Proposal: NSPN should create and annually host the premiere sea kayaking event in Massachusetts

[Dan Foster]

A Modest Proposal:

NSPN should host an annual two-day event toward the beginning of the paddling season that aims to be THE must-attend sea kayaking event in Massachusetts. Call it a symposium, an open house, or just a paddling party. It should be enticing enough that most of the club membership makes it part of their annual planning. It should be open to the public, with enough incentives and benefits that the event spreads by word of mouth after the first year.

It should feature club-led L1/L2 trips around a protected area for those just getting started, as well as rock gardening and exposed paddling trips for the seasoned paddlers. There should be options for on-water navigation practice, rescue practice, and stroke improvement. There should be a large social component to the weekend, with a potluck-style dinner on Saturday, preferably at a location that allows alcohol consumption. There could be a kayak camping option, and a WFA certification offered that weekend. In some years, there could be a "mini-Blackburn" and paddling clinic for the surf-ski and racing community, or a rolling demonstration and clinic for those interested in joining the cult of the Greenland stick. There should be the option for overnight lodging (a preferred hotel or room block for out-of-towners) and evening presentations on navigation, trip reports from faraway paddles, or maybe just a private room at a local tavern. There should be a dedicated forum or space for the selling, swapping, and buying of used gear. There should be an online forum for the matching of people who want to test paddle certain boats with people willing to let their boats be test-paddled. There should be raffle prizes and other incentives to encourage people to attend.

Other groups (AMC Boston Sea Kayakers, meetup groups) and local BCU/ACA instructors should be invited to participate, give seminars, lead trips, promote their offerings, bring their faithful followers, and donate to the raffle. There should be a modest fee for the weekend to help cover the costs, with all profits raised donated to Salem Sound Coastwatch or another organization we support. Non-NSPN members could receive discounted or trial memberships at the end of the weekend to encourage them to return and paddle with us again.

As inspiration, NSPN could look to the successes of other clubs and organizations in our area that put on THE premiere event in their respective sports each year, and have built up vibrant communities around the events:

NEMBAfest for the entire New England mountain bike community.

The Wicked Ride of the East for the North Shore mountain bike community (the North Shore chapter of NEMBA is much closer to NSPN's size).

Riverfest for the New England whitewater kayaking community, an annual event started by AMC Boston Paddlers.

D2R2 for the New England gravel bike riding community, a huge fundraiser for a local land trust.

 

Other sources of inspiration might come from the New England Paddlesports Show, the now-defunct EMS Demo Days (for trying out new boats), and that meetup group that used to rent out a NH/ME hotel and get dozens of paddlers together for a weekend (sorry, I can't find any details on that one).

 

My vision was always to take the Solstice Paddle, throw in a second day of the instructional/skills paddling that we already do throughout the season, open it to the public and invite other groups and instructors to join in, add a gear sale and boat demo option, and have a big social party whenever we're not actually on the water. Make it something that the existing NSPN membership looks forward to year-after-year, and you can't help but draw in new members at the same time.

 

Respectfully submitted, your faithful "ideas are cheap" dreamer, Roxbury Puddingstone

Edited May 19, 2021 by Dan Foster

[BigBird]

As I responded in the other thread, I think this is a great idea and would become THE defacto annual sea kayaking event in New England.  We can start small grass roots like and see where that takes us.  In the mean time, what could we do for this year?

[Paul Sylvester]

Lots of nice ideas but a lot of work. Aiming  to the beginner/ rec boat level with introductory L2 day trips, gear demos, safety demos etc.is good. 

    With the aim being to get people out of unsafe rec boats and into more exiting kayaking. I would not want to instruct at an event that was seen as competing with our local instructors who do run yearly events. More of a partnership with local providers would be my preference. And they might see it as a feeder event to generate interest for more skills training.

But you skipped over the one key group that is reaching people these last years. Meet Up. I could post a level 2 trip for quiet waters in Mass. or NH and probably have 20 sign up. 

 My two cents..thanks

[Dan Foster]

One thing I want to clarify is that although this proposal came up in a conversation about NTSKW and what we are/aren't doing this year to attract new people to the sport, it is only tangentially related to that separate discussion. The primary goal here isn't to attract new people to the sport. The primary goal here is to create an annual weekend event that is compelling enough that everyone in our coastal and ocean-paddling "tribe" has no choice but to attend year after year after year. Ambitious? Yes. It's a Big Hairy Audacious Goal for the club, but it's something that we could all rally around, and the strategic thinking it requires might lead to all sorts of spillover benefits for the club and our paddling communities.

What would entice [experienced NSPN club members] to attend a two-day weekend event on the North Shore every year?

What would entice [protected-water meetup paddlers] to attend a two-day weekend event on the North Shore every year?

What would entice [sea kayak owners who don't have paddling buddies] to attend a two-day weekend event on the North Shore every year?

What would entice [famous BCU instructors] to attend a two-day weekend event on the North Shore every year?

Continue brainstorming with other sub-groups from our tribe and see what commonalities or opportunities emerge: [greenland paddlers, paddling leaders who need WFA certification, surf ski racers, non-paddling spouses, people who don't yet own a boat]

 

As BigBird points out, we don't have to do it all in year 1 (or year zero, if we start this year). Our regularly-scheduled, NSPN-members-only Solstice paddle, plus a trip in the same area the next day, plus an evening presentation in someone's house or in a private room in a restaurant might be all that's needed to build the foundation of what can grow into a larger, annual weekend gathering of our paddling community.

[BigBird]

It does seem like NE Seacoast Paddlers Meetup Group is well attended and likely has many NSPN members as part of the group?  And I believe this meetup group has run a NTSKW with Newbury Kayak?

[NPearson]

Hi Dan, 

I think this is a great idea, include me in the working group if you need more do-ers.   

Nick

[mattdrayer]

I'd be interested in helping to devise and possibly deliver some sort of training/fitness/competition-oriented module for this workshop, in whatever format we think might be most palatable (physical/mental training, fitness programming, ocean racing, downwind runs, etc.).  A few of us in the NE surfski community are working on a revamp of our atrocious website and exploring a possible collaboration with NECKRA on the ocean racing front, so this could be timely.

A couple years ago @Kevin B and I discussed adding a module like this to his symposium concept, which ultimately turned into a demo day with Newbury Kayak, IIRC.  It is definitely helpful to line up local outfitters and vendors who are willing to allow people to use/rent their boats + gear for classes and workshops, since a lot of people do not necessarily have their own.  I have an extra Epic V8 in my garage, but only one

Matt

Edited May 20, 2021 by mattdrayer