The goal of the Gales Storm Gathering is to encourage students to develop skills in conditions where they would actually use them. Each evening, coaches and paddlers will meet around the fire at gathering headquarters to look at weather/conditions for the next day. Based upon this forecast, we’ll choose which courses are best suited to match both paddler and coach goals for the event. Once the courses have been announced, paddlers will have the opportunity to chose what they want to do the following day.

The lead instructor for each course will make a decision about the location and go-no-go decision based on weather and other factors on the day of the event.

Long Boats in Current 1 & 2

Prepare yourself to paddle in British Columbia’s “Skooks”, Wales’ “Penhryn Mawr” or the Bay of Fundy’s “Reversing Falls’”! Long Boats in Current focuses on the fun that sea kayaks can have in current! LBC1 will introduce sea paddlers to turning on eddlylines, ferry crossings and attaining from eddy to eddy.

LBC2 will focus on play in current as we surf standing waves and holes, and move to areas of more significant flow. This course takes place on the Menominee River.

Open Water Navigation

Take your navigation to the next level with the OW Navigation course. A classroom navigation session will be followed by on-water navigation skills and a navigation challenge!

Night Navigation

This journey will take place on Friday night. We’ll paddle through areas with and without aids to navigation, and participants should have good day navigation skills. Night navigation is an assessment criteria for the BCU 5* Sea Award and the ACA L5 Instructor Certification, so “buckle down” paddlers!

Surf Kayak 1 & 2

This class is about catching waves on the Great Lakes in dedicated surf craft. Do you want to carve down the face of a freshwater wave in a boat the same size and shape as a surf board? This class is for you. The object is to hit it, drop in on steep faces, hit radical turns and repeat. You will learn about wave selection, positioning, and take-off to get the most out of your surf sessions. We will make your experience surfing freshwater waves so much fun you will finally know the meaning of the word stoke.

Surf Kayak 1

This class focuses on the specifics of small boat surfing. Techniques for breaking out, maneuvering, positioning and catching rides.

Surf Kayak 2

This class focuses on maneuvers, and technique. Bottom turns, angled take-offs, top turns, and riding down the line!

Sea Kayak Surfing 1 & 2

Surf for fun and survival! Surf skills help you land your boat safely and surfing can be one of the more exhilarating aspects of the sport!

SKS1 will help paddlers “break out” and land in surf, as well as look at wave selection, take-offs and having fun on the wave!

SKS2 will start with selection and take-off, but will also look at retaining the wave face for longer rides, turning and re-establishing the surf ride from a sidesurf position. The most fun you can have in a boat!

Rock Gardening

When swell meets rock, the fun begins! “Keep one eye to the sea”, choose your wave, time it up and surf on through that slot! Coaches will work with paddlers on “reading water”, acceleration and boat control in the gardens.

“WOW” Rough Water Paddlers

WOW: Women On the Water Slang: adj. – very good, excellent; cool. Ladies…be the best rough water paddlers in your paddling group! For women, and lead by some of the best female rough water paddlers around, these outings take advantage of “conditions of the day” to teach rough water paddling skills.

Rough Water Rescues

Let’s face it, most rescues are rough water rescues! We don’t capsize in flat, calm conditions. RWR will build on your flatwater rescues, improving the T, Scoop and self rescues in bumpy water. Dependent on the progress and comfort of the paddlers, the group (or parts of the group)  will move on to rough water towing, rescues “on the rocks” and more!

Incident Management

RWR2 is absolutely a must for those leading others in rough water! Rough water leadership and preparation for leading into areas of rough water will be the focus of a brief indoor session. When we get on the water, towing, cave/slot rescues and landings in “no landing zones” are just some of the fun we’ll be having out there!

Coaching Tours

Each Coaching Tour will be a fun exploratoy paddle with a bit of coaching thrown in along the way as different teaching opportunities arise.