Introduction to whitewater kayaking
This is a skills development course for those who would like to get involved in whitewater kayaking, during this course we will work on and develop the skills necessary for paddling in moving / whitewater environments.
The course will introduce subjects such as equipment, river reading, safety and rescue, trip planning and obviously there will be a significant focus and coaching on developing personal paddling skills.
This course is suitable for anyone keen to develop the skills required to kayak in basic moving / whitewater environments, you should have experience in kayaking on flat water and be able to adequately control and manoeuvre a kayak on flat sheltered water venues.
Course outline – The course will run on a section of river that provides a basic moving / whitewater environment (flat moving water up to grade 2 whitewater), the first day will be spent in a relatively calm and sheltered area to review capsize and rescue procedures and improve boat confidence, time will be spent at this location introducing and practising the skills required for successful kayaking on moving water.
Subsequent days will be spent by building the skills up and applying them in moving and whitewater sections of the river, we will work on controlled river running, aiming to break rapids into sections and move confidently through them, we will provide focused coaching and feedback to enable skill development and progression.
Duration – 3 days
Location – South coast (Frankland river)
Max number of participants – 4
Ratio – 1 instructor to 4 participants
Equipment requirements – You will need to bring an appropriate river kayak, PFD, paddle, spray deck, helmet and associated outdoor clothing / equipment as well as your personal requirements (lunch, medication etc.) for the days.
Cost – $1200 per person
Dates – 20th to 22nd July (or 25th to 27th of August)
Whitewater kayak improver
Designed for paddlers who would like to progress and improve their paddling skills to allow them to tackle more challenging whitewater in a controlled and safe manner, the focus during this course is to build and improve the accuracy of skills to allow you to move around the river with confidence and ease, we look at improving the application of fundamental whitewater skills to allow us to break up any of the rapids and make the eddy’s / moves within them.
Aimed at those who would like to improve their technical paddling skills, to get the most benefit you should have kayaking experience and should have paddled / “run” sections of grade 2 and 3 whitewater previously, ideally you will be able to roll reasonably confidently at least on one side.
Course outline – The first day will be spent reviewing some personal skills and rescues, and going over various principles and thought processes that apply on whitewater, this may be done on a lower grade section of water (flat moving to grade 2).
Subsequent days will be spent on focused coaching to improve “balance, accuracy and timing”, skills will be worked on and improved on various different rapids aiming at applying them on the most challenging rapids on the section of water, our aim will be to move towards being able to make any desired eddy or move within the rapid. We will also cover scouting of rapids, decision making, and the basics of group safety / support.
Duration – 3 days
Location – South coast (Frankland river)
Max number of participants – 4
Ratio – 1 instructor to 4 participants
Equipment requirements – You will need to bring an appropriate river kayak, PFD, paddle, spray deck, helmet and associated outdoor clothing / equipment as well as your personal requirements (lunch, medication etc.) for the days
Cost – $1200 per person
Dates – 22nd to 24th of July (or 21st to 23rd of September)
Intermediate whitewater kayaking
Taking your paddling to the next stage and stepping beyond grade 2 to 3 ish water can prove to be quite the challenge and a little worrying, the additional risks involved and higher levels of skill and judgement required mean people are often unsure how to progress, if you would like to develop the skills required to make the progression in a safer and more controlled manner then this could be the course for you.
This course best suits those with kayaking experience, you should be happily paddling on grade 2 and 3 whitewater in a controlled safe manner and may even have run some harder sections. You should be able to roll consistently on one side but ideally both. Given the higher levels of risk and reward associated with higher graded water you should be fully aware and willing to accept these risks.
Course outline – During the course we will introduce and work on a number of different concepts some of which are, scouting rapids, river reading, bank based support, boat based support, decision making, we will also work on and coach paddling technique, accuracy.
As it is such an important skill we will spend time refining and perfecting rolling technique.
The first day will be a review of rolling, rescues and whitewater safety (this may be done on lower grade water, grade 2 or 3) from then on we will aim to work on more challenging water (grade 3 +), our main focus throughout the course is on both personal paddling abilities and on group support and safety, the group will be encouraged to take an active role in assessing rapids and decision making around safety back up, the idea of this approach is to allow the group to become a peer supportive group whilst they have the support of a qualified experienced instructor at hand. .
Duration – 3 days
Location – South coast (Frankland river) or other appropriate locations
Max number of participants – 4
Ratio – 1 instructor to 4 participants
Equipment requirements – You will need to bring a river kayak, with air bags, paddle, PFD, helmet, spray deck, appropriate clothing / equipment as well as your personal requirements (lunch, medication etc.) for the days.
Cost – $1200 per person
Dates – 17th to 19th August
Whitewater rescue for paddlers
When out paddling with a group it is important to have all the correct safety equipment, as well as this specialist equipment carried a very important safety feature of any group is their knowledge and skill, in a whitewater paddling environment problems can occur quickly and need to be dealt with swiftly, the people you paddle with are your rescue team (and you are theirs).
This course teaches up to date thought processes and approaches to whitewater safety and rescue for paddlers and works on the skills required to be able to pre-empt and solve problems effectively and efficiently, rescue procedures specific to whitewater paddlers (and the equipment generally carried) are practised to ensure they are efficient then applied in context through scenarios to ensure they work for real.
This course is suitable for anyone involved with whitewater kayaking / canoeing, it is an energetic, wet and fun three days that should leave you feeling more confident about both your and your groups ability to look after each other while out on the water.
This course is run to the Australian Canoeing WW rescue syllabus, participants who demonstrate the required competency can be awarded the AC whitewater rescue level 2 award.
Duration – 3 days
Location – Walpole (Frankland river)
Max number of participants – 6
Ratio – 1 instructor to 6 participants
Equipment requirements – You will need to bring an appropriate kayak, PFD, paddle, spray deck, helmet, safety equipment and associated outdoor clothing / equipment as well as your personal requirements (lunch, medication etc.) for the days
Cost – $1200 per person
Dates – 3rd, 4th and 5th of August – (or 24th, 25th and 26th of September)
Kayak rolling
Within all of our kayaking courses there are elements and progressions towards kayak rolling built in to the programme, but as it is such an important skill that when achieved can completely change a persons perception of kayaking and of their own abilities we also run a focused rolling course.
This course is suitable for all whether you wish to learn the basics of kayak rolling, tidy up, improve or expand your rolling ability or learn how to teach others to roll effectively.
There are many different ways to roll a kayak (and even more names for the rolls!) fundamentally they all rely on the same basic principles, during this course we use a gradual build up coaching process to work through the progressions necessary to develop a quality, safe, consistent kayak roll.
We use numerous techniques in order to achieved the desired results including video / photographic examples and feedback, coach observation and feedback, peer coaching, visualisation and reflection.
During the course you will spend time in the kayak learning about rolling as well as assisting others in their learning, as we aim to teach a quality, safe and consistent kayak roll we do not guarantee that you will be able to roll by the end of the course (everyone learns at different rates), however you will have a very clear understanding of the processes and progressions to go through in order to achieve quality kayak rolling.
Duration – 2 days
Location – Denmark – sheltered water locations
Max number of participants – 6
Ratio – 1 instructor to 6 participants
Equipment requirements – You will need to bring an appropriate PFD, clothing / equipment as well as your personal requirements (lunch, medication etc.) for the days, we have a few different styles of boats that can be used or you can use your own
Cost – $800 per person
Dates – 8th to 9th of December (or 8th to 9th of February)
