Columbia River Kayaking LLC. The talented and motivated guides from Skamokawa Center teamed up with CRK's founder Ginni Callahan to create a worker-owned cooperative based in Cathlamet, WA. Columbia River Kayaking, LLC offers lessons and tours for all levels on the Lower Columbia River and in Baja, Mexico.

British Canoe Union North America The British Canoe Union is the international standard of modern paddlesport training. Originally formed in 1936 to send a British team to the Berlin Olympics, the BCU has grown considerably, in both scope and geography. The BCU offers 5 levels of recreational skill training including two levels of leadership certification, plus 5 levels of coaching certification, and coach trainer certifications. The BCU covers sea kayaking, canoeing, whitewater river paddling, surfing in little kayaks, and all aspects of competitive paddlesports.

LoCo 2009 will be a tremendous gathering of top national and international sea kayaking coaches. All levels of paddler stand to learn much and thoroughly enjoy this gathering of talent and passion.

Greenland traditions Modern kayaking draws not only on British traditions, but also on the much older Greenland traditions. Greenlanders were subsisting from the sea in kayaks thousands of years before kayaking became a sport, and the modern equivalent of the Greenland "Olympics" is all about kayaking skills. LoCo has the privilege of hosting several instructors of Greenland paddling and rolling, and will feature a Greenland-style rolling competition. The competition is Saturday night and is called "Sticks and Stones" because the paddle that Greenlanders use was originally made of driftwood and a rock is one of the things used to roll a kayak in the competition.

Slow Boat Farm is a 21-acre former dairy farm on Puget Island with water access. The farm's mission, "deepening the human connection to the natural environment through recreation and sustenance," is uniquely fitted to the place--the access to a network of remote sloughs leading to the Columbia River, the exuberant garden and productive fields. Camping is available in the summer.

Top notch coaches, instructors, and guides are being summoned to the event, along with exciting musicians and presenters.

About the evening programs

Long-term Fitness for Paddlesports
Michael Callaghan

In order to get the most out of your personal and your students paddling and to avoid injury in the long run it is best to prepare for paddling just like you would any other sport -thoughtfully and scientifically. The old adage of "playing your way into shape" leads down the path to body breakdowns, rehab and missed paddling seasons. Join Michael Callaghan as he discusses personal paddling fitness preparation for expeditions and sea kayak racing, basic scientific principals of training, and tools for every coaches toolbox to help assess functional strength in their paddlers in order to correct imbalances and weaknesses that are often at the root of technical plateaus and fitness issues.

Michael is a Physical Education and Coaching student at Douglas College in Vancouver, BC, and is certified as a personal fitness trainer as well as being a paddlesports coach with both Paddle Canada and the BCU.

Conservation in Baja
Ginni Callahan

Mexico's Sea of Cortez and Pacific coast are some of my chosen waters. They are popular paddling destinations, and for good reason! The Sea of Cortez and the Baja California Peninsula of Mexico come together in a yin-yang of land and sea, of fertile waters and desert scarcity. Baja's Pacific lagoons are birthplace of the eastern Pacific's population of gray whales and the feeding grounds for the Pacific population of loggerhead turtles. Cortez is the planet's youngest and most nutrient-rich ocean. The region in general is one of the world's conservation frontiers as we are still in the process of identifying new species, even as we lose them. Here, individuals are making big differences, and small communities are swaying the balance on a global scale.

US Coast Guard Briefing for Rescue Demo
Darren O'Brien BMC

The Coast Guard is planning a helicopter or boat rescue demo for LoCo this year. BMC O'Brien from Station Cape Disappointment will brief us in what to expect, as well as answer other questions you may have for the Coast Guard--the ones who pluck us out of the water when it all goes funky. Ideally, we can work together to help prevent the need for pluckings.

History of the Lower Columbia River
Andrew Emlen

"Certain it is these are the best canoe navigators we have ever seen," declared Meriwether Lewis of the lower Columbia natives. Perphaps it was because the area demanded good paddling skills if one were to survive. Lewis and crew were pinned by big waves, seasickness, and inadequate watercraft to a rain washed nook they called Dismal Nitch when the Clatsops paddled across the 4-mile wide river to trade with them and offer food.

The lower Columbia River is rich in natural history, native history and early settler history. Local guide and professor Andrew Emlen has a memory for detail and a knack for storytelling which brings this presentation to life.

Emergency Kayak Repairs
Sterling Donaldson

Builder of the Ice Kap and Illusion kayaks, Sterling Donaldson will give an interactive presentation on repairs and emergency repair materials.

BCU Informative Update for Coaches
Phil Hadley

This is not a full Coach Update course, however if you are an active BCU coach, and missed last year's biennial Update, you may attend this lecture/discussion, plus take any other course that furthers your professional development (3* surf, or 3* canoe, or FSRT, or Coastal Navigation, for example), and fill out the BCU Coach Self-Assessment Form. This will count to keep you current.

All BCU coaches need to update every three years, plus keep their membership and First Aid/CPR current. Coaches have three ways to stay current. Take a coach education course, attend a coach update program or fill out a self evaluation form. Please email if you have questions.

The Columbia River and its tributaries and sloughs provide a varied venue for all levels of paddling instruction. Protected inter-island passages open to the broad channel, which widens to 8 miles across some 15 miles downriver. Tides govern the direction of the river current and its strength. Summer afternoon wind is fairly reliable. An hour and a half west is the mouth of the Columbia, which is closed to freighter traffic on occasion due to its legendary roughness.
more detailed maps and charts