Workshops Schedule for 2023
Paddle Making with Don Beale
Additional $225 Registration - max 10 students
Carve your own Greenland Paddle with Master Carver Don Beale, and assistant Dave Sides. Have your choice of Western Red Cedar or Cottonwood. The Cedar is softer and lighter, the cottonwood is stronger and more dense. For the class, you’ll need to wear closed-toed shoes. Each participant needs to bring two 4” or larger C-clamps. All the carving tools are provided. Plan on spending the full day with a 45 minute lunch break, and everyone will leave with a finished paddle, ready for use the next day. Email Don directly for individual sizing, or choose a small (85 x 19 x 3-1/4), medium (87 x 20 x 3-1/4), or large (89 x 21 x 3-1/4”). You will need to provide dimensions before September 6th.
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This class will begin at 9AM sharp on Friday.
Sunrise Yoga with Dubside
Open to all attendees before breakfast Friday 6:45-7:30 am
Included in Registration
Join Dubside in the Quail's Nest for an early morning stretch before breakfast.
Included in Registration
20 minute Yoga with Dubside
Open to all attendees on Saturday at 4pm
Join Dubside at the Dining Hall for a brief stretch after classes. He tried this last year for the first time and folks loved it!
Dynamic Mobility and Stretch with Cathy Smith
Open to all attendees before breakfast Saturday and Sunday 7-7:20 am
Included in Registration
Join personal trainer, fitness consultant and paddling enthusiast, Cathy Smith in a 20-minute dynamic mobility and stretch class designed to get your body warmed up and kayak ready! Exercises will include dynamic and static stretches for shoulders, core and hips. No equipment needed. Exercise bands provided.
Rope Gymnastics Workshop
Open to all attendees on Saturday
Try your skills and pick up tips & personal instruction from the experts with the Greenland Rope Gymnastics. Sessions may include anything from Setup, Individual Coaching, and Competition Strategies including simulated scoring. Indicate your level by circling one: Beginner or Intermediate.
Included in Registration
Qajaq Skinning Demo - Various Times
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Qajaq USA Skin on Frame builder Peter Strand will be on hand to answer all your qajaq skinning questions demonstrate technique, and re-skinning a skin on frame.
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Steam Bending Ribs - Various Times
Open to all attendees
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Steam bending wooden ribs and coamings is 1/3 science and 2/3 art. Learn about building the steam box, selecting wood, how to determine steaming time and tips to minimize breakage. You will then get to practice bending ribs with some coaching from Peter. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to demystify this critical qajaq building skill.
Included in Registration
Included in Registration
Open to all attendees
Workshops from Past Years
Akuilisaq Workshop
An akuilisaq offers you more freedom of movement in the kayak cockpit than the modern tunnel sprayskirt. The akuilisaq, used during the summer in Greenland, is the lower part of a tuilik. It allows you to move your body in the cockpit and to rotate your torso with less restriction than a modern spray skirt, while still keeping water out of the kayak.
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Learn to make a pattern and then use it to make your akuilisaq. We will be using neoprene in this workshop. Skills needed to make the akuilisaq are an eagerness to learn, strength/coordination to cut neoprene from a pattern with some accuracy, and a desire to have fun! The akuilisaq pieces will be glued and/or sewn. We'll start early morning, and by the end of the day you will have an akuilisaq specifically fitted to you and your kayak.
If you have allergies to latex or neoprene cement, please let us know. The Aquilisaq is best suited for smaller, non-keyhole cockpits.
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Cost for the workshop includes all materials. The workshop will be limited, so register early!
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The mentors of the workshop (Jane and Kathy) will contact you via email for information about you and your kayak, and what tools you will need to bring with you.
Harpoons
Paddlers who appreciate the origins of kayaking know that the main reason the Greenland qajaq was developed was to reach game on the water that hunters could not reach on land. The harpoon co-evolved with the qajaq and was key to the survival of the Inuit. Now is the time to complete your Greenland kit. Spend the day with Sipke Deboer and Renee DuFresne making your own practice harpoon. This harpoon will be one piece and suitable for beach practice or in the water. A custom Norsaq (throwing stick) is included.
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Float Bags- Thursday
$75
Kayaks without bulkheads that fill with water when capsized can be extremely difficult to rescue. Adding float bags to displace some of that water can help. Commercially made float bags are available at your paddle store, but most are undersized for skin on frame qajaqs. In this workshop, you will make a set of float bags specifically sized for your qajaq.
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Introduction to working with Neoprene- Friday
$25
Neoprene is used for making spray skirts, mittens, tuiliks, mittens, wet suits, mittens and more. Learn the basics of working with neoprene with Terry O’Malley, past president of QajaqUSA. In this workshop, you will be making mittens, but more importantly, you will be learning the tricks where to buy, how to cut and assemble neoprene using your own body measurements for a custom fit.
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Sea Socks- Thursday
$75
Sea socks do an even better job of keeping the water out during a capsize and have the benefit of keeping abrasive sand out, which is especially important in skin on frame qajaqs. Some sea sock designs feel clammy or can present challenges in an emergency. We’ll be using a design by Anders Thygesen that is comfortable, makes rescues easier and keeps the sand out.
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In this video, Anders describes sea socks and makes a convincing argument for them: https://vimeo.com/20056748