The Antix and my ACA Instructor Training
Per the encouragmenet of a friend, I ponied up the funds for a last minute entry into the ACA Instructor training. I'd been wanting to do it for some time, but was concerned some local politics might play a factor into things (I can't get to level X because someone's homie is level Y and the comparison blah blah blah), and then had monetary concerns. The timing wound up perfect though. I had the free time, I had the funds, and my local politics concerns had quelled. I decided to sign up and go for it. Having spent the last few weeks working on my paddling in the Antix, I figured I'd continue with the boat in the ACA training, or at least for the first day or two.
The ACA Instructor training and certification itself was excellent. I progressed a lot of my fundamentals with the class, and in working on creating demonstration quality paddling I progressed a ton of aspects of my paddling that were less than crisp. We spent the whole first day upright doing solid fundamental paddling work, which was mostly due to gross water, but wound up for the best in the end. A focus on fundamentals with no distractions helped me really focus on carving, paddle strokes to adjust said carving, and proper usage of vairous paddle techniques, some I didn't even know were a thing like sideslipping (not the same as a draw or sculling draw). Taking to moving water, the fundementals refinement paid major dividends as I was able to accomplish many techniques with crisp perfection. I was able to complete the majority of the most complex manuevers called out, and I felt with demonstration quality as well. The boat was really starting to feel pretty good to me!
The Antix wound up perfect for the class. It had enough edge for me to distinctly feel all the elements of the fundamentals I was training on in flatwater. In the initial moving water drills, I was able to make really crisp and distinct manuevers to deliver demonstration quality. The Antix, after the distinct approach to fundamentals, began to rapidly reward good paddling technique. As the class progressed into more complex manuevers, or linking manuevers, I quickly fell in love with the boat. The playboat and my Karma just wouldn't be as refined with crisp technique, and I gotta say... kind of masked some of my less refined technique.
Squirting and pivot turns in the Antix improved with practice and time as well. Being more fineseful with the boat really helpd, along with waiting a bit longer to intiate the stern than I would in the Rockstar. Sure, I can't throw all the way vertical squirts on every eddy line, but I can have a lot more fun while nailing notably more manuevers in this boat.
Surfing the Antix is downright Epic. I caught a few amazing surf water levels on the Washougal prior to the class and really dug the manueverability of the boat. It also was really easy to surf a wider variety of wave shapes and speeds, and enjoy notable manueverability on a wider variety of said waves. In my playboat it was a lot pickier about the waves it would stick on, and even pickier about the ones I could aggressively manuever on.
It's ability to surf was further rewarded when I lead an improptu clinic on surfing a wave. Ontop of the distinct reward of taking some one who could barely surf the same feature a week prior with me onto the wave, I was also able to really show off my skillsets as well.
In the end, I tested at the highest level available in the course, completing the course as an ACA Level 4 instructor
I attribute much of my success to the Antix.