About this trip

Learn how to plan and run a safe river trip with mates on grade 3/4 water for white water kayakers.  A big focus of this course is on making the right decisions to prevent you having to dig into your rescue toolkit. That being said, knowing how to deal with incidents can allow you to have a safer and more enjoyable time on the water.

We think that every advanced white water kayaker should do this course, but we would! With years of experience paddling lots of different craft around the world we can help teach you how to prevent stuff going wrong and how to fix the inevitable.

Like all white water courses we have to accommodate levels, the needs of the group and the type of craft being used for this course. We will always try and pick a spot that is most suited to the course but will need to adapt or travel to accommodate the needs of the group and find suitable river conditions.

This Course will be kayak focused.

During this weekend we have plenty of dam release rivers to choose from including the rivers , Garry, lower Tummel & Moriston. This give us plenty of guaranteed options and flexibility to suit the course to a range of abilities.

Course Content

This course follows a syllabus but emphasis can be placed in different areas depending on your experience and interests.

We will look at…  

• Motivations for paddling

• Running safe river trips

• Emergency procedures

• Rescuing Equipment

• Rescuing Swimmers

• Managing people and kit on steep ground

• Decision making

• Rescuing stuck people and kit

• incident Management

• Scenarios to reinforce learning

More information about the course can be found at the link below.

https://www.britishcanoeingawarding.org.uk/advanced-white-water-safety

Course Requirements

– Confident paddling grade 3 (experience paddling some grade 4 set piece) white water in kayak
– Confident swimming in white water
– Aged 18+ or be accompanied by a parent or guardian

• Buoyancy aid (PFD) with Quick Release Chest Harness

• Waterproof phone case & mobile with app for locating (more will be covered on the course)

• Whistle

• River Knife

• Saw (for canoeists)

• Throwline

• Sling / tape

• Carabiners (locking, ideally HMS)

• Prussik ( Consider the thickness of the throwline you intend to use to decide on your prussik)

• Pulley ( We recommend a prussik minding pulley )

• Drysuit / Cat & Neoprene whichever is suitable river wear for submersion in the conditions

• Suitable footwear for walking on uneven rocky ground and slippy banks