This course will be following the American Canoe Association (ACA) curriculum and will be taught by ACA-certified instructors. This is a boat-based Swiftwater course, based on the assumption that you are in a backcountry setting and have access to limited resources. For specific questions on the course curriculum, you can use the following link to the ACA website for the course outline.
Students will receive a card certifying that they have attended an ACA Swiftwater rescue course.
Equipment: Students will be expected to provide their own PFD (type 3 or 5), whitewater helmet, protective clothing suitable for swimming in cold water (Drysuits or a combination drytop/wetsuit combination are recommended), appropriate river footwear, throw rope, knife, whistle, 15+ feet 1-inch tubular webbing, 2 locking carabineers, 2 pulleys and 2 prusik loops.
Please make arrangements in advance if you will need to rent gear.
| 2024 Dates | SWR Courses are full days 8 am - 6 pm |
|---|---|
| May 6-7 (FULL), 11-12 | $350(Gear & Meals not included) |
| June 1-2 | $350(Gear & Meals not included) |
| July 6-7 | $350(Gear & Meals not included) |
| August 3-4 | $350(Gear & Meals not included) |
This 44-hour course is focused on the latest technical knowledge, terminology, teaching skills, rescue skills, and safety awareness in a Swiftwater environment. This course helps you work on personal and interpersonal development and pushes you to build skills and knowledge through peer feedback, video analysis, and lectures. We combine practical on-water demonstrations and presentations with real-world scenarios that will equip you to deal with teaching this multifaceted sport as a professional. This course sets the industry standard for instruction in paddle sports.
The ACA instructor certification process is broken up into two core components: the Instructor Development Workshop (IDW), and Instructor Certification Exam (ICE). The IDW presents students with the skills and knowledge that are required to become an instructor. The ICE is an opportunity for each candidate to demonstrate his/her proficiency in the presentation (logical progression) and demonstration (proper modeling) of the skills, knowledge necessary for certification.
Just because you have paid your class fees and attended the class, does not mean you are guaranteed certification. Each candidate must show competency in technical knowledge, paddling skills, teaching skills, safety awareness, and necessary interpersonal skills at the desired level of certification to achieve certification. On average only about 25% of students achieve the whitewater certification, often because this course is many kayaker's first exposures to formal instruction.
Swiftwater Rescue custom courses are available on any date. Contact us for more details.
Jackson Hole Kayak School is a permittee of the Bridger-Teton National Forest and an equal opportunity provider
