The second course I took with a German instructor. I had already heard that Heinz Götze was top class amongst the open canoe instructors. So why not give it a try. I e-mailed a bit with Heinz, showed him some video and we decided I could go for the advanced and the basic course. Since I still had no idea of the skill level in Germany, I decided to play on safe and go for the basic course.

The Orb is quite a drive from Belgium, so I decided to leave after work and drive to Luxembourg, taking of already 2-300 km. That would leave another 1000 to drive the next day. Unfortunatly I didn't realise that I would end up in Lyon at the evening traffic jams. Resulting in an arrival at 22.00h. No problem there. Heinz was there, guided me around and I also got my first meeting with "the Orb gang". A bunch of paddlers that go to the same camp place to paddle and play around every year in the same period as the courses.

Since I had to drive so long, I also subscribed for the technique tuning day. 2 other participants would also take this course. The next mourning they arrived and we started our technique tuning on a flat section of the Orb, right underneath our camp.

To estimate our skill level, Heinz asked us to paddle a figure-8. Since at the course with Armin Burzlauer I couldn't use the strokes I wanted, I did check if I could use the technique I preferred. I could, so I carved my 8. A good start, but the wrong course. Apparently my boat control was a little to advanced for what was taugt at this course. But no problem, one is never too old to learn, and fine-tuning is always a good thing to do.

The next day the rest of the group joined us. Though pretty differentiated in skill level (from a ACA flatwater instructor to people with some whitewater experience to people with very few whitewater experience). For the first day of the course, we were working on the basics. Heinz did a short test on my teaching skills and then got me assisting his course, since he knows I'm also interested in teaching.

It's really nice to see how different teachers have different approaches. I've been paddling with a lot of instructors now, and each has his own style. Some things I like, some I don't. But the point is that we made a whole lot of progression that first day. One of the strong parts of Heinz courses is that he is having a theoretical section before noon, every day as well. I personally liked it very much, but thought it might be heavy for people who are not really into whitewater paddling. But they also liked it, all of them! Just the analyses at the evenings after a theoretical part, a couple of hours paddling and a delicious meal where sometimes a bit too much.

Before hitting the water with our boats, we did hit the water with ourselves. We did spend a whole day on rescue exercises. Swimming, capsizing, boat recover, throwbags, even jumping to recover someone. Build with confidence, we were ready for the river!

Gradually we moved out to moving water, some mild class I water and at the end, for those who wanted some class II whitewater. Yes of course, I've got my deal of fine tuning. Instead of doing forward ferries and forward paddling, I've been working on back-ferries, backward paddling and so on. But I also got more involved in the course. I did get the chance to explain some things to the group, work with some of the paddlers individually on some focus points I identified. It was a real pleasure to assist Heinz with this course as well. You can see he has tons of experience with teaching people and pointed me some important things.

Once we decided to paddle a section of the river it became a bit harder to assist since I had no idea of what he was planning to do on the river. But anyhow, I was the sweep boater, ready to go and pick up some paddlers and/or gear. On the play spots I had fun trying out some surf waves, back-ferries and so on. Also making some video sequences that we could analyse later. Of course I did also work on the jet-ferries, C-manoevres and stuff like every body else.

With one of the harder rapids, Heinz and paddled down first, to setup a rescue. It's nice to have an experienced paddler in front of you, who knows the section. But I did eddy-hop down, picking my own lines. When the rest of the group came down, the rescue setup prooved worthwhile. We had to recover some swimmers, but all with a smile and a firm grasp on their gear!

The next day we did paddle the same section. Some more playing, playing and playing. A little too much for some of us, so Heinz got out with those people, and asked me to guide the rest of the group down. Now that was really nice. A small group, a section we all had paddled the day before, and great weather. At the interesting spots, I pointed a line, paddled first and the rest followed. I never needed to do a recovery of people/gear, but we all did have a great deal of fun, and added a whole lot of exercise.

Because of the low water, we did go for the Réal slalom course the last day. Normally the basic course doesn't go there, but this year we did. At a safe distance before a class IV section a rescue was setup, to prevent people or gear to flow through.

What a nice slalom course. The people of the "Orb gang" were also there so there was a really nice atmosphere with lots of open boaters. I did notice the difference of the week paddling. My timing on whitewater got better, and Heinz did point me out some fine-tuning and some more advanced techniques. Réal is the place to test those new skills.

The week ended with a little "summary meeting". All of us had a good time and learned a lot. I was pleased to hear that the other people did appreciate the time I did spend to explain them some things. But I was outmost impressed by the progression all of the participants made on this one week.

After a discussion with Heinz, I decided to stay one more day and go paddling with the people of the "Orb gang" one more day at Réal. I was planning to go to Sault-Brénaz to paddle one more day up there, but eventually no-one ended up there, and Réal is way more fun then Sault-Brénaz. That saturday rain was really pooring and we did notice that on Réal. There was a whole deal more pressure on the water. Ideal for me, now I could test the same manoevres on the same river, but yet different since there was more pressure.

I exchanded addresses with the people of the "Orb gang", and will probably see them again next year, when I take the advanced course. After that I might join the "Orb gang". Nice company, nice river and good wine. What can one wish more for?