Advanced White Water Safety Course

Motivations and Decisions

We delve into understanding motivations to go kayaking on a river: are you going for the adrenaline, the rapids or waves, the views or just to be in the outdoors with friends or like minded people.  Of course what also comes into consideration is the selection of river or even character of river to match the group of individuals motivations and finally practical matters such as shuttles, when to get on the river, when should be getting off the river, equipment that should be carried within the group and by who!

River Trip

Here we go into subjects such as:

Pre River Checks

Working in pairs we look at each others clothing and kayak and discuss the appropriateness to the Advanced White Water Environment.

Collaborative Support

This is all about looking after each other or keeping an eye out for each other throughout the river trip.  Checking in with your buddy or team to see how they are doing, are they getting tired physically or mentally, how is their body language.  Are they cold or what is more important in Austria is are they taking on enough fluids in the summer heat!

Settling in

It is all about finding a routine that tells the brain it is game on!  There are many different ways or approaches that kayakers go through such as splashing their face with water, rolling in the eddy at the put-in.  Steve for instance, rubs water into his neoprene spray deck as a ritual when he first gets into the eddy!

River running strategies

Here we will discuss, demonstrate and practice the use of different techniques or ways to run a river or rapid.  We will provide examples of river strategies that suited to each rapid or section of white water.

These can be:

1. All go - follow my line

2. Eddy hopping - only 1 kayaker in the current at a time

3. Buddy Buddy - working as a pair and paddling down keeping an eye on the others.  Much faster than eddy hopping as there would be 2 kayakers in the current.  The second pair should not overtake the first pair!

4. Buddy Buddy Leapfrogging - same as above but you overtake each pair.

5. Indian Style - No signal No go!

Equipment considerations

What equipment should we be carrying individually as well as team equipment and how it should be split within the group.

Do we require specialist equipment for certain rivers, such as steep creeking or kayaking through and deep gorge as just a few of the subjects we discuss and work on.

Emergency planning and procedures

Again we look at what emergency equipment we take on the river both individually and as a team and of course how we would use this equipment in an emergency situation.

Locating your Position

How do we locate our position on the river?  Can we use old school maps or a drawn river guide or what apps are available that we can use for locating our position.

Calling for assistance

How can we call and bring in external assistance, is there a telephone signal or are we too remote or too deep inside a gorge?

What numbers do we need to know, who do we need to ring.

Also do we need to notify the authorities when we lose a kayak or paddle and who to notify!

Walking out

If you decide that to kayak further down the river is no longer an option and you are going to have to walk out.  Have we planned for this at the beginning of the day, how easy is is to walk out, will we be trespassing and can vehicles get close are all questions we are going to have to answer and it makes life a lot easier and smoother if this has been pre-planned!

Kayak based rescues

Throughout this session we will be refreshing and introducing the principles behind kayak based rescues on advanced white water.  We will look at understanding rescuing in our kayaks on features such as drops, retentive holes or stoppers, longer complex rapids and also dealing with an incapacitated paddler.

Rescue a swimmer from a kayak

Learning to support a swimmer when you are in your kayak by loudly communicating, reminding them to swim safely (keeping the feet up and not trying to stand up on the river) and by trying to direct them to a safe area or mellow piece of white water to enable them to get out onto the river bank!

Chase boating

Understanding when and when not to chase boat is critical.  It is the responsibility of the individual and team members to decide whether chasing in your kayak is the correct and safest method at the time.  We work and talk about the protocol of Self, Swimmer, Equipment and how that works within the confines of chasing in your kayak.

Paddle rescues

We look at different styles of paddle rescue, whether it is picking it up and holding it with your own paddle, throw and chasing or finding a way or method to carry the paddle while kayaking.

Boat rescues

How do we rescue a kayak, what equipment can we use to help us.  We explore all these scenarios and go through their strengths and weaknesses while on the river and we each try different methods to see what the positives and negatives are.

Reuniting

How do we reunite kayakers with their equipment?  Can we just get them to walk down and meet us or do we have to transfer equipment or a kayaker from one side of the river to the other.

Quick release buoyancy aid harness

Understanding and comparing the different harness designs that are on our pfd’s or buoyancy aids, looking at the positives and negatives.

Explaining the role and use of the metal buckle behind the release toggle and making sure the harness is of the correct length.

Looking into attachment points for chest harnesses and the possible ways in which this can be carried out incorrectly such as attaching a non locking carabiner to a harness.

Rescue a simmer using a throw-in

An introduction and explanation of the various types and styles of throw bags and lines including colour, diameter and length.

We will explain the importance of the Clean Rope principle.

Demonstrations of various throwing techniques, their uses and their drawbacks.

A lot of group practice both swimming and being rescued by a throw bag from various river bank heights, under trees or shrubs etc

Finally having a buddy to belay or offer additional stability and support when using a rescue rope in an advanced environment.

Rescue a swimmer from a stopper

By progressing the session from a flowing environment to one where a swimmer is stuck in a stopper or hole we can now focus on extracting the swimmer safely out of the hole and onto the river bank.

We look at the concept of reaching the swimmer stuck in the hole with a throw line, how we can add flotation to aid the rescue and just how to do we go at extracting a swimmer from a hole or stopper.

Moving around Steep Environments

It is all about safe approaches to move around in a steep environment close to the river.

Rope Management

Dealing with solid and appropriate anchors where ropes can be secured as well as retrieved easily.

Tactics for Descending, Ascending and Moving Around Steep Ground

Understanding the use of ropes and also paddles to aid stability when moving around steep ground.

Pulling up equipment or lowering down equipment on ropes is essential to learn.

Stuck Kayaks

Understanding and learning the different ways we can extract a kayak stuck in a river.  We go through the simple methods first, then moving up with mechanical advantages.

Pull and Vector

Pulling a stuck kayak with a straight pull adding extra kayakers to increase the force applied.  Experimenting pulling from different directions to see if there is any movement in the stuck kayak.

Use a vector pull to change the load direction on the main line to see whether the stuck kayak starts to move.

Mechanical Advantages

We look at the various mechanical advantages available to us with the equipment we are carrying on the river.  We spend time working on the 4:1 pig rig mechanical system.

Stuck Kayakers

Here we look at the appropriate actions to be taken after an initial assessment and situational awareness.  Be i some broached or pinned in their kayak, a foot entrapment against an obstacle, river feature or even stranded on a rock.

Initial Assessment

We are looking for a speedy initial assessment to determine the risk to both the rescuers and the kayaker stuck.  Determine whether the kayaker is stable and has an airway and finally consideration of the possible ways of extracting the stuck kayaker without putting the rescuers within the group at risk.