For the second year in a row, I have been asked to lead a kayak course at UPS, specifically for women. I can't say enough about how pleased I was with how the entire weekend went.

First of all, the organizers - Michael Gordon and Kate Puckett - of the kayak club, bent over backwards to make my visit comfortable and easy. They had the entire 3 days planned and everything went as smoothly as it could have.

Secondly, the women at UPS and from the community of Tacoma are a wonderful group of ladies. They were all so willing to listen and learn. It was great seeing their confidence grow as they spent more and more time in their kayaks. Our environment in the pool and on the river was a non-competitive environment, supportive and encouraging. A few women mentioned to me after the "river day", that their experience being on the water is entirely different when spent with a group of women, as compared to their normal paddling partners - mostly men.

Women learn differently than men - not saying the way men learn and progress is wrong or the way women learn and progress is wrong . . . they are just different. Women like to analyze rapids; they like to be convinced they will be successful, before they go out and "do it"; they need encouragement, because women "by nature" are lacking a little of the confidence that men show, or need to show, when they are out paddling with friends; women are more cautious, they have more self-preservation (we just do), so we want to approach "rapids" more cautiously. Women ARE different . . . when women paddle with women, they always feel EMPOWERED . . . .try it!

All photos courtesy of Michael Gordon.

"I do what I love, I love what I do!"

Heather Herbeck
Team AT