Paddle Making Workshop

Jenda held it's first Paddle Making Workshop on May 27th with Lloyd Stonehouse.  We had great weather for this outdoor workshop with a nice breeze that helped out during some of the pysical labour. 

With a great selection from from a cherry, ash, walnut or or maple paddle blank, we then had the choice to create an otter tail, beaver tail or voyageur style paddle. With great instructions from Lloyd Stonehouse who showed us how to size, fine tune and make our very own paddle using simple hand tools and a little bit of elbow grease!

Lloyd is one of Canada's Leading Paddle making instructors and has been running seminars for 25 years and offers them  from Hallifax to Vancover.  Lloyd spends his summers giving seminars in our Provincial Parks around Ontario.  He has led trips on the Nahanni River in the NWT and has paddled  down the Coppermine River  to the Artic Ocean.  He also taught tripping for Ottawa U summer camp and has a deep and lasting love of his Rivers, his boats and his paddles.

 

This was a six hour workshop and all participants were very pleased with their final results and eager to add their finishing touches to make it water worthy for their next canoe trip!

Jenda's Recreational Kayaker Course

Jenda held it's first Recreational Beginner Kayaker Course on the weekend.  It was a full course and we could not have asked for better weather!  And to top it all off, the grand finale consisted of the ice cream boat showing up at the end of the course for a nice refreshing treat!

This is Jenda's second season offering recreational kayaking courses on the Rideau River with our instructor Andrew Fine.  Andrew has just recently moved to Ontario although has been exploring Canadian waterways since 2000. Andrew grew up canoeing and kayaking and became a passionate outdoorsman while he obtained a degree in Outdoor Education at Earlham College in Indiana. Andrew has been leading trips and teaching classes in Canoeing, Kayaking, Rock Climbing, and Backpacking ever since for Earlham College, Silver Bay Association in Upstate New York and The National Outdoor Leadership School. Andrew began working for Jenda Paddlesports in the winter of 2010 and has helped develop Jenda into a base for fun and instructional Canoe and Kayak courses and activities and is looking forward to getting others excited about the outdoors.

Our kayaking courses have been in high demand and all courses so far have been full!  To help pick up the slack, our very own Jason Kirby will be helping out to teach these courses so that we can offer you more dates throughout the summer months.

The Beginner Recreational Kayaker course will teach you the basics of handling your kayak on and off the water.  This course will teach you about your kayak and the gear you'll need, as well as how to get the most comfort out of your kayak.  We will get you started using good habits to progress your skills from getting into the boat to balance and paddle strokes.

The Intermediate Recreational Kayaker course will review the basic paddle strokes and refine them, as well as add a few more advanced strokes to help progress your skills as a kayaker.  We will also practice some emergency procedures so you are prepared for that unlikely situation of capsizing. 

Our next course dates are June 9th and June 23rd.  You can find a full list of our courses and schedules here.

If you already have group or would like a private course, please contact us and we will be happy to make arrangements with you!

SUP!

While Stand Up Paddling (SUP) has been around for many many years, there are even pictographs of Hawaiian Kings paddling a board while standing up, Stand Up Paddling is now the fastest growing segment of paddlesports. There are specialized boards for flatwater touring or racing, shorter, more responsive boards for wave riding and river paddling and all around boards that do a little of everything.

Jenda`s Recreational SUP course focuses on flatwater paddling with a focus on kneeling and standing on a board, forward and turning strokes as well as safety considerations.  We also demonstrate different SUP equipment and gear as well as transporting and carrying your SUP.

Jenda held it`s first Beginner Stand Up Paddling course on Sunday.   It was a chilly start to the day but luckily the water was warm enough allowing us to test our boards to their limits. 

We ended the course with a little taste of what to expect in the advanced course, which in our opinion is when the fun really begins!

 

If you want to hop "on board" this new trend, take a look at our course schedule here.

Our Blu Wave Paddleboards arrived just in time for this course!  They sure are pretty!  Our in stock SUP boards can be found here.








A big thank you to Stuart Paynter for taking such great pictures!  We will post a few more on facebook soon.

Jenda's 1st Social Paddle!

Jenda's 1st Social Paddle took place on Sunday and we could not have asked for better weather!  We had a good size group of varying ages and varying styles of kayaks ranging from a Hobie peddle kayak, touring kayak and recreational kayaks! 

This was one of the first times out for many of the participants inclucing it's leader Jason to undertake a big 13 km paddle along the peaceful Steven's Creek.  This is a great accomplishment especially for the newbies in the group!  Judging from Jason's groans every time he moves that other participants are likely feeling some muscle tenderness from this first outing as well!

A big thank you to everyone who came out and participated - the great weather and your great attitudes made it that much more enjoyable!

The next outing will be a sunset paddle on May 23rd with the final destination being Kelly's Landing Restaurant.  Full details and regsitration info can be found here.