Four-hour Events

*Check out up-to-date pictures of trips and events at GreenWave's photo flier site http://photos.greenwavepaddling.com.

Crosswicks Creek Tidal River Tour--Come explore a unique natural setting located off the Delaware River below Trenton.  Starting at Bordentown Beach in Bordentown, NJ, you will paddle into a 1,250 acre freshwater tidal marshland known as the Trenton-Hamilton-Bordentown Marsh.  Freshwater marshlands are some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world.  After leaving the beach, passing a couple of marinas, and making your way under the RiverLine railroad bridge, you will enter a riverine world that has mostly stayed unchanged since the days of the earliest Native Americans.  While riding the tide, you will easily paddle into the marsh to explore it's flora, fauna, and fun.  Your trip will be guided by a certified ACA kayak instructor and local paddler who lives five minutes from the creek.  You can also save gas, the environment, and money on your trip by taking the RiverLine to the Bordentown stop.  Go to www.riverline.com for specific times and stops.  Just walk down the hill from the train platform and you're at Bordentown Beach.  Show a RiverLine stub for that day and get $5 off your tour.    

Introduction to Kayaking Class—Basic paddling skills are presented and practiced, so that you can safely and comfortably enjoy your time on the water.  You will learn how to get in and out of your boat, what gear you should bring, and how to properly use all the necessary gear.  You will also learn how to control your boat, use a sprayskirt, and complete a wet-exit.  The nuts and bolts of sea kayaking will be covered in this course. 

Strokes and Maneuvers Refinement Class—This class will help students at all levels to refine their strokes and maneuvers in a sea kayak.  You will learn how to gracefully control your boat using J-lean turns, low and high brace turns, bow and stern rudder strokes, side slips, draws, and bracing skills. 

 

Safety and Rescues Clinic—Get ready to get wet!  This is the ultimate rescue course.  You will be presented with multiple ways to rescue yourself and others.  Then you will spend a good part of the class practicing and refining these skills.  You will learn several self-rescues, such as, the paddle float rescue, cowboy re-entry, paddle float re-entry and roll, and paddle float rescue with a stirrup.  Assisted rescues will include the T-rescue, bow and side Eskimo rescues, and other variations of these types of rescues.

 

Rough Water Paddling Clinic:  Tides, Currents, and Surf—This is an intermediate to advanced level course designed to teach safe and effective paddling strategies and skills when confronted with strong tides, currents, and surf.  You will learn how to prepare for a trip using tidal, current, and surf information.  You will also experience how to paddle in strong current and surf and learn how to read the water and make instant on-water calculations and changes.  You will learn how to land and launch in surf, how to paddle as a group in surf, how to ride the waves, and how to brace in surf.  You MUST have very good paddling skills, rescue skills, and appropriate equipment for this course.  A helmet,  bulkheaded boat, and towline are required equipment for this course.  I prefer that you have taken a prior course with me or paddled with me, so I know the level of your skills and can make an educated decision on whether this is the proper course for you.

 

Navigation Clinic—This course is designed to provide all level of paddlers with an introduction and working knowledge of open-water navigation.  You will learn how to use charts, a compass, weather forecasts, and tidal and local information to navigate on Barnegat Bay.  This course will include a navigation booklet for you to take home at the end of the day.

 

Racing and Forward Stroke Clinic—This course is intended to help provide you with the skills needed to get into (or improve) competitive kayak racing.  The focus of the class will revolve around perfecting the ultimate forward racing stroke.  Participants will also learn how to trim and outfit a kayak for optimum racing performance.  Race strategies such as drafting, navigation, and pre- and post-planning will be covered.  This course will include video taping of all participants.

 

Evening Nature Paddles with a Skills Focus

The Forward Stroke—This class focuses on just one thing, perfecting the forward stroke.  The forward stroke is the most used, but least talked about stroke.  Paddlers use it all the time, so they figure that’s all the practice they need.  Plus, who wants to hear about or see the boring old forward stroke when rolling, sculling, and turning strokes are much more exciting to watch and do.  But the forward stroke is the most important and used stroke of all.  So, this class will focus on every aspect of the forward stroke from what is happening under the deck with your feet to what your upper-hand is doing during the propulsion phase of the stroke.  This class is designed for any type of paddler from beginners with some experience to racers.

 

Turning and Edging Strokes—We will only concentrate on strokes that enable us to move in reverse and sideways.  You will learn the finer points of the reverse stroke and draw stroke.  Once getting these strokes firmly under your belt, then you will take a more dynamic approach by moving your boat sideways while under way.  This is known as the hanging draw or sideslip.  The class will culminate with some fancier turning maneuvers while underway going backwards.  This class is designed for paddlers of all levels, except true beginners.  All you need is a good comfort level in your boat and a desire to push yourself to try and learn new things.  Use of a sprayskirt and the ability to wet-exit are necessary for this course, as edging will be important in order to properly learn these skills.

 

Bracing—This skills session will work on establishing a reliable low and high brace.  You will also learn how to use these static strokes while underway by learning and trying low and high brace turns.  Prior to practicing full braces, you will learn how to hipsnap to right your boat back level again, as well as practicing proper hand and paddle positions.  This is a fun class for anyone wanting to push themselves to the next level or improve their overall rough-water skills.  If you are looking to play in the surf or hit the open bay or ocean, then having an automatic and good brace is essential.  This class is designed for low intermediate to advanced paddlers.  Use of a sprayskirt and the ability to wet-exit are necessary for this course, as edging will be important in order to properly learn these skills.

Safety and Rescues-This skills session will present you with one assisted and one self-rescue technique.  You will be taught the standard T-rescue with a partner for an assisted rescue.  The self-rescue you will be taught is the paddle-float rescue.  This is the most common and basic self-rescue technique for paddlers who have yet to master a roll.  This skills sessions is designed for paddlers of all abilities.  However, kayaks without forward and aft bulkheads will need to have proper airbag floatation. 

Draw and Sculling Strokes-During this session, you will learn or refine draw (sideways movement) and sculling (for support) strokes.  You'll start off learning the classic figure-eight sculling stroke for support.  You can then take this horizontal support stroke and make it vertical into a sculling draw stroke using the same motion.  You will also be shown a hip to draw stroke as an alternative sideways movement stroke to the sculling draw stroke.