Presenters/Instructors:

ACA Paddling Instructors:

Jessie Hadley Owner of Woods & Water Ecotours in the Les Cheneaux Islands. She has been instructing many clients each summer in the art of sea kayaking while finding solace in nature. She has degree in Fisheries & Wildlife Biology, worked for the Michigan's Department of Natural Resources, Hiawatha National Forest, The Nature Conservancy and Michigan's Audubon Society. Her favorite bird is the Black Tern.

Lori Stegmier She teaches at numerous symposiums every year. She enjoys all aspects of teaching but particularly enjoys teaching traditional paddling, rescues, rolling, and working with beginners. She also has extensive backcountry experience having spent years backpacking, before starting to wilderness kayak. Some of her favorite kayaking destinations have included the North Channel and the Silver Islet to Rossport stretch in Canada and North Manitou Island in Michigan. And, if you ever go on a trip with her, you won’t go hungry as backcountry cooking is one of her passions. While on trips, she also enjoys listening to the call of the Loon, her favorite bird.

Ken Bruland

Owner of Inland Seas School of Kayaking on Lake Michigan's Beaver Island.  Ken has been paddling the Beaver Island archipelago since 1998 and paddling personally and professionally for other guide businesses since 1986.  He has guided trips to Wisconsin's Door Peninsula and Apostle islands, Michigan's Upper Peninsula's Pictured Rocks, and to Florida's marine coastal areas.   Formerly a teacher, he now focuses life on guiding kayak trips and instruction, snorkeling and inland lake ecotours around the waters of Beaver island.   His favorite bird is the kingfisher.