We’re now in the most dangerous time of year for paddling. Air temperatures are rising. River and lake ice is breaking up. River levels are high. The desire to get on the water in marginal conditions — possibly without proper equipment and training — inevitably leads some people to the water without a full understanding of the hazards. In short, they don’t know what they don’t know.
Also inevitably, we will see tragic stories in the news about paddler fatalities. Many times, the term “experienced kayaker” is assigned by a well-intentioned news reporter quoting a law enforcement officer or a grief-stricken family member.
Yesterday I was once again interviewed by a reporter in the aftermath of another kayaker fatality in our part of the country. The story, which appears in today’s Appleton Post Crescent newspaper, does a nice job with most of the important points I tried to convey to the reporter. Here’s a link to that story. Note that I purposely avoided the term “experienced.”
The problem with applying the “experienced” adjective in the aftermath of these tragic situations is that there is no standard definition. What does it means to be an experienced kayaker? Is someone who paddles for eight years but never takes a lesson or practices rescue techniques an experienced kayaker? In my opinion, no.
The good news is that while there is no clear definition of “experienced” there is a way to define kayak skills and knowledge. The American Canoe Association (ACA) has established a skills assessment system. Under the ACA system, each paddling discipline (canoeing, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, rafting, etc.) has five skill levels, with L1 being the most basic skill level and L5 the highest skill level. Specific skills and knowledge are defined for each level of each discipline. For a complete list of how the ACA defines kayaking skills, check this link.
I’m a realist so I don’t expect the news media to dig into this much detail when they report the next tragic kayaking accident. They do the best they can with a limited amount of air time or column space. If you are truly concerned and invested in preventing kayak deaths — including your own — the ACA skills assessment system is a proven pathway to learning skills that can make you a better, safer and more repsonsible kayaker, canoeist, rafter or stand-up paddler.
To learn proper paddling skills and safety, take lessons from a certified kayak instructor. Have your skills assessed. Find out what you don’t know.
