July 9th (6pm) and 10th - 13th (9am - 6pm) This course is designed for Class III (and up) whitewater kayakers interested in becoming an American Canoe Association certified instructor.
We’re finalizing the roster in the next 24 hours so if you know of folks have them contact us ASAP.
This certification is the standard for either volunteer club leaders or professional canoe/kayak instructors. These 4andraquo; days provide an intensive learning experience to advance your personal paddling skills and techniques, teaching progressions and group awareness.
In this workshop, the Instructor Trainer will demonstrate what to teach and how to teach it. Time is spent in the classroom discussing learning theory, safety, basic river maneuvers, water reading, trip planning, and the kayak roll. You will present at least two subjects, both in the classroom and on the water, as though you were teaching a beginning level course. Through these presentations, you will have the opportunity to demonstrate your technical knowledge, leadership skills and personal paddling technique. You will also improve your understanding of the art of paddling through discussions and presentations. Exposure to a wide variety of teaching techniques and approaches should enhance your instruction style.
The Instructor Workshop gives prospective instructors the opportunity to meet ACA requirements for Basic River or Whitewater Certification in a river kayak. Most participants hope to receive whitewater certification and our courses are targeted towards this audience. If you are interested in Basic River certification, you are welcome to take the course and can be certified, but be aware that much time is spent on Class II-III whitewater. Please note that our ACA Instructor Workshop is designed to improve the teaching and leadership skills of already competent paddlers and to determine whether ACA certification is justified.
The workshop involves long hours, both on and off the water. Midway through the course each participant will meet with the instructor trainer and receive an informal evaluation. This is intended to inform you of your progress and target weaknesses to help ensure that you can be certified. At the end of the course, participants who pass will receive certification in either Basic River or Whitewater, depending upon the studentand#39;s teaching and paddling skills. If you receive less than whitewater certification, you have the opportunity to upgrade within one yearand#39;s time by andquot;retestingandquot;. Depending upon the amount of time the retesting requires, a fee may or may not be charged.
See the Word Document HERE (2.5mb)
And…my new IR Drypants ROCK!
Level right now is about 2500 right now. If you are running GoLeft right now watch for a little fin rock on the left line just on the seam made by the big rock near the shore.
Hey, if your going to be visiting the Payette this year and have a GPS - I have created a couple of POI (Point of Interest) files that you can upload to your system. One will help you find Access Points and scoutable rapids. I’m still adding some of the North Fork sections, but right now it has sections on the Main Payette, South Fork and Cabarton. It also includes features such as the ‘Gutter’/Bladder and Climax Wave. The other POI file will get you to Boise area whitewater shops.
Get the CSV files for Payette Rapids and Access Points HERE and the POI file of Boise area whitewater shops HERE. I can convert these to other formats if needed.
If you have any questions or need these converted feel free to Contact Me.
Needless to say we got some strange looks driving down the road. My oldest son was helping with a kids fair this weekend so we took a couple of our goats down to the fair grounds in Boise. I’ve found that when the boats are on the side of the truck, the goats make the trip a lot better - kind of blocks all that stuff zipping by.
Troy and I decided to hit the Gutter Sunday afternoon since the temp had soared to a sweltering 42 degrees. We drove up expecting no one to be around, only to find our buddy Chuck (pic on left) had beat us there. Little ice chunks floated past us occasionally and Troy was splatting on snowbanks along shore. The first trip of the year is always interesting trying to get all that gear on in the right order - I always get my PFD on and then remember my sprayskirt!
Then the boys and I ran down to the Downtown YMCA to help out with the Idaho River Kids roll session and an adult roll session - Troy thought the water was quite a bit warmer in the pool
Spring is just around the corner, so if you want to brush up on your roll or tighten up a flatwater move, there are several businesses holding pool sessions. Check them out HERE.
A couple of weeks ago we were at the Gutter with our friends the McLeods, Jacksons and Vorhees. Link was there with is super-duper camera and keen photographic eye and snapped off these pics of the boys that I really liked. The colors in the shot of Ethan and Troy are really vivid.
Tyler squirting & CJ taking a break / Ethan & Troy figure -8s
Here is a little vid of our first attempts at kayak surfing in the ocean. This is on the South Jetty near Florence. It definitely turned out to be the ‘Tyler Show’ - he had some of the better rides. These were two short sessions - big learning curve, but next time should be even more fun
I really liked this picture of my youngest daughter, Paige, who wanted me to work with her on rolling. It was early September, the Gutter was loaded with parents and kids paddling and it was just a great day.
To me, this is what paddling is all about - I may never run a class V, just give me a kid on the river
Also go HERE and check out another Boise youngster, Connor, and his letter to EJ on the Jackson Kayak site.
We took off last Thursday and headed for Oregon. Could not have asked for better weather
For the first couple of days we stayed at my in-laws ranch near Glide. We happened to find that one of my Father-in-laws friends across the road paddled and not only that - had a cool surf wave in his back yard on the North Umpqua River. We paddled a few hours with Bruce on Friday. He had an Dagger Freefall which he paddled for a while, then jumped in my Rocker and paddled a bit - even surfed it. Then jumped in Tyler’s 4Fun, the shortest boat he had been in - and really carved up the wave! The water was cool and very clear - great to be on the river during the ‘off season’!
Then on Sunday we hit headed for the coast. Stopped in at our camp site at Honeyman Park just south of Florence. We have never ocean surfed before, so this was all new. Ran up to recon South Jetty and after a couple of calls to WelshKate we had our many questions answered for the most part (I thought of plenty more while I was crawling into my boat)! Thanks Kate!
Monday we parked at the end of the Jetty and hiked about 1/2 mile to a spot that looked good. Pulling boats over the sand has a lot more friction than I thought. Took off somewhat apprehensively into waves that looked to be 4 to 5 feet. Kate’s advice on getting out through the surf helped a lot! The waves were great - Man, I love front surfing
Tuesday we paid the $5 fee and parked at Beach #3 on the Jetty and carried boats over the sand hill - much easier. Waves were either a little bigger or just steeper here - even more fun! After about 1-1/2 hours into it I was wiped out. Started catching edges and know it was time to get out. Had some great rides - a little grinding and 360’s.
I was surprised at some of the differences between river boating and surf kayaking.
- I found it a little more sandy
- The salt water was different to be in. Felt like I had eaten a bag of sunflower seeds after 1/2 hour
- We all found that when a wave is dumping you onto the beach really watch your edge! It’s not fun grinding up the beach for 20 feet on your shoulder and ear 
- There was also a lot of sand.
- There is a wave about every 6 to 9 seconds.
- Lots of sand
- It is pretty shallow! Where we were the waves were breaking at about 6 feet deep, but about 1/2 way in you were in 2 feet of water.
- When the wave hits you it’s like 0 to 30 in .5 seconds
- Pulling your boat in sand is harder than I thought - gear up and carry that sucker!
- Did I mention lots of sand???
It was a great time with a big learning curve. Can’t wait until next year - already making plans! Here are a few pics - I’ll get some video on this weekend…
Carl’s Wave - hard to see with the lighting
Day 1: Pulling boats
Day 2: Getting Ready
Up and over…
Troy and Tyler with their Grandpa Teel
Fish out of water…
Heading out
Tough life…
Looking for crab
The whole Tribe
If you know me, then you know from the title that this is about someone else 
Actually it is about my brother. Mike is seven years younger than I and is one of those guys that picks up everything he does quickly. I’ve had him rock and ice climbing - he got me into scuba. So now I’m throwing him in my wifes Java and having him bounce around in rivers.
He visits us from Seattle about twice each year and each time I’ve been getting him out to a pond or a pool at the Gutter and working on paddling basics. He learned to roll in 20 minutes at a pond by our house. So his next visit I took him to the Gutter and had him working on strokes and ferrying. A cold swim this spring convinced him to take time on his first roll and make it count. But he is also not afraid to hang in there and crank out 4 or 5 attempts.
So he visits this last week and we slated Friday, Saturday and Sunday to go and paddle. He has been begging me to run the Main Payette, but I’ve wanted it to be a good experience for him so I have balked until Friday when we were at the Gutter working on ferrying and eddy skills. He had one swim but really began to nail the eddy lines. He rolled a lot at first, but the got pretty clean until he got tired.
Saturday I decided to run him down the lower section from the bottom of AMF to the JetBoat ramp and that gave us some mild class IIs and one class III at the end. Worked him on eddy turns and even catching smaller eddies behind rocks in the middle of the river. Mike caught a few edges here and there, but did great really. My son Troy lead him down Climax and Mike didn’t follow the line close enough, hit a hole sideways, flipped and ran about half the rapid looking up. After getting knocked over by a wave on his second roll attempt, he did make his fourth. No swims which is better than I can say for myself on my first 3 runs down Climax! OK, he’s ready for the Main.
Sunday - woke to clouds and a little rain (which by the way put out most of the fires in the state!) but that doesn’t dampen Mikes ‘the show must go on’ attitude. Mike and I hit the road with my two boys - Troy (12) and Tyler (15) - and we slipped into drytops (for the first time in about 3-1/2 months!) just below GoLeft at Mile Post 77. Troy jumps into the lead with Mike following. Mike does well through the first three small II’s and then LunchCounter, Bennetts Rock and Constriction put a smile on his face. He finally flips below Mikes Hole in some swirly water, rolls up on an eddy line only to flip again, but busts out another roll and comes up smiling.
At MixMaster I called Tyler in closer to help clean up any boats, paddles, or his Uncle. Mike styled MixMaster and told me to make it a little harder on him. OK, we’re going to boof the rock on the right of Monicas Rock. He missed the line a little and slipped into the hole on the side of the rock - a flip and a roll. Another flip at the bottom of AMF, but again makes his roll. One more flip on the way to the take out in which he found out why we wear helmets - bounced off a couple of rocks and skinned some knuckles, but rolled up on attempt three.
So basically a little more work on edges and lines and Mike will be good to go - time to start having him reading water and leading.
So my little brother is a fast learner - must me nice….
-
-
Special Thanks To These Guys:
Bad Behavior has blocked 36 access attempts in the last 7 days.