Quick Details
This is the course to take if you are new to sea kayaking — or if you started sea kayaking without gaining a solid foundation of skills and knowledge. You’ll learn all the basics with a small group of other paddlers in the protected waters near our East End Beach site in Portland. Your instructor will get your group started onshore with a discussion of equipment and the risks and hazards kayakers face on the Maine coast. Then you’ll get fitted into kayaks and head onto Casco Bay to learn proper paddling technique for the essential strokes of the sport. Your instructor will do their best to customize the class to fit with each students’ goals, experience level and interests. At some point during the class you’ll have a chance to perform a wet exit, which is the simple technique used to get out of your kayak after a capsize. You are likely to get wet, so we recommend wearing a wetsuit. If you do not have your own, we will provide one for you.
The Part II class is offered every other weekend and we recommend taking the two courses during the same summer, ideally followed by the Rescue Clinic.
We encourage everyone to start with this “Part I” intro course, because we cover essential content that won’t be included in the “Part II” course. If you register for both at the same time you can enter the code INTROP2 and receive a $10 discount. Or you can register for Part II at a later time without the discount. If you have prior sea kayaking experience and prefer to skip Part I and only take Part II, that is allowed. However, you should be familiar with basic paddling technique and be comfortable using a sea kayak in calm waters.
You might also consider registering for our “Intro Weekend Workshop,” which offers a more full and detailed version of our intro courses over the course of two days.