A group of friends kayaking in the Toronto Islands.

Location: Toronto Islands, Toronto, Ontario. Photo credit: David Johnston

Basic Kayak Skills

Discipline: Sea Kayaking Stream: Skills Development

This is the primary starting point of the Paddle Canada Sea Kayak skills progression. With a focus on foundation skills and knowledge, Basic Kayak Skills inspires students to go out on short paddling excursions in class-0 or calm and sheltered waters.

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to confidently paddle in calm, sheltered waters in the company of peers with similar abilities.

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Course Overview

Typical Course Length

8 hours of instruction (1 day).

Course Water Class

This course runs in Class-0 conditions which are described as:

Non-challenging protected waters with limited wind effect, little or no current, easy landings, and ready access to land-based assistance. Wind and sea state is calm to rippled (<15km/h or 8 knots).

Learn more about our water classification system.

Course Topics

Re-entry Skills

Wet exit
Assisted re-entries

Paddling Skills

Lifting and carrying a kayak
Launching and landing
Emptying the kayak
Forward and reverse strokes
Stopping
Forward and reverse sweep strokes
Pivots
Draw stroke
Low brace
Edging

Knowledge

Kayak part names and outfitting
Paddling and safety equipment
Injury prevention
Sun sense
Transport Canada collision regulations
Navigation
Risk assessment and mitigation
Impact of kayakers on the environment

Course Prerequisites

None

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The content on this page is provided for information only and could be incorrect or outdated.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 Sea Kayak Program Committee who is responsible for the development and maintaince of this course.

Canada is a large country with many different environments including rivers, lakes and oceans. To help standardize the learning environment for our students we developed a water classification system ranging from 0 to 4.

Each class describes the optimal environment expected including wind speed, current, wave or swell height, shoreline accessibility and finally access to land-based assistance.

The water classes were designed to be in alignment (where appropriate) with other organizations’ own classification including Transport Canada and Sea Kayak Guides Alliance of BC.

Class-0

Environment: Non-challenging protected waters with limited wind effect, little or no current, easy landings, and ready access to land-based assistance. Wind and sea state is calm to rippled (<15km/h or 8 knots).

Class-1

Environment: 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.

Class-2

Environment: Moderately exposed coastline with frequent easy-landing opportunities and short crossings. Moderate potential wind effects (22-35 km/h or 12–19 knots), surf of less than 1 meter and a combined sea state of less than 1 metre, gentle to moderate non- turbulent currents (< 6 km/h or < 3 knots), and light surf beaches. Short delays in access to land-based assistance should be expected.

Class-3

Environment: Exposed water, with more committed crossings and any combination of the following: moderate to strong currents with turbulence (≥ 6 km/h or ≥ 3 knots), moderate to strong wind effects (22-35 km/h or 12–19 knots), ocean swells and a combined sea state near 1 meter with occasional rough sea state. Difficult but frequent landing opportunities, surf-beaches with surf up to 1 metre. Delays in access to land-based assistance can expected.

Class-4

Environment: Rugged and exposed coast with long and committed crossings and any combination of the following: strong turbulent currents (≥ 6 km/h or ≥ 3 knots), strong wind effects (near 37 km/h or 20 knots), large swells with a combined sea state 1 metre or more with a moderate to rough sea state, exposed surf beaches (≥1 metre), infrequent and sometimes difficult landings which present significant challenges for individual safety and group management. Significant delays in access to land-based assistance can be expected.