Recreational River Kayak Skills

Discipline: River Kayaking Stream: Skills Development

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.

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Course Overview

Typical Course Length

4 hours of instruction on flat water, 8 hours in current for a total of 12 hours or approximately 2 days.

Course Water Class

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.

Course Topics

Safety Skills

Wet exit
Rafting
Lifting and carrying a kayak
Self-rescue
Assisted rescue
Throw-bag rescue

Paddling Skills

Balance and posture
Forward and reverse strokes
Sweep stroke
Draw stroke
Edging
Low brace
Forward ferry
Eddy turn
Introduction to forward surf

Theory and Knowledge

River hazards and river reading
Boat design and outfitting and equipment
Clothing
Safety equipment
Trip planning

Course Prerequisites

Skills Certification

None

Paddling Equipment

Kayak must have sufficient buoyancy, float bag/bulkhead, to float after a wet exit.
A helmet approved for use in moving water.

The Small Print

The content on this page is provided for information only and could be incorrect or outdated.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.