Putting the joy back into paddling!

Dan taught me a few years ago right at the start of my paddling - the fundamentals, and my roll. I took it from there with flatwater practice and lots of club paddling, leading to lots of fun on grade II and III river trips. But I'd lost the joy a bit after a hairy Alps trip, and came back to Dan, this time with my girlfriend, for an introductory course for my girlfriend and some back to basics for me.

We both loved it. Dan is hands-down the best coach I've encountered: his teaching style makes any stretch of water ripe for learning and honing skills. He is also absolutely excellent at managing the learning needs of a group of different levels. This weekend I made a couple of subtle improvements to my technique that I am looking forward to taking back out with me, and trying on some different and bigger water.

It is good to now be able to say that I am looking forward to getting out paddling again. My girlfriend had a fantastic time too, and as well as enjoying the technical learning and practice, we loved the trip downriver through so much beautiful nature, and nesting river birds. We're both looking forward to more paddling together, and I also suspect we'll be back later in the year for a whitewater skills course.

In short, I would recommend River Strokes to anyone who wants to learn to paddle, wants to hone their technique or who needs to remember why they started to love it in the first place. Thanks again, Dan!