Thanks, Ben
(JB was right...it happens)

Ben Lawry was in the neighborhood this past weekend (Madison) to conduct lessons. As it turned out with the scheduling, there was going to be a block of open time on Sunday morning. Now, to have such a skilled instructor around doing nothing would have been a sin; so JB, ever the proponent of ongoing education for instructors, suggested to Nancy (our Boss at Rutabaga) that they have something for instructors. She agreed, and I went. It was some of the best on water time I've had in quite a while.
Ben first gathered our wish lists of things we wanted to work on and areas in which we wanted to be better instructors. I opted for teaching techniques around forward sweep strokes and bow rudders. Then we did some of Ben's famous on land techniques for finding our strongest posture and positions. I was surprised to learn that I cannot get my knees high enough in my Romany. I tore out some padding which improved things a bit...but I digress.

Once on the water we drilled and drilled, especially with the turning edges and sweep strokes. Ben, ever observant, had pearls of wisdom and observations to share with us. (I still wake up at night hearing him call out, "Doc, where are you looking.")

That afternoon, I was able to paddle for a few hours on my own and realized there had been a step up in my paddling. Later, thinking it all over, I also realized that I was a better paddler than I had been that morning and that I had a whole new bag of ideas around teaching. That's a good day on the water. JB was right (I hate when that happens). Thanks, Ben

Paddle safe...
DS