The Recreational Kayak Skills level is designed to introduce the novice or relatively inexperienced kayaker to paddling moving water and class I rivers in an open cockpit or sit-on-top, non-river kayak.
The emphasis is on mastering the fundamentals of river kayaking, along with a strong grounding in water safety and safe kayaking practices.
Find a School Search for a River Kayaking Course Find a River Kayaking Instructor4 hours of instruction on flat water, 8 hours in current for a total of 12 hours or approximately 2 days.
This course runs in Class-1 conditions which are described as:
Non-challenging waters with mild wind effect (0-20 km/h or 0–11 knots), little or no current (0-1 km/h or 0–0.5 knots), uninterrupted easy landing options, and ready access to land-based assistance. Sea state is calm to light chop.
Learn more about our water classification system.
The content on this page is provided for information only and could be incorrect or outdated. The course program manual is the official syllabus.
If you have any specific syllabus questions, please get in touch with the River Kayak Program Committee who is responsible for the development and maintaince of this course.