The Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium in San Francisco is clearly shaping up to be one of the best events this winter season (if not one of the best of 2010).

The speaker/coach list is a massive collection of the biggest movers and shakers of the sea kayaking community today. It includes, Jeff Allen, Rob Avery, Tom Bergh, Kelly Blades, Gordon Brown, Bryant Burkhardt, Kenny Howell, Jen Kleck, Ben Lawry, Christopher Lockyer, Sean Morley, Helen Wilson, Michael Pardy and many, many others.

On top of that, it was just announced that Freya Hoffmeister will be a keynote speaker when she gives a presentation about her epic circumnavigation around Australia back in 2009.

If this is the first time you have heard of the event, Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium is aimed at intermediate paddlers who are keen to get out and learn the art of paddling in surf, rock gardens and tide races.

The sport of sea kayaking has changed dramatically recently. 6-7 years ago there was absolutely no market for any type of organized event at aimed specifically towards intermediate or advanced paddlers. How things have changed. To get your high adrenaline kick, you can now attend any of these similar events: UK Storm Gathering, Georgian Bay Storm Gathering (that’s my event!), Surfing Superior Confluence, Santa Cruz Kayak Surf Festival or the Sea Kayak Georgia Skills Symposium. I know there are others but I currently can’t remember them right now...sorry.

For ever, the sea kayak community always viewed paddling in rocks and surf as extreme and left it to the a few weirdoes who didn’t care about scratching their boats. I remember when I was younger watching some early videos from the Tsunami Rangers. It looked so extreme back then but compared to the DVD’s released recently (This is the Sea, Eastern Horizons, etc.) it now looks pretty normal. I’m glad to see that more and more people are discovering that sea kayaks can be used for other things than just trips and paddling around the lake at the cottage.

More info: ggsks.com
Photo Credit: Tsunami Rangers

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