- Photo of Christopher Lockyer Taken by: Clif Pratt
Liscombe Lodge http://www.liscombelodge.ca/ is hidden gem located outside a small village about two and a half hours away from Halifax. It is one of only three resorts owned and operated by the Province of Nova Scotia.
On May 11 of this year 75 paddlers traveled from as far away as England and Seattle to gather for the 5th Annual Atlantic Paddle Symposium. www.atlanticpaddlesymposium.com . Light winds, warm dry weather, and easy swell made for three extremely pleasant days on the water.
The Atlantic Paddle Symposium is our region’s premier paddling event. The Atlantic Canada paddling community meets for a 4-day event focusing on skill development, outdoor, leadership, education and paddling safety. The Symposium facilitates relationship building, both within our regional paddling community and allows us to forge relationships with some of the best known paddlers and instructors in the world.
The schedule, as it has been in previous years, was packed with a variety of skills sessions for all levels, covering each of the four paddling styles supported by Paddle Canada paddling programs. Stand Up Paddling sessions were added (and enthusiastically received) to our roster of sessions for canoe, sea kayak and white water kayak.
The venue offered us great locations and a variery of conditions. Sean Morley, Christopher Lockyer and Mat Nelson ran rock hopping, sea kayak surfing, and Incident management sessions.
Highlights from this year’s event were:
- Zac Crouse’s opened the event with a presentation on the Paddle to the Ocean project mixing skillful muscianship with his story telling to keep the group engaged. Big thanks to Zac and Ian for the great music.!
- Andrew Westwood is a true ambassador of the sport of canoeing. His presentation on keeping instruction relevant, current, engaging and fun was inspiring, timely, and well received.
- Sean Morley’s presentation about paddling around Great Britain, Vancouver Island as well as some of the coast of California.
- We were blessed with sun shine, light winds and a bit of swell for the event.
Photo by: Ryan Brake
Without the support from our sponsor this year we would not have been able to make the event so accessible and also would not have been able to have such a talented group of coaches.
Special Thanks to Sean Morley and Matt Nelson for making the trip to Nova Scotia. Hope to see you both back next year.
Picture gallery can be found at:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150905072819706.430161.269008074705&type=3&l=f9877313a5
Sponsor a Coach:
Lendal Paddle (Christopher Lockyer), P&H sea kayaks (Matt Nelson)
Submitted by Christopher Lockyer www.committed2thecore.com