A Chat with Alaska Packraft School’s Jule Harle on How Women Learn Differently from Men & More

In the third episode of our Podcast, A Beginner’s Guide to Packrafting, Four Corners Guides owner Lizzy Scully talks with renowned Packraft Instructor Jule Harle. A long-time kayaker and packrafter and owner of Alaska Packraft School, Jule has been instrumental in legitimizing packrafting as a sport through her work as a guide and her work with others to get the American Canoe Association packrafting curriculum in place to accredit packrafting guides across the country. She volunteers with the Alaska Chapter of the American Packrafting Association, and she was this year’s Golden Paddle winner. Jule is coming to the Four Corners June 15-17 to teach a women’s packrafting clinic for beginner/intermediate boaters.

In this episode, Jule and Lizzy take about a variety of things, including: 

•  How Jule got into teaching and why she started the Alaska Packraft School
• What she loves about teaching
• How she teaches women and men differently
• And did you know that women have a significantly bigger part of the brain that processes things through talking? Unsurprising!
• How when Jule started, her boat was too big for her and she couldn’t get back in, and how she’s come up with some hacks to help women with that particular skill and other skills.
• Jule doesn’t think men have an advantage because of their strength or willingness to take bigger risks. Rather, she says women and men just learn differently, and she has techniques that make some of the things that seem easy for men easier for women.
• Different ways to deal with PTSD and stress if you’ve had a bad boating or other traumatic experience
• Finally we discussed what we’ll do in our first annual women’s beginner/intermediate course this June, including running scenarios where we “practice controlled chaos,” wet exits and re-entries, and boat fittings to optimize your performance on the water.