an assessor for the advanced sea kayak leadership award.

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So there's a coaching pathway, and then there's also an assessor's pathway.

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Another level. you know go down the leadership track you top that out you really

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enjoy what you're doing and you want to give back and then you can drop into the coaching pathway,

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you know being a sea kayak coach moderate water sea kayak coach it's good and then there's advanced,

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so once you have those coaching awards under your belt then then you have the

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green light to train to become a provider of the British Canoeing Awards.

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So where I'm at, so I'm a provider for all the personal performance awards,

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all the leadership awards, and then the moderate water sea kayak coach award. All right.

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You mentioned telemark earlier. And I understand you're a telemark instructor

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as well. Is that correct?

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Coach? Yeah, I am. All right. Right. So that's your, when, when the water gets

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too crunchy to paddle, you're, uh, you're on snow.

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I'm on snow. Right. So how does that telemark experience affect your paddling and vice versa?

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You know, so I, back early on in the conversation, I mentioned,

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you know, the mountaineering piece and part of that mountaineering piece was

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a ski mountaineering component.

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And in the late 80s, that's when I started telemark skiing, started cross-country skiing.

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And then I started bushwhacking around in the woods and I was going to really

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get hurt on cross-country stuff.

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So I eventually found heavier and heavier equipment and that came to be the telemark world.

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And so I just kept evolving with the equipment really. Yeah.

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Now the equipment is quite robust, plastic boots, still have bellows,

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and the bindings are a lot stronger.

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00:17:54,929 --> 00:17:59,309
So, you know, I developed with the equipment as a telemark skier.

218
00:17:59,689 --> 00:18:06,449
But again, when I had more time on my hands, I said, well, I'm already coaching sea kayaking.

219
00:18:06,969 --> 00:18:12,609
Wouldn't it be good to coach another sport that I really love to do in the off season?

220
00:18:12,609 --> 00:18:17,909
And so, you know, I found a ski mountain in Southern Vermont that has a telemark

221
00:18:17,909 --> 00:18:23,109
school and I asked if I could come and instruct and teach and they said,

222
00:18:23,149 --> 00:18:25,269
yes. I'm like, I just, I went with it.

223
00:18:27,389 --> 00:18:32,909
You know, I did start, I did take some instructor courses before the PSIA,

224
00:18:33,129 --> 00:18:35,609
Professional Ski Instructors of America.

225
00:18:35,609 --> 00:18:43,449
And that was done with an organization called NATO, North American Telemark Association.

226
00:18:44,849 --> 00:18:52,149
The other NATO. The other NATO. I mean, it was fun, engaging, and I was pretty good.

227
00:18:52,349 --> 00:19:00,709
And so I asked if I would help them at one of their symposiums up at Mad River Glen in Vermont.

228
00:19:00,909 --> 00:19:03,849
And I did it, and I really had a good time with it.

229
00:19:03,849 --> 00:19:10,789
And so I stayed involved with them and, but when I started teaching skiing at

230
00:19:10,789 --> 00:19:15,269
a ski mountain, they didn't, they didn't recognize those, those, uh, that,

231
00:19:15,429 --> 00:19:22,429
uh, NATO organization as a, any kind of governing body, uh, for teaching skiing.

232
00:19:23,729 --> 00:19:26,849
So it was fun and everything, but so yeah.

233
00:19:27,930 --> 00:19:34,450
As I started teaching telemark skiing at a mountain, it seemed pretty obvious

234
00:19:34,450 --> 00:19:37,830
that I needed some other qualifications with the PSIA.

235
00:19:38,470 --> 00:19:45,430
I started down that pathway, becoming a telemark skier instructor for the PSIA.

236
00:19:45,850 --> 00:19:50,550
It was pretty good, and I worked hard at it. It didn't take long to get to a

237
00:19:50,550 --> 00:19:52,450
level three. There was only three levels.

238
00:19:53,770 --> 00:19:56,750
Um but you know so now i'm already coaching sea

239
00:19:56,750 --> 00:20:00,150
kayaking and now i'm teaching telemark skiing

240
00:20:00,150 --> 00:20:05,390
but when i did that whole performance coach learning about different more different

241
00:20:05,390 --> 00:20:13,210
coaching science stuff i'm realizing that the same it's not specific to paddle

242
00:20:13,210 --> 00:20:17,990
sports on how you could um teach in an adventure sport,

243
00:20:18,910 --> 00:20:25,110
it's very much the same as in other disciplines altogether with adventure sports.

244
00:20:26,530 --> 00:20:33,490
So I would take telemark skiing, I view that as an adventure sport, like ice climbing,

245
00:20:33,770 --> 00:20:40,190
that kind of stuff, as I see it as the same as sea kayaking.

246
00:20:40,530 --> 00:20:41,890
That's an adventure sport.

247
00:20:43,170 --> 00:20:46,590
So the way you coach somebody in sea kayaking, is, you know,

248
00:20:46,590 --> 00:20:49,710
you could use those same tools, coaching them and telemark skiing.

249
00:20:50,750 --> 00:20:56,550
And it's, it's crossed over quite well. And so, so I've advanced a little bit

250
00:20:56,550 --> 00:21:02,010
further in the skiing world to become an examiner where you train other, other instructors.

251
00:21:03,590 --> 00:21:09,050
So, so they're starting to build off each other coaching wise, but.

252
00:21:10,970 --> 00:21:14,050
A good crossover between the two. Yeah, from a coaching perspective,

253
00:21:14,370 --> 00:21:20,430
you know, physically, you know, the upper body gets super strong in the summer from paddling.

254
00:21:20,450 --> 00:21:25,090
And you go to winter and you come off of skiing in the spring.

255
00:21:25,170 --> 00:21:29,130
And now, you know, your thighs don't fit under your thigh braces.

256
00:21:32,070 --> 00:21:36,950
So it's good to mix it up. Yeah. Cross-training, if you will.

257
00:21:37,050 --> 00:21:38,710
Yeah, a little cross-training. All right. Right.

258
00:21:39,270 --> 00:21:42,790
So you've had some great experiences as well, coaching in different places around

259
00:21:42,790 --> 00:21:45,410
the world, outside of your home New England waters.

260
00:21:45,890 --> 00:21:50,990
And one of those that we talked about just briefly earlier, off air, was Tierra del Fuego.

261
00:21:51,250 --> 00:21:57,510
So tell us a little bit about your Tierra del Fuego expedition and what that was like. Okay.

262
00:21:58,850 --> 00:22:06,010
I do want to back up to one of the philosophies that I have for coaching in

263
00:22:06,010 --> 00:22:08,110
my company, Kayak Waveology.

264
00:22:08,590 --> 00:22:12,250
Is that we're training people. We have great training waters here.

265
00:22:12,610 --> 00:22:16,670
We've got surf, we've got rocks, cliffs, and we have tide and tidal races.

266
00:22:17,510 --> 00:22:22,230
Training people in this environment, we're training people in this environment

267
00:22:22,230 --> 00:22:28,410
to be able to take them on expeditions or allow them to go on expeditions themselves

268
00:22:28,410 --> 00:22:30,910
to other parts of the world.

269
00:22:31,510 --> 00:22:39,610
So they have a they have a good database of ocean environments that they could

270
00:22:39,610 --> 00:22:45,050
draw on to feel confident to be able to go to another part of the world and

271
00:22:45,050 --> 00:22:46,930
paddle some dream location,

272
00:22:47,450 --> 00:22:53,450
so that's a lot of what we do okay do with the coaching and that's brought me

273
00:22:53,450 --> 00:22:54,850
to different places in the world.

274
00:22:55,250 --> 00:23:01,010
So the Tierra Fuego was a trip that we were not bringing clients on.

275
00:23:01,310 --> 00:23:07,030
I do bring, I do client-led trips and they're usually more to Ireland,

276
00:23:07,170 --> 00:23:12,810
to Wales, to Scotland, and one trip in Iceland already.

277
00:23:13,270 --> 00:23:20,250
But the Tierra Fuego one was a personal trip, turned into a little coaching.

278
00:23:22,736 --> 00:23:27,076
A good friend of mine that I had helped on along his pathway,

279
00:23:27,296 --> 00:23:32,776
you know, becoming an advanced psychotic leader and working with him and coaching and stuff.

280
00:23:33,156 --> 00:23:40,276
He's from Chile and he was, he came to America looking to advance in the ACA

281
00:23:40,276 --> 00:23:43,676
and nobody could really help him or want to help him.

282
00:23:44,096 --> 00:23:48,616
You know, from South America, there's a lot of machismo there.

283
00:23:48,696 --> 00:23:52,056
There's a lot of, there's a lot of powerful male

284
00:23:52,056 --> 00:23:54,956
stuff going on and and

285
00:23:54,956 --> 00:23:57,956
i i was i listened to him and i

286
00:23:57,956 --> 00:24:02,336
invited him out paddling one day up here and because

287
00:24:02,336 --> 00:24:05,116
that's where i met him i'm like wow this guy really knows

288
00:24:05,116 --> 00:24:07,796
his way around a boat he's a really

289
00:24:07,796 --> 00:24:11,376
good paddler turns out he was a icf olympic

290
00:24:11,376 --> 00:24:14,296
coach for the

291
00:24:14,296 --> 00:24:17,996
chilean slalom team but he's

292
00:24:17,996 --> 00:24:25,336
older now and so anyways but that was my connection to Chile was my friend Juan

293
00:24:25,336 --> 00:24:32,876
Paulo I had taken him to Wales to expose him to that whole world and he kept

294
00:24:32,876 --> 00:24:35,436
saying you need to come visit me in Chile,

295
00:24:36,096 --> 00:24:44,976
so eventually I went down to Chile alright so that was the connection so I established a connection.

296
00:24:46,276 --> 00:24:50,716
With a person, Juan Palo, and then he invited me down.

297
00:24:51,736 --> 00:24:54,576
And he goes, I got a great adventure that we're going to go on.

298
00:24:54,876 --> 00:24:56,976
I'm like, okay, what's this? What do you want to do? And he goes,

299
00:24:57,016 --> 00:25:00,116
oh, we're going to go meet some of my clients in Tierra del Fuego,

300
00:25:00,196 --> 00:25:04,616
and we're going to do an expedition with them.

301
00:25:06,676 --> 00:25:10,156
And you're going to coach them along the way. But they're also part of their

302
00:25:10,156 --> 00:25:16,696
– because he's a coach in Chile, Part of his coaching to these guys was more

303
00:25:16,696 --> 00:25:19,536
guiding, be able to lead expeditions.

304
00:25:19,916 --> 00:25:25,336
And so myself and my other half, Paula, and I, we went down to Chile together.

305
00:25:25,676 --> 00:25:32,636
We met Juan Paulo in Santiago, and we flew further down to Puttarenas and started

306
00:25:32,636 --> 00:25:35,476
the truck journey further south.

307
00:25:36,916 --> 00:25:43,196
So that's eventually how we got there. But some of the details are they didn't

308
00:25:43,196 --> 00:25:45,296
have great sea kayaks down there.

309
00:25:45,996 --> 00:25:52,036
They have sea kayaks, but a lot of them are plastics and didn't really fit well.

310
00:25:52,836 --> 00:25:59,196
So I'm like, well, we're going to bring three-piece explorers, NDK explorers down.

311
00:26:01,136 --> 00:26:07,296
So I'm a dealer for NDK. So I do bring in a lot of the boats.

312
00:26:07,836 --> 00:26:11,916
So I ordered a three-piece Explorer, same with Paula.

313
00:26:13,752 --> 00:26:18,512
And so we packaged up our three-piece boats as checked baggage and put them

314
00:26:18,512 --> 00:26:22,032
in the airline hull, and we flew down to Santiago.

315
00:26:22,832 --> 00:26:27,712
Got a little more complicated when we got to Santiago with the boats and all our gear.

316
00:26:28,352 --> 00:26:33,412
Like, the next flight to go further south was a much smaller plane.

317
00:26:34,692 --> 00:26:41,032
So we figured out that, okay, we're going to have to air freight our boats for this next leg.

318
00:26:41,472 --> 00:26:44,932
Flag, a day ahead of us flying down to Punta Reynos.

319
00:26:45,712 --> 00:26:51,152
So that's what we did. It was a little bit odd just to load your three-piece,

320
00:26:51,312 --> 00:26:54,152
strap it to a pallet, and watch a forklift take it away.

321
00:26:54,792 --> 00:26:56,512
Gone, man, I hope it gets there.

322
00:26:57,772 --> 00:27:02,312
Put a hole through it. Yeah. Did this arrangement kind of happen on the fly?

323
00:27:02,452 --> 00:27:06,572
So you get to Punta Reynos and you're like, oh, okay, now we have to do something

324
00:27:06,572 --> 00:27:07,472
different than we expected?

325
00:27:07,692 --> 00:27:10,912
Or did you know that ahead of time well so having our

326
00:27:10,912 --> 00:27:14,152
connection Juan Paulo from Chile who is who knows

327
00:27:14,152 --> 00:27:17,472
how to do this down there he knows how to operate in this

328
00:27:17,472 --> 00:27:20,432
in this country and it was his

329
00:27:20,432 --> 00:27:26,152
idea ahead of time to do that but we didn't know that but he was doing a lot

330
00:27:26,152 --> 00:27:30,812
of planning on his own he figured out that piece and it worked out just fine

331
00:27:30,812 --> 00:27:38,012
so we arrive and put to ran us we collect our boats everything Everything was fine.

332
00:27:38,712 --> 00:27:46,172
The young lads took the ferry across the Magellan Straits with their truck to pick us up off-road.

333
00:27:47,232 --> 00:27:50,012
Toyota Hilux, roof rack, the whole deal.

334
00:27:50,712 --> 00:27:54,472
Baja lights on it. Desert racing-looking kind of truck. And we're like,

335
00:27:54,572 --> 00:27:56,272
oh, this is going to be interesting. Where are we going?

336
00:27:57,632 --> 00:28:03,772
So we drove back across. We drove to the ferry to take the truck.

337
00:28:05,398 --> 00:28:09,278
Across the Magellan Straits. And that's quite an interesting,

338
00:28:09,398 --> 00:28:13,478
tight, greasy piece of water and a lot of wind.

339
00:28:14,758 --> 00:28:18,198
So we eventually get to a little town.

340
00:28:18,218 --> 00:28:22,778
It's like the last town in Tierra del Fuego on the Chilean side,

341
00:28:22,958 --> 00:28:24,738
not the Argentinian side.

342
00:28:25,098 --> 00:28:27,978
It's like the last town. It's the town of poor veneer.

343
00:28:28,378 --> 00:28:32,658
So we get some provisions. We provision more for the trip there.

344
00:28:33,278 --> 00:28:37,618
And again, people speak in Spanish, and we're not really Spanish speakers,

345
00:28:37,738 --> 00:28:40,318
so we have to try to translate wherever we could.

346
00:28:40,458 --> 00:28:44,558
But our friend, Juan Paulo, he could translate really good.

347
00:28:44,658 --> 00:28:49,578
He could speak English very well, and obviously, different dialects of Spanish.

348
00:28:50,558 --> 00:28:54,558
So we have one night there and but not

349
00:28:54,558 --> 00:28:59,158
really a full night's sleep so we have to wake up at 10 o'clock at night we're

350
00:28:59,158 --> 00:29:03,418
already quite tired for all the traveling so we have to wake up at 10 at night

351
00:29:03,418 --> 00:29:12,178
and do a night drive further south down these dirt roads to close to the bottom of,

352
00:29:13,098 --> 00:29:19,098
teotofrego on the chilean side and you know they chose to drive at night because it's safer

353
00:29:19,258 --> 00:29:24,458
because with the big off-road lights you could drive faster and less vehicles

354
00:29:24,458 --> 00:29:29,038
on the roads and you could also see the animals better with the lights hitting

355
00:29:29,038 --> 00:29:34,218
their eyes and things so it was quite it was safer to drive at night and you

356
00:29:34,218 --> 00:29:35,638
could make a big better time,

357
00:29:36,378 --> 00:29:40,258
and you had to bring your extra fuel because you needed the fuel and your trucks to get back.

358
00:29:43,118 --> 00:29:46,258
So that was about another six hours of driving,

359
00:29:46,878 --> 00:29:52,498
And we get to an area, an old logging camp area And it's at the end of a fjord

360
00:29:52,498 --> 00:30:00,918
So now we're in the beginning of the Perry Icefields And it's the sub-Antarctic region,

361
00:30:02,716 --> 00:30:09,396
range in in chile so we're still a little bit north of cape horn and ashwaya

362
00:30:09,396 --> 00:30:14,056
but if you look at the bottom of like where ashwaya is and that's the whole

363
00:30:14,056 --> 00:30:20,196
mountain range uh that's that kind of it's an east-west mountain range and we

364
00:30:20,196 --> 00:30:22,336
were going on the far far western side.

365
00:30:24,256 --> 00:30:28,996
Yeah so we have two young lads that were from tierra de fuego and they're all

366
00:30:28,996 --> 00:30:35,356
excited and and And so we did a day of training on a local lake before we head

367
00:30:35,356 --> 00:30:38,916
off just to kind of see what they were doing, paddling.

368
00:30:39,196 --> 00:30:44,436
So a little bit of coaching to see how they're moving about in boats and things.

369
00:30:44,476 --> 00:30:46,236
Because we don't know these, they don't know them at all.

370
00:30:47,036 --> 00:30:51,376
But they have scouted out some areas that potentially we could be staying for

371
00:30:51,376 --> 00:30:54,376
camping and stuff. How long was the trip?

372
00:30:54,716 --> 00:30:59,636
So the trip was two and a half weeks. Okay. Not a lot of time, really.

373
00:31:00,076 --> 00:31:06,596
To go this far remote. Yeah. I mean, you've already invested a pretty good amount

374
00:31:06,596 --> 00:31:09,836
of time just to be able to get to the location and then be able to spend the

375
00:31:09,836 --> 00:31:11,816
time in the location. Right.

376
00:31:14,456 --> 00:31:19,816
So we did a day of training with them, and we're coming back from that training

377
00:31:19,816 --> 00:31:21,576
from a local lake, mountain lake.

378
00:31:22,276 --> 00:31:29,016
And this is logging roads, and these roads were cut in specifically for the

379
00:31:29,016 --> 00:31:34,916
military to get access to the southern part of Tierra del Fuego.

380
00:31:35,076 --> 00:31:36,476
That's why these roads exist.

381
00:31:36,916 --> 00:31:41,956
Okay. So they're not worn-in roads that people are using. It's rough terrain.

382
00:31:42,476 --> 00:31:46,236
It's like logging roads in the wilderness.

383
00:31:46,816 --> 00:31:52,316
But there's no logging happening. Okay. But really, the roads were built so

384
00:31:52,316 --> 00:31:56,456
the military can travel to get further south.

385
00:31:57,276 --> 00:32:00,356
And that's why they were there and these roads are there.

386
00:32:00,456 --> 00:32:06,756
So there are a few hunting camps down there and there are a few farmers down there.

387
00:32:08,096 --> 00:32:13,996
And so these guys were so excited and they wanted this really special Chilean

388
00:32:13,996 --> 00:32:19,036
treat for us, British canoeing coaches to come out to, we can't,

389
00:32:19,036 --> 00:32:20,516
you know, they were so excited about this.

390
00:32:21,096 --> 00:32:27,936
They wanted to get us a present and for the expedition. And so they were in

391
00:32:27,936 --> 00:32:32,136
two trucks now, so they pulled off and said, you guys need to wait here in this

392
00:32:32,136 --> 00:32:35,356
truck, and we need to go visit somebody.

393
00:32:36,016 --> 00:32:41,616
So we're left on the side of the road in a truck, which we had the keys, thank God, just in case.

394
00:32:42,516 --> 00:32:46,116
And they took off in the other truck. They said, just wait here.

395
00:32:46,216 --> 00:32:48,496
We'll be back in like 15 minutes, 20 minutes.

396
00:32:49,096 --> 00:32:53,836
They came back in 45 minutes. We had no idea what they were doing. Yeah.

397
00:32:55,955 --> 00:33:01,055
We follow. We can go back to the logging camp, hunting camp,

398
00:33:01,135 --> 00:33:02,695
where we were starting the journey from.

399
00:33:03,715 --> 00:33:07,795
And then they showed us the surprise. So they basically got a young lamb.

400
00:33:08,755 --> 00:33:13,415
And so they had to barter and they had to pay the farmer or convince the farmer

401
00:33:13,415 --> 00:33:15,095
that they can have a lamb.

402
00:33:16,035 --> 00:33:20,135
So it was, you know, fresh and killed, all cleaned.

403
00:33:21,515 --> 00:33:26,275
So that was our job that next night. That was the food for the expedition.

404
00:33:26,495 --> 00:33:30,975
That was the main food for the entire trip. So you're carrying a lamb with you, basically.

405
00:33:31,235 --> 00:33:33,395
Carrying a lamb with us. Okay.

406
00:33:34,575 --> 00:33:38,175
So we did grill a good piece of it already that evening.

407
00:33:38,755 --> 00:33:45,515
It has some nice wine and traditional Chilean lamb on the fire, the whole thing.

408
00:33:46,175 --> 00:33:49,535
And it turned out that was going to be our main food.

409
00:33:50,295 --> 00:33:53,935
Almost every meal you stopped to eat was going to be lamb.

410
00:33:54,395 --> 00:33:59,975
Okay. Then we had other, we had other supplements, but so that was an interesting experience.

411
00:34:00,135 --> 00:34:04,015
I've never, didn't think I'm like, okay, well, it is cold down here.

412
00:34:05,035 --> 00:34:10,775
It is their summer. There is still ice floating. There ain't your glaciers still

413
00:34:10,775 --> 00:34:12,155
calving into the fjords.

414
00:34:12,755 --> 00:34:14,495
So the water is very cold.

415
00:34:15,835 --> 00:34:19,235
So, well, it's going to be a nice refrigerator.

416
00:34:19,375 --> 00:34:22,955
They keep that meat cold. So in the, in the hull of your boat.

417
00:34:23,015 --> 00:34:25,675
So I think we're okay. So, what's the paddling like?

418
00:34:26,255 --> 00:34:32,255
So, the paddling, so we were starting at the head of a fjord,

419
00:34:32,255 --> 00:34:35,655
which had, you know, this logging road access to it.

420
00:34:37,627 --> 00:34:41,487
And there's a river that comes out from that mountain lake.

421
00:34:41,947 --> 00:34:49,687
But the scene is big grassy fields, essentially, and then 10,000-foot peaks,

422
00:34:49,907 --> 00:34:51,727
mountain peaks all around you.

423
00:34:52,107 --> 00:34:55,927
And you're looking down this fjord that goes on and on and on.

424
00:34:57,187 --> 00:35:01,647
So it's a mountaineer's dream. Sure.

425
00:35:02,227 --> 00:35:05,427
And it's also a sea kayaker's dream. Yeah, completely remote.

426
00:35:06,027 --> 00:35:13,807
Very remote. And so we, you know, we spent three days paddling into the wind.

427
00:35:13,887 --> 00:35:19,467
So we, you know, a day up before we turned left and to another fjord.

428
00:35:19,947 --> 00:35:23,887
And this is the Perry Ice Fields that we're headed to.

429
00:35:24,367 --> 00:35:28,887
And another two days paddling up this fjord, getting close, you know,

430
00:35:28,887 --> 00:35:32,507
starting to see, you know, ice bits floating by, little icebergs floating by.

431
00:35:33,727 --> 00:35:39,687
Water is not a problem. them it's it's put a water bottle up to any little waterfall

432
00:35:39,687 --> 00:35:41,767
you see dripping down off the rocks,

433
00:35:42,627 --> 00:35:46,087
it's there's no there's no civilization there and

434
00:35:46,087 --> 00:35:48,827
there's no animals really so it's pretty

435
00:35:48,827 --> 00:35:52,887
the water is really clean you're looking

436
00:35:52,887 --> 00:35:58,507
down as you're paddling you're looking down in the water and you can see king

437
00:35:58,507 --> 00:36:04,607
crab but they're so deep down there but the water's so so crystal clear and

438
00:36:04,607 --> 00:36:09,687
so ice cold you can you can't get it that would be a great meal too.

439
00:36:10,627 --> 00:36:13,927
So we're paddling paddling up and now we're

440
00:36:13,927 --> 00:36:16,927
getting to into the tidewater glaciers where

441
00:36:16,927 --> 00:36:19,787
you know you can probably get

442
00:36:19,787 --> 00:36:22,627
up to about a half a mile quarter mile from

443
00:36:22,627 --> 00:36:26,647
these glaciers and just looking at this massive wall and it's

444
00:36:26,647 --> 00:36:30,847
you know it's calving into the sea so there's

445
00:36:30,847 --> 00:36:33,907
tidewater glaciers and then there's hanging glaciers that

446
00:36:33,907 --> 00:36:36,847
don't touch the seawater all around

447
00:36:36,847 --> 00:36:39,627
you so we did we did find a great camp

448
00:36:39,627 --> 00:36:42,627
spot there on on a ledge on a

449
00:36:42,627 --> 00:36:45,867
rocky outcrop far enough from the

450
00:36:45,867 --> 00:36:49,187
glaciers from being having a problem with glaciers but

451
00:36:49,187 --> 00:36:51,927
yeah but ice is constantly floating by you

452
00:36:51,927 --> 00:36:55,827
you hear the cracking and the popping sounds like

453
00:36:55,827 --> 00:36:58,487
you're in a massive thunderstorm the storm all the time because it's the ice

454
00:36:58,487 --> 00:37:05,247
just popping sounds spectacular stunning so we use that as a base cap for another

455
00:37:05,247 --> 00:37:13,127
three nights and so the you know the terra firma there is either rock or.

456
00:37:14,287 --> 00:37:21,687
Like thigh deep moss in very very wet and and there's hardly no trees so it's

457
00:37:21,687 --> 00:37:26,227
just like it's the beginning of life, vegetation life,

458
00:37:26,487 --> 00:37:29,847
after the glaciers receded. So it's like that first.

459
00:37:31,839 --> 00:37:35,039
Vegetation that starts growing after the places recede that's

460
00:37:35,039 --> 00:37:40,679
what you're that's what you're standing on interesting so it's so new so fresh

461
00:37:40,679 --> 00:37:46,959
so pure and it's pretty amazing but don't try to walk around in it because you'd

462
00:37:46,959 --> 00:37:54,899
be soaked you get off the rock and you get into the side deeper so for a two and a half week

463
00:37:54,979 --> 00:37:58,219
trip um how much of it was paddling paddling was

464
00:37:58,219 --> 00:38:01,279
about six days so that

465
00:38:01,279 --> 00:38:05,759
we we used that as a base camp area because then we could travel a little bit

466
00:38:05,759 --> 00:38:11,059
lighter because there's there's now three main glaciers that drop into this

467
00:38:11,059 --> 00:38:17,519
fjord so we were camped out by the first one we spent you know day you know

468
00:38:17,519 --> 00:38:20,259
day trips paddling up to explore some of the other areas.

469
00:38:20,999 --> 00:38:24,259
And we didn't see much in the way of wildlife we

470
00:38:24,259 --> 00:38:30,359
did when we started from that logging camp because we had a fresh lamb and cooking

471
00:38:30,359 --> 00:38:37,459
outside the the foxes were quite curious and they wanted some they wanted some

472
00:38:37,459 --> 00:38:41,059
of that lamb too they weren't aggressive but they were right there,

473
00:38:41,599 --> 00:38:46,259
and as you're loading your boat if you don't if you don't if you look away you

474
00:38:46,259 --> 00:38:53,059
look back there's a fox you know 10 feet from you like you look away you know he's going to be,

475
00:38:53,659 --> 00:38:58,019
right there trying to take something out of your boat so but they weren't aggressive

476
00:38:58,019 --> 00:39:02,819
but they were just very curious and but hungry so what was your favorite paddling

477
00:39:02,819 --> 00:39:08,499
memory from that trip well i would say so when we were doing the day trips from

478
00:39:08,499 --> 00:39:12,119
the base camp And got further up and we started,

479
00:39:12,239 --> 00:39:19,859
we saw leopard seals hauled out on these icebergs and leopard seals,

480
00:39:19,999 --> 00:39:23,779
I don't know if you've ever seen leopard seals, but they just look so prehistoric.

481
00:39:24,939 --> 00:39:29,279
Their mouth, their face, their teeth, it's just an amazing animal.

482
00:39:30,459 --> 00:39:33,219
And, you know, they weren't threatening and we didn't feel threatened.

483
00:39:33,219 --> 00:39:39,239
And so they just smiled and showed their teeth. And we got some awesome photos.

484
00:39:39,519 --> 00:39:42,239
I'll bet. So that was pretty spectacular.

485
00:39:43,099 --> 00:39:49,059
And we showed the photos to some local people after we got back.

486
00:39:49,579 --> 00:39:51,859
And they're like, leopard seals,

487
00:39:52,079 --> 00:39:56,899
nothing is around when leopard seals are around. They kill everything.

488
00:39:57,199 --> 00:40:02,759
And the marine life knows it. And when they're those, that's why we weren't

489
00:40:02,759 --> 00:40:08,259
seeing any other animals or sea life because once the leopard seals are in town,

490
00:40:08,359 --> 00:40:11,239
everybody's scrams. All right.

491
00:40:13,439 --> 00:40:17,319
So, yeah, it took a few days paddling to get up there. It took a day to get back.

492
00:40:18,939 --> 00:40:21,839
Are a pretty cool experience and glad you had the opportunity to do

493
00:40:21,839 --> 00:40:25,999
that you also have the opportunity to create some experiences for other paddlers

494
00:40:25,999 --> 00:40:29,219
and you do that through the autumn gale so tell us a little bit about the autumn

495
00:40:29,219 --> 00:40:34,279
gales and how that got started so the autumn gales got started on the heels

496
00:40:34,279 --> 00:40:40,139
of an old symposium called the rough water symposium that we were a part of,

497
00:40:41,019 --> 00:40:46,839
and that was put on by main island kayak tom berg that was his brainchild and

498
00:40:46,839 --> 00:40:51,479
that That event happened in our home waters here,

499
00:40:51,719 --> 00:40:56,399
eastern Connecticut, Rhode Island, for the rock hopping, the surfing,

500
00:40:56,579 --> 00:40:57,919
and the tidal race surfing.

501
00:40:59,339 --> 00:41:04,799
So that event was pitched more as an intermediate paddler's event,

502
00:41:04,919 --> 00:41:09,339
and there was a whole nucleus of paddlers and community of paddlers that were

503
00:41:09,339 --> 00:41:10,779
more advanced, that wanted more.

504
00:41:10,779 --> 00:41:13,819
War so that rough water symposium

505
00:41:13,819 --> 00:41:18,039
only ran for three years and then

506
00:41:18,039 --> 00:41:25,439
i felt like i wanted to continue an event on after that so it came up with the

507
00:41:25,439 --> 00:41:30,819
name autumn gales had to be careful of the using the word gales because it was

508
00:41:30,819 --> 00:41:33,839
a great symposium called the gales of november,

509
00:41:34,479 --> 00:41:36,459
in the Great Lakes, as you might know.

510
00:41:36,579 --> 00:41:38,939
That was by Stan Klattek. Yeah.

511
00:41:39,759 --> 00:41:44,599
But at that time, that symposium had gone dormant.

512
00:41:44,659 --> 00:41:52,499
So we just basically used the word autumn gales instead of November gales or gales of November.

513
00:41:53,559 --> 00:41:56,839
So that's where the name came from, so to speak.

514
00:41:57,119 --> 00:42:00,479
But it's the same idea as really get out there,

515
00:42:01,499 --> 00:42:07,999
in an advanced environment or given that a pathway out there for people to experience

516
00:42:07,999 --> 00:42:16,439
some advanced environments in tidal races and maybe big swell surf that wraps into this area.

517
00:42:17,319 --> 00:42:19,819
And there's strong winds at that time here.

518
00:42:20,939 --> 00:42:25,659
So the event was pitched originally as more an advanced event.

519
00:42:26,899 --> 00:42:33,579
But we had to make more changes. is we had to not just bring people to show them this environment.

520
00:42:33,679 --> 00:42:37,599
It was more, now we need to now coach people better in this environment.

521
00:42:40,379 --> 00:42:45,959
And so I'm drawing on the experiences and the people that I know,

522
00:42:46,059 --> 00:42:51,499
the coaches that I know from Wales that were willing to come over to help me

523
00:42:51,499 --> 00:42:53,119
safely put on this event.

524
00:42:54,339 --> 00:42:59,419
So most of the international coaches that come to the Gales now are the ones

525
00:42:59,419 --> 00:43:08,539
that have very specific experiences and coaching experiences in advanced tidal race environments.

526
00:43:09,339 --> 00:43:14,879
And then all of our local guides have to be the minimum five-star advanced psychotic leader.

527
00:43:16,608 --> 00:43:20,048
You know, we match up the guides with the coaches, you know,

528
00:43:20,048 --> 00:43:24,268
a local guide with an international coach to move around the environment.

529
00:43:24,388 --> 00:43:28,128
The local guides are going to know where to go and when.

530
00:43:28,888 --> 00:43:35,708
And the coach is going to be looking at the ability of the paddlers and start

531
00:43:35,708 --> 00:43:37,708
coaching them in a progressive way.

532
00:43:38,908 --> 00:43:43,728
May not be in the biggest stuff at all. But it's really given that,

533
00:43:43,748 --> 00:43:49,208
you know, a lot of people won't go out in windy, advanced conditions where they

534
00:43:49,208 --> 00:43:50,388
don't feel safe going out.

535
00:43:50,948 --> 00:43:55,828
But now we're giving them a window to be able to safely do that.

536
00:43:56,188 --> 00:43:58,388
We try to keep it safe as possible to do that.

537
00:43:59,328 --> 00:44:04,008
To give them that experience, to give them that data point that they can now

538
00:44:04,008 --> 00:44:08,868
work with where they once before didn't have that data point to even consider.

539
00:44:08,868 --> 00:44:12,468
So that's why people like to come to

540
00:44:12,468 --> 00:44:16,068
be push their boundaries a little bit and there's

541
00:44:16,068 --> 00:44:18,968
you know it's a great community of paddlers that do

542
00:44:18,968 --> 00:44:23,188
it and there's a great community of coaches and they all mesh well and it's

543
00:44:23,188 --> 00:44:28,308
this is the 16th year of running and now when does it run we always try to do

544
00:44:28,308 --> 00:44:32,028
it around halloween so looking at the end of october sometimes the beginning

545
00:44:32,028 --> 00:44:37,988
of november and And each group is paired with a local guide and a coach.

546
00:44:38,488 --> 00:44:40,868
Yeah, and there's different levels of groups too.

547
00:44:42,548 --> 00:44:46,208
So we need people to come.

548
00:44:46,528 --> 00:44:53,788
So the advanced paddlers are actually quite a small group, but there's a lot

549
00:44:53,788 --> 00:44:56,728
of intermediate paddlers that make up the base of the autumn gales.

550
00:44:56,968 --> 00:45:01,048
And it's a great environment and a safe way to be able to experience that environment

551
00:45:01,048 --> 00:45:02,988
and learn and grow within that.

552
00:45:04,878 --> 00:45:10,938
Where can people learn about the autumn gales? They can find it through a website

553
00:45:10,938 --> 00:45:12,638
called autumngales.com.

554
00:45:13,318 --> 00:45:17,578
And they could also find it through my website, kayakwaveology.

555
00:45:17,818 --> 00:45:19,578
Yeah. Tell me a little bit about kayakwaveology.

556
00:45:20,698 --> 00:45:26,938
So kayakwaveology is my website that I run and a list of courses that I offer.

557
00:45:27,938 --> 00:45:33,338
You know, there's a blog there that has dip past expedition travels and stuff.

558
00:45:33,378 --> 00:45:34,678
So there's a lot of resources here.

559
00:45:34,878 --> 00:45:41,118
And it's a way for me to, I do have an online sale shop for specialty paddling

560
00:45:41,118 --> 00:45:42,378
gear, sea kayaking gear.

561
00:45:42,858 --> 00:45:47,018
And I'm an NDK boat dealer, so I need to be able to show what I have in stock.

562
00:45:47,638 --> 00:45:53,378
So it's just, you know, it's, it's, it handles a few revenue streams for me

563
00:45:53,378 --> 00:45:57,298
as a, as a coach, right? You know, it's the coaching revenue stream.

564
00:45:57,398 --> 00:46:01,878
There's the boat sales, there's the gear sales, there's boat repairs, there's expeditions.

565
00:46:02,398 --> 00:46:08,218
So it's just it's a my website is really you know takes you through all that

566
00:46:08,218 --> 00:46:13,738
whatever kind of service you're looking for with the advanced paddling or the

567
00:46:13,738 --> 00:46:17,818
need to be advanced paddling great you know we do take people that are just

568
00:46:17,818 --> 00:46:19,698
starting out we always love to do that and

569
00:46:20,118 --> 00:46:24,258
build them and watch them grow fun so if people are interested in learning about

570
00:46:24,258 --> 00:46:27,538
your coaching services they'll find that at kayak waveology as well as the other

571
00:46:27,538 --> 00:46:31,418
services so So it's been fun learning from you, learning about the BC system,

572
00:46:31,778 --> 00:46:35,978
learning about the autumn gales, kayak waveology, your experience in Tierra del Fuego.

573
00:46:36,078 --> 00:46:40,198
And it's been fun. I appreciate it. I do have one final question for you,

574
00:46:40,218 --> 00:46:43,798
and that is, who else would you like to hear as a future guest on Paddling the Blue?

575
00:46:45,538 --> 00:46:51,858
Well, you know, I would say some of my mentors that I have had help me on my journey.

576
00:46:52,318 --> 00:46:57,018
It'd be great to hear from them. So one of them, particularly,

577
00:46:57,198 --> 00:47:03,918
his name is Kieran Tasker, and he resides on the Isle of Man in the UK.

578
00:47:06,278 --> 00:47:09,798
Excellent. Yep. So a fantastic coach.

579
00:47:10,058 --> 00:47:14,198
He has a business there on the Isle of Man, but he's also quite an expedition

580
00:47:14,198 --> 00:47:16,478
paddler as well. All right.

581
00:47:16,738 --> 00:47:24,238
So he's going to help me on my performance coach pathway quite a bit. And so.

582
00:47:25,763 --> 00:47:30,023
Good dude. Super. Well, more than 120 guests, and I don't think I've talked

583
00:47:30,023 --> 00:47:31,663
to somebody from the Isle of Man yet.

584
00:47:32,863 --> 00:47:37,883
The Isle of Man is a wild place, and not only for the motorcycle race,

585
00:47:38,003 --> 00:47:40,443
but the sea paddling there is amazing.

586
00:47:40,783 --> 00:47:46,343
Excellent. A lot of tidal races, and a good old Manx saying would be,

587
00:47:46,463 --> 00:47:51,343
if you look at their flag, the Isle of Man flag, Celtic flag,

588
00:47:52,623 --> 00:47:57,283
it's like there's a foot But they always hit the ground running. Boom, boom. Okay.

589
00:47:59,423 --> 00:48:02,923
Well, we'll get the flag. You'll see it. All right. Well, we'll definitely reach

590
00:48:02,923 --> 00:48:06,423
out to Karen and get him on the show. So I appreciate the lead.

591
00:48:06,923 --> 00:48:10,623
And we will make sure we put links in the show notes to the Autumn Gales website,

592
00:48:10,883 --> 00:48:15,263
as well as Kayak Waveology, where listeners can connect with you on both of those areas.

593
00:48:16,243 --> 00:48:19,363
Super. All right. Greg, thank you again for the opportunity to talk.

594
00:48:19,423 --> 00:48:22,583
I appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Thank you.

595
00:48:24,143 --> 00:48:27,563
If you want to be a stronger and more efficient paddler, Power to the Paddle

596
00:48:27,563 --> 00:48:31,143
is packed with fitness guidance and complete descriptions, along with photos

597
00:48:31,143 --> 00:48:35,623
of more than 50 exercises to improve your abilities and enjoy your time on the water.

598
00:48:35,783 --> 00:48:39,583
The concept and exercises in this book have helped me become a better paddler,

599
00:48:39,703 --> 00:48:41,283
and they can make a difference for you too.

600
00:48:41,443 --> 00:48:45,203
The exercises in the book can help you reduce tension in your shoulders and

601
00:48:45,203 --> 00:48:49,003
low back, use the power of your torso to create leverage and use less energy

602
00:48:49,003 --> 00:48:52,663
with each stroke, use Use force generated from your lower body to make your

603
00:48:52,663 --> 00:48:53,823
paddling strokes more efficient.

604
00:48:54,183 --> 00:48:57,763
Have the endurance to handle long days in the boat. Drive through the toughest

605
00:48:57,763 --> 00:49:01,123
waves or white water. Protect your body against common paddling injuries.

606
00:49:01,343 --> 00:49:04,443
And while you're at it, you might even lose a few pounds. And who wouldn't mind

607
00:49:04,443 --> 00:49:08,803
that? So visit paddlingexercises.com to get the book and companion DVD.

608
00:49:10,802 --> 00:49:14,582
Fuego sounds like an amazing place to paddle. Thanks to Greg for sharing his

609
00:49:14,582 --> 00:49:17,222
experience in South America as well as his thoughts on coaching.

610
00:49:17,422 --> 00:49:22,022
You can learn more about Greg, the Autumn Gales, and Kayak Waveology by visiting

611
00:49:22,022 --> 00:49:29,482
the show notes for this episode number 121 at www.paddlingtheblue.com slash 121.

612
00:49:29,742 --> 00:49:35,322
Thanks to all who've clicked the Buy Me a Coffee link on our webpage at www.paddlingtheblue.com

613
00:49:35,322 --> 00:49:39,702
and thrown a few dollars our way to help offset the cost of producing Paddling the Blue.

614
00:49:39,702 --> 00:49:43,082
It is a true labor of love, and I enjoy bringing these stories to you,

615
00:49:43,142 --> 00:49:46,722
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616
00:49:47,362 --> 00:49:51,962
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617
00:49:52,182 --> 00:49:56,642
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618
00:49:56,722 --> 00:50:00,022
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619
00:50:00,442 --> 00:50:03,962
Until next time, thanks, as always, for listening, and I look forward to bringing

620
00:50:03,962 --> 00:50:06,042
you the next episode of Paddling the Blue.

621
00:50:07,982 --> 00:50:11,642
Thank you for listening to Paddling the Blue. You can subscribe to Paddling

622
00:50:11,642 --> 00:50:16,742
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624
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625
00:50:22,042 --> 00:50:25,242
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626
00:50:25,442 --> 00:50:31,002
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627
00:50:31,242 --> 00:50:33,182
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628
00:50:33,200 --> 00:50:40,665
Music.