Pioneer of Women-Only Travel Stages Canada’s Largest Women’s Paddling Event in June 2018 on Ontario’s Lake Huron

Wild Women Expeditions, the leader and trailblazer of women-only travel, will host one of the world’s largest women-only paddling events again this summer near Toronto, Canada.

The 5th annual Women on the Water Festival is expected to draw upwards of 120 women June 8-10, 2018, to the shores of Lake Huron on Georgian Bay for a weekend focused on learning water-concentrated skills while bonding with other women.

Along with co-sponsor, the Ontario Sea Kayak Center, Wild Women Expeditions (https://wildwomenexpeditions.com/) is assembling some of Canada’s finest female kayak, canoe and standup paddleboard coaches to instruct and guide women from beginner to advanced levels of paddling sports.

For two days, women will focus on developing and honing paddling and rolling skills that lead to lifelong pursuits and personal empowerment. Among the celebrated coaches well-known in the Ontario paddling scene slated to be instructors is Dympna Hayes, co-owner of the Ontario Sea Kayak Center and a Paddle Canada Level Two Instructor.

The per person rate of $395 CAD includes Friday and Saturday night bunkhouse accommodation at a summer camp (Camp Tapawingo) on Parry Sound (approximately a 2 ½-hour drive from the Toronto Airport), all meals and snacks, use of boats/boards and paddling gear, two days of paddling sessions, additional workshops and activities, and support to arrange carpools with other participants. Guests supply their own sleeping bags and pillow.

On Saturday women choose a paddling discipline and level best-representing interests and skill sets and then work on learning or upgrading skills. Workshops include beginner and intermediate kayaking, canoeing and introductory and intermediate standup paddle boarding. On Sunday are paddle sport tours, instruction with video feedback and a program called “Navigation and Weather in the Wild,” a dryland session on piloting, aiming off, shooting a bearing, dead reckoning and when to make judgment calls. For details see https://wildwomenexpeditions.com/trips/women-on-water-paddling-festival/.

This festival weekend is just one of Wild Women Expeditions’ retreats and itineraries that help women create and build skills by focusing on specific activities in the outdoors.

“We are dedicated to helping women build the skills and confidence to venture out into the wilderness because many women want to learn how to paddle but are intimidated to get started,” said WWE Director Jennifer Haddow. “We provide a fun, empowering space for women to learn how to handle themselves with a paddle and know how to be safe on their wilderness adventures.”

A three-day Women’s Paddling Skills Retreat Aug. 3-6, 2018 includes three days of paddling instruction, meals, three nights indoor lodge accommodation, river access fee, a ½-hour massage, wine and cheese tasting, use of yoga pavilion and sauna and boat and paddling equipment. The per person rate is $1,080 CAD. Instruction focuses on whitewater canoeing and kayaking and calm-water kayaking. The location is a wilderness resort built for paddlers (Madawaska Kanu Centre) on the Middle Madawaska River in eastern Ontario. For more details see https://wildwomenexpeditions.com/trips/whitewater-retreat-at-mkc/.

West Coast Kayaking Skills and Paddling Adventure June 25-29, 2018, is $1,280 CAD for a five-day paddling adventure including two days of comprehensive sea kayaking and camp craft instruction in a kayakers’ paradise, the over 100 small islands and islets called Broken Group Islands on Vancouver Island’s Barkley Sound. This trip is suitable for beginners and experienced kayakers who want to hone skills. Wild Women Expeditions is teamed with Adventuress Sea Kayaking for this program.

Along with likely sightings of whales, seals, sea lions and porpoises, participants will observe fish traps and other artifacts of aboriginal habitation. The rate includes five days of kayaking and camping off the shores of the wild west coast of Vancouver Island, hearty and healthy meals; professional female guides; two days of intensive skills courses to introduce women to kayaking and camping in the wilderness; the Paddle Canada Certified Course for Beginners (nationally recognized certification comes with successful completion), instruction in seawomanship and trip planning (reading weather/marine forecasts, chart reading, tides and currents, navigation and trip planning); use of fiberglass kayaks and all camping equipment (except sleeping bags available for rent), dry bags for personal gear and launch and camping fees. For details see https://wildwomenexpeditions.com/trips/kayak-skills-and-backcountry-adventure/.

For details, availability and reservations for all Wild Women Expeditions’ programs worldwide, call 1 (888) 993-1222, email [email protected] or visit online at https://wildwomenexpeditions.com/.

About Wild Women Expeditions

Founded in 1991, Wild Women Expeditions is the world’s largest women-only travel company. Its initial focus was on canoeing on remote Ontario waters. Through an unwavering focus on Canada, one of the wildest, most pristine countries in the world, Wild Women Expeditions became experts in a pioneering niche that introduced small groups of women into wilderness settings. The company now hosts guests all over the world, offering more trips and more women-only, backcountry camping, hiking, paddling and horseback adventures than any other women’s travel company in the world.