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My knees are completely shot. So are my ankles. My shoulders and upper arms have become a tangle of knotted muscles. You’d think that I just completed an adventure race or climbed a mountain or something equally demanding. But no, all I’ve done is take a canoe instructor course over the weekend. And there are still two weekends to go.

It seemed like such a great idea a few months ago. A three-weekend lakewater instructor course — a chance to brush up on old skills, learn a few new ones and become an instructor to boot. Three enjoyable weekends spent out on the water. Carey Robson, the master instructor running the course, is a fantastic teacher but the curriculum is intense and the pace is grueling. And did I mention that there are still two weekends to go?

So what have I learned in the first 18 hours of the course?

• A review of tandem paddling skills, plus a few new strokes, the stationary pry and draw for quick turns.
• The sculling pry and draw. Trust me, once you’ve learned these you’ll never do a plain old pry or draw again!
• How to switch places without tipping the canoe. Agnes still thinks I need more practice with this one, preferably while she’s not in the boat.
• Competent soloing. I’ve always hated soloing but I may have gotten the hang of it now.
• Canoe-over-canoe rescue. It looks difficult at first, but it’s not so bad once you’ve practiced on a hapless victim a few times. Being the victim, however, is not as much fun.

Next weekend we’ll touch on some more advanced strokes, practice teaching skills and work on our rescues. Plus spend plenty of time preparing for the tandem and solo paddling exams. And I’m definitely looking forward to it.