Midwest Paddling Academy

John and Anthea had a great time at the Des Plaines River Race this weekend!
Anthea is on the race committee and John was a safety boater.

John assisted 84 yr old Ken for about half of the race (9 miles) ensuring he was ok, hydrated and had food. Ken paddled the 18 1/2 miles solo but went for a swim about halfway through the race. John knew he needed a hand to make it to the finish so that’s what he did!

Anthea got a little action at the end when someone dumped their boat. When it was clear she was latching onto the swamped boat and floating downstream in the current, instead of swimming to shore, Anthea jumped in an empty boat that had just finished and rescued her.

People FIRST!

Never hang on to your ‘stuff’ always save yourself and the stuff can be retrieved.

Additionally, always think about your self rescue options before you need to use them. Unfortunately it never even occurred to this lady to attempt to swim her boat to shore. Just hung on and floated away. Luckily she was not right in front of a dam or strainer and luckily Midwest Paddling Academy was ready for action!

John and Anthea teach self rescue, rescuing a partner, paddling technique and reading the water in our classes!

Sunday, John and Anthea did a training for Sea Scout Ship 4107. We worked on getting comfortable falling out of the boat, swimming under/over the boat, swimming with a paddle, and dumping while wearing a spray skirt. Of course we had some bilge pump wars, played ball, and other fun activities that teach boat control while having a great time. Great group of scouts! 😎🛶💦🤪

Midwest paddling academy is heading to the pool today! 🥳🤪🛶💁‍♀️
John and Anthea will be at Naperville today. While we are not giving lessons, we are happy to help while we are working on our own skills. Today I am bringing my tippy racing boat. Goal is to sit on the back and do a 360 spin on top of it without falling off (working on balance). Last year I couldn’t complete the spin without falling off.
John will be working on rolling.

Happy Halloween from John and Anthea!
Let’s not make this YOUR costume this fall. Look for more classes next year and remember NOW is drysuit season. Be prepared properly or stay home. One paddle is not worth dying for.

Last Saturday we hosted our first ever advanced beginners paddle. John and I have been waiting a year to make this class happen (blame me and my crazy schedule lol) We did about 6 miles on the DuPage with a little moving water fun stuck in the middle. We introduced Ferrying, Eddy Turns, Peel Outs and some other techniques. Everyone did a great job and this class will help you if you take a moving water class with us next season, except we will up the challenge with faster current. Thanks to all who participated on this fun, beautiful day!
John Hudson, Anthea Halpryn

On 9/16 we hosted the last Beginners Paddle of the season. 🛶 8 miles from Algonquin to Voyageur Landing on the fabulous Fox River. It was a perfect day and fun learning event. Look for more paddles like this next year and thank you to everyone who has come (we are at our 5th paddle now!) and helped us support getting people on the water and portaging their first dam in a safe, fun enviroment!

John Hudson Anthea Halpryn

We had an excellent day on the water! 11 students, 2 instructors and our safety boater, the legendary Steve Voss.
We began the class asking “what do you do when you fall out of your kayak?” and got some stories of hairy situations, those who had never tipped and had no idea what to do.

They can now all answer this question with heel hook, t-rescue, paddle float rescue and more!
Everyone learned something and we had the best weather as well 😎🙌👏

A huge shout out to the students who came willing to do to the work (self rescue is exhausting) and those who had personal triumphs today! You all ROCK 👊 thank you for making our first formal class such a great experience