Swift Water Rescue Course and Kayaking

OVERVIEW

Swift Water Rescue is a course designed to teach kayakers and other whitewater sports participants the safety skills needed to avoid dangerous situations and to successfully deal with them should they occur. Quintin Brubaker, a club alum and raft guide on the Gauley River, WV, is an ACA certified SWR instructor and will be teaching a modified version of the course for the club. This will NOT give you official ACA certification (a course for that will be held in the spring when its warmer), but will teach you the skills you need to conduct a rescue. The ACA certification requires lots of time in the water over a two day period, and given the cold air and water temperatures, we’ve decided to instead spend Saturday on land learning these rescue skills (knots, rope skills, how to set up various mechanical systems, throwing a throw rope, etc), and then on Sunday, we will go kayaking somewhere (pray for rain!). We can also use this one day on the water to practice some of these skills in the river if we want to.

You should be a proficient kayaker, canoeist, or rafter to take this course. Email me if you have questions about whether you should take it or not.

Because this is not an official ACA class and because Quintin is willing to do it for free (thank you!!), there won’t be a fee.

Club provides: gas, boat and safety gear needed, cold water gear needed

You provide: food, water, something special to thank Quintin, boat and safety gear you have, cold water gear you have, dry clothes and towel for Sunday