Our popular Whitewater for Sea Kayakers series is an opportunity to open your mind and expand your paddling skills.  This whitewater skills development will help you adapt your existing skills to the river environment and to whitewater boats.  Appropriate both for skilled sea kayakers getting their first taste of WW paddling, and for existing WW paddlers looking to increase their understanding and proficiency on the river. Click course title for full details.

SMSKN and Pinniped Kayak are pleased to host renowned sea kayak coach Simon Osborn of Online Sea Kayaking for two days of training on the coast of Maine.  Simon, assisted by Nate Hanson, will work with paddlers to expand their skills, understanding and safety in challenging environments.  This course is appropriate for sea kayakers who are comfortable with self- and assisted-rescues, and have some experience paddling in bumpy water.  

$385 per person (SMSKN Member rate $270)

Register by emailing SMSKN (Prior to June 1st, Registration is restricted to SMSKN members)

This 4-day Level 4 Instructor Certification Workshop is provided by Nate Hanson (ACA L5 Instructor, L4 Instructor Trainer) of Pinniped Kayak, and hosted by Portland Paddle. L4 Open Water Sea Kayak Instructor Certification is offered for existing L3 Coastal Kayak instructors who are prepared to expand their teaching skills into more advanced environments, and provide more effective and differentiated instruction in authentic paddling environments. Click on course title for details

Nate is looking forward to returning to the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium, thanks to the support of P&H Sea Kayaks!

For more information and to register, check out the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium online.

See you all at the symposium!

Pinniped Kayak is happy to be hosting The Power of Water for a week of fun and skills development along the coastline of Downeast Maine and Mount Desert Island.
The Power of Water provides outstanding paddling instruction and worldwide adventures, based in Lansing, MI.

ACA River Kayak Instructor Certification Workshop with Todd Wright of Synaptic Sport.

Contact Synaptic Sport for details.

Want to schedule a custom course for your group of paddling companions? Nate is happy to schedule a course just for your paddling pod (calendar allowing). It’s great to be invited into a group of friends, and work with them on their collective and individual goals, and help these communities of practice to be more effective and safer when tackling the paddling challenges that they’re attracted to.

Join Nate Hanson (ACA L4 IT, L5 Instructor) to assess and improve your teaching abilities in an authentic instructor assessment. Click on course title for more information.

L4 Open Water Sea Kayak Instructor Certification is offered for existing L3 Coastal Kayak instructors who are prepared to expand their teaching skills into more advanced environments, and provide more effective and differentiated instruction in authentic paddling environments. Click on course title for details

Join Nate Hanson, Josh Hall, Todd Johnstone-Wright, and other talented ACA Instructors and British Canoeing Coaches for a weekend of sheltered water through advanced open-water development. We aim to have fun playing in a dynamic and aesthetic environment, developing performance, building community, and breaking down barriers to paddlesport in small groups of eight paddlers. Click course title for details.

Training to become an ACA-Certified Coastal Kayaking Instructor is an excellent way to formalize your own kayaking skills and gain the tools for effectively sharing kayaking with other paddlers.  Nate Hanson (ACA L5 Advanced Open Water Instructor, L3 Instructor Trainer, L3 River Kayak Instructor) is offering an ACA L3 Instructor Development Workshop (IDW) at Pinniped Kayak.  Candidates will leave with refined personal skills, an improved arsenal of instructional tools, and a personalized action plan to prepare for an Instructor Certification Exam (ICE) (e.g. Aug 10-11th).  Click on course title for more details.

Reprising last season’s most popular course, Todd Wright (Synaptic Sport) and Nate Hanson are taking you back to the end of the earth (err . . . the end of Maine anyways), for a versatile skills and leadership training event. With awesome venues such as Cobscook Reversing Falls, Quoddy Head, and the Bold Coast within reach, how could it not be a great time?! Click on Course title for more details

During this 4-day sea kayak journey, we'll work together to refine the skills required for multi-day kayak touring in an exposed coastal environment.  At the intersection of significant tidal flows from the inland bays and the powerful Bay of Fundy to the northeast, this area presents amazing beauty but also considerable challenges, and the goals of our trip will be to develop the skills required to safely plan and execute journeys to such remote and exposed destinations.   Click on course title for complete details.

Three days of comprehensive skills development for competent ocean paddlers who are looking for new challenges.  Each day we will choose a venue based on conditions, to make the most of the learning opportunities that surround Mount Desert Island.  Paddling environments will likely include reversing falls, coastal tide-races and rock gardens.   Click on course title for more details.

Last minute availability! We have space to add a 2 or 3 day WW for Sea Kayakers course, next week! Please get in touch ASAP if you may be interested in joining.

Great things happen when sea kayakers take to the river for whitewater training. We’ve had an awesome time introducing many of you to the river in the past few years, and we're looking forward to more. This year we’ll again offer our course on the famed Penobscot River, giving us access to reliable flows and beautiful riverside camping, and allowing for a wider range of challenges. We’ll build skills for understanding whitewater, moving boats with finesse, and making confident moves in whitewater rivers.
This course is appropriate for competent sea kayakers with no river experience, and for newer whitewater boaters looking to expand their abilities and safety. Click on course title for more details.

During this 3-day sea kayak journey, we'll work together to build the skills required for multi-day kayak touring in a coastal environment.
This is journey is the culmination of our “Foundations” series of sea kayaking classes, providing a great progression towards becoming a competent coastal sea kayaker, capable of taking your own coastal and multiday adventures. Click on course title for complete details.

“Yikes, that landing looks tricky!”   “Hey, where’s his boat?”  “Sasha, was that hole there before lunch?”

Todd Johnstone-Wright (Synaptic Sport) and Nate Hanson team up for this two day course, geared towards better understanding the environment, and having more intentional adventures. Our philosophy of preparedness is that you only know what a solution will look like if you have actually practiced it in challenging, realistic conditions.  In this scenario-based course you’ll build and explore your risk-assessment and safety-planning toolkit, so that we can avoid catastrophe whenever possible; and we’ll go make a bunch of mayhem to practice sorting out the messes that the ocean sometimes throws your way. Click on Course Title for details

Todd Johnstone-Wright (Synaptic Sport) and Nate Hanson join up to create two days focused on Sea Kayak Play in Rock and Current environments.

This course is focussed on the fun - making more of your rough-water play in sea kayaks, with more finesse and less stress.  Click on Course Title for details

Training to become an ACA-Certified Coastal Kayaking Instructor is an excellent way to formalize your own kayaking skills and gain the tools for effectively sharing kayaking with other paddlers.  Nate Hanson (ACA L5 Advanced Open Water Instructor, L3 Instructor Trainer, L3 River Kayak Instructor) is offering an ACA L3 Instructor Development Workshop (IDW) at Pinniped Kayak.  Candidates will leave with refined personal skills, an improved arsenal of instructional tools, and a personalized action plan to prepare for an Instructor Certification Exam (ICE) (e.g. Aug 19-20th).  Click on course title for more details.

Pinniped Kayak is happy to be hosting The Power of Water for a week of fun and skills development along the coastline of Downeast Maine and Mount Desert Island.
The Power of Water provides outstanding paddling instruction and worldwide adventures, based in Lansing, MI.