Learning/teaching Spey Casting with a 2 handed rod

I've been borrowing a 13' 8/9 loaner spey rod from Winston. The head of the line is 80' with another 60' of running line. The two handed technique with the longer rod is completely foreign to me.

Since this is fresh, and I haven't had much time to form bad habits, I would like to get some feedback from the group on teaching spey to students. Being a student of spey, I have some observations that I would like to share -

First off, my goals for learning spey include taking the rod with me on all of my trips and getting out on the water for some casting. Preferably with a buddy, as the longer heavier rod works my back and shoulders and switching off after short periods of time helps rest the muscle.

My first time out was on the dam of a lake. While standing two feet above the water, It made it easy to cast the entire head and shoot a little! That's really great for the first time out, right? Still water is perfect for practicing the single spey/ switch, snap T and roll. The key to my success is the height of the dam - increasing the distance of the height of the D. The dam also is a physical break for the anchor point. Even with the line hitting the dam and forcing the anchor to stay out front, I was still able to make a decent cast! Without the dam, most of my anchors would have ended up behind me. I think that's progress for a beginner, so I would not hesitate to take someone to the dam for a first spey lesson.

For the second lesson, I would take the student out to a good sized stream for introduction to the double spey cast. Standing knee to waist deep in the water, the student would quickly realize the benefit and importance of a longer rod for forming the D shape on the back cast. Without the dam, timing and application of power on the BC, also become an issue and this was an eye opener for me. Not as easy as I first thought it would be! That anchor was all over the place!

In this company, I am delighted to be the student and I wonder from the group's perspective - What's spey lesson #3 going to be? What approach do you use to teach spey casting with a two handed rod? Grass works fine for single handed spey, but what about the double? What are your equipment preferences?

1. I do very little Spey casting, so I'm not the best one to give the answers to your questions. Best get your answers from someone like Rick Whoorwood who has 2 handed Spey casting as his primary expertise. He is an MCCI and is also certified in two handed casting .... one of a very few. His e-mail: whorwood@xxxxxxxxx .. He is a charter member of our Group (from the start, 6 years ago.)

2. Because the action is shared between two hands, once one becomes accomplished as a Spey caster, it is actually less tiring than casting with one hand.

3. One of the biggest problems for the beginning Spey caster is the development of the skill to place the anchor where he/she knows it should be. THAT takes lots of practice on moving water.

I'll CC this to Rick to see if he'll help us with answers to your questions. I may not be able to get his message back to the Group for a few days, as I'm leaving, tomorrow, to go up to Marlboro to assist in giving the FFF Continued Education Course at the Marlboro Fly Show.