Columbia River Kayaking LLC. Mark Whitaker, Andrew Emlen, and other Skamokawa guides teamed up with CRK's founder Ginni Callahan to create a worker-owned cooperative based in Cathlamet, WA. Columbia River Kayaking, LLC offers lessons and tours for all levels on the Lower Columbia River and in Baja, Mexico.

British Canoe Union North America The British Canoe Union is the international standard of modern paddlesport training. Originally formed in 1936 to send a British team to the Berlin Olympics, the BCU has grown considerably, in both scope and geography. The BCU offers 5 levels of recreational skill training including two levels of leadership certification, plus 5 levels of coaching certification, and coach trainer certifications. The BCU covers sea kayaking, canoeing, whitewater river paddling, surfing in little kayaks, and all aspects of competitive paddlesports.

Greenland traditions Modern kayaking draws not only on British traditions, but also on the much older Greenland traditions. Greenlanders were subsisting from the sea in kayaks thousands of years before kayaking became a sport, and the modern equivalent of the Greenland "Olympics" is all about kayaking skills. LoCo has the privilege of hosting several instructors of Greenland paddling and rolling, and will feature a Greenland-style rolling competition. The competition is Saturday night and is called "Sticks and Stones" because the paddle that Greenlanders use was originally made of driftwood and a rock is one of the things used to roll a kayak in the competition.

Slow Boat Farm is a 21-acre former dairy farm on Puget Island with water access. The farm's mission, "deepening the human connection to the natural environment through recreation and sustenance," is uniquely fitted to the place--the access to a network of remote sloughs leading to the Columbia River, the exuberant garden and productive fields. Camping is available in the summer.

Top notch coaches, instructors, and guides are being summoned to the event, along with exciting musicians and presenters.

The Columbia River and its tributaries and sloughs provide a varied venue for all levels of paddling instruction. Protected inter-island passages open to the broad channel, which widens to 8 miles across some 15 miles downriver. Tides govern the direction of the river current and its strength. Summer afternoon wind is fairly reliable. An hour and a half west is the mouth of the Columbia, which is closed to freighter traffic on occasion due to its legendary roughness.
more detailed maps and charts