Spring is the perfect time to brush up on paddling skills.
That was the message heard from organizer Ontario Sea Kayak Centre and some 50 enthusiastic participants at the first annual Paddlepalooza Kayak Festival on Georgian Bay last May. This May 23-25, 2014, Paddlepalooza returns with two days of paddling, touring and camping workshops on the bay’s Parry Island, near the town of Parry Sound.
“Spring is really the best time to get people excited about kayaking,” says James Roberts, co-owner of Ontario Sea Kayak Centre (OSKC) and, with partner Dympna Hayes, founder of Paddlepalooza.
Paddlepalooza is Roberts and Hayes’ answer to the void left by the evaporation of spring kayak gatherings like White Squall’s Kayak & Canoe Festival and the National Sea Kayak Symposium (NaSKS). After many years of workshops, demos and concerts near the shores of Georgian Bay, the last long weekend festival at White Squall wound down in May of 2010. NaSKS, hosted by Adventure Kayak publisher, Rapid Media, welcomed paddlers to clinics on the Madawaska River in May 2009 and 2010.
“A spring symposium is a lot of pressure [for the organizer],” explains Roberts about why some of these events have gone away. “You have to get everything ready—your boats, your site, staffing—before your season has even started.”
The obvious trade-off, however, is the opportunity to engage participants at an accessible, grassroots level while months of paddling pleasure lie ahead and spring fever is at its worst. For Roberts and Hayes, Paddlepalooza is a chance to reconnect and help paddlers brush up on rusty skills after a long winter off the water.
“This weekend is a spring tune-up with more advanced clinics for novice and intermediate paddlers,” says Hayes. She adds that beginners and those who’ve never sat in a kayak before are already well serviced by more introductory events like Mountain Equipment Co-op’s urban Paddlefest series, taking place in cities across Canada throughout May and June.
Paddlepalooza participants are required to have their own cold-water clothing, a necessity for the chilly spring temperatures of Georgian Bay. Last year’s event featured characteristically unpredictable spring weather, with an ever-changing parade of thunderstorms, fog, brilliant sunshine, whitecaps, glassy calm and everything in between. Demo boats and some equipment will be available to borrow from festival partners and kayak retailers.
Just a short drive from the town of Parry Sound, the festival venue enjoys ready access to the Bay’s pink granite cliffs, windswept pines and azure waters. Hayes and Roberts are expecting some 60 participants and another 15–20 instructors from across Ontario and as far away as Nova Scoitia. Longer workshop sessions will allow students and coaches to dive more deeply into such diverse skills as touring stroke improvement, bracing, rolling, navigation, incident management, camp cooking, towing, rescues and more. A blend of on- and off-water clinics will offer something for everyone and, in the spirit of the palooza, there will of course be music, campfires, cookouts and partying.
When: May 23–25, 2014
Where: Parry Sound, Ontario
Info: www.ontarioseakayakcentre.com/events/paddlepalooza-may-2014.html
