Have you ever wondered how your paddling skills and knowledge stack up against other kayakers? There are ways to find out. Informally, you can paddle with more experienced kayakers. Observe. Ask questions. Emulate what they do. Maybe you want a more definitive rating of your skills. Or maybe you’re thinking about becoming a kayak instructor. If so, sign up for an assessment.
This past weekend I conducted a Level 3 coastal kayaking skills assessment. Originally scheduled for Saturday, I had to postpone the event because we didn’t have the required 10-15 knot winds and 1-2 foot waves, either on the bay of Green Bay or over on the nearby “lake side” of Lake Michigan. Fortunately northeast winds picked up overnight and we awoke to 2-3 foot waves Sunday morning. After the four-hour assessment, two paddlers, Bill and Dan, successfully demonstrated their knowledge and skills and are now on record as L3 coastal kayakers with the American Canoe Association (ACA). They’re now qualified for an upcoming Instructor Development Workshop (IDW) as they seek to become ACA-certified instructors. Two other kayakers wanted to attend but couldn’t make it this past weekend so I’m scheduling another assessment for Wednesday, May 30.
A little background about ACA skills assessments…
Last month in a post titled “The Myth of the Experienced Kayaker” I explained that the ACA has a skills rating system for each paddling discipline (canoeing, kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding, and rafting). Each has five levels, with L1 being the most basic skill level and L5 the highest skill level.
Course Location / Venue: Two of the following conditions are necessary for assessment:
- 10-15 knot winds
- 1-2 foot seas (0.3 – 0.6 meters)
- 1-2 foot breaking waves (0.3 – 0.6 meters)
Technical Skills
- Effective wet exit
- Launching and landing
- Effective forward paddling
- Effective reverse paddling
- Rotate 360˚
- Turning with forward momentum
- Turning with reverse momentum
- Sideways movement—static
- Sideways movement with forward momentum
- Preventing capsize
- Sculling for support
- Deep water rescue
- Self-rescue
- Towing
- Rescues
The L3 assessment document (https://c.ymcdn.com/sites/aca
In addition to demonstrating their paddling and rescue skills on the water, participants are also required to show basic knowledge of the following topics.
Knowledge Topics
- Weather (knowledge of weather resources and the impact of weather on kayakers)
- Basic navigation (interpret basic chart datum, plotting a course and adjusting for variation)
- Leave No Trace skills and ethics
- Group awareness and communication
- Hazard assessment and avoidance
- Recognition and avoidance of hypothermia and hyperthermia
Where to Find an ACA Assessment
Find upcoming ACA skills courses and assessments by clicking on this link to the American Canoe Association website.
The Case for Assessments in Advance of IDWs
Stepping onto my soapbox for a moment, I want to voice a concern about how some I.T.’s are apparently handling the requirement for L3 assessment prior to accepting an instructor candidate for an IDW. This issue was first brought to my attention by an email from John Browning, Coastal Kayak Committee Chair for the ACA’s Safety Education & Instruction Council. Here’s an excerpt from John’s email. (Boldfacing added by me.)
From John Browning, Coastal Kayak Committee ChairJune 2016To all Coastal Kayak Instructor Trainers and Instructor Trainer Educators:A reminder that effective January 1, 2016, there were prerequisite changes to the instructor criteria at L3, L4 and L5. Some of you have conducted IDWs without the appropriate prerequisites being in place, this practice cannot continue. If there are circumstances that you believe merit a waiver for an individual, the participant should submit the waiver request form to the SEI Department for consideration in advance of the IDW (Instructor Development Workshop). I have also noticed that some of you are holding a skills assessment the day before an IDW. If you know your candidates well, which many of you do, this may not be an issue. However, if you don’t know your participants, this seems to me to be a bad practice that places you in a tough situation. If they don’t successfully pass the appropriate level skills assessment they are not qualified to take the IDW. A skills assessment can be administered by an instructor at the appropriate level. We should encourage instructors to offer skills assessments, and we should be offering more of them ourselves.
I agree with John. I.T.’s should not be offering assessments the day before an IDW. In many cases, instructor candidates are traveling several hours and paying for overnight lodging to attend an IDW. In addition to John’s rationale that this puts pressure on the I.T. to conduct a less-than-adequate assessment, I would add that scheduling an L3 assessment on the Great Lakes is an “iffy” proposition. There’s no guarantee that on any given day you’re going to have the required 10-15 knot winds and 1-2 foot seas. So when IDW candidates show up a day early for their L3 assessment and the wind isn’t strong enough and the waves aren’t big enough, what do you do?
There are many able and willing ACA-certified instructors who can offer instructor candidates the required L3 coastal kayaking skills assessment. Since there are more instructors than instructor trainers, it’s likely we are located closer to the candidates’ home towns, which gives us more flexibility to schedule and, if necessary, reschedule an assessment.
Let us instructors do our jobs. It removes undo pressure on I.T.’s to turn a blind eye when an unqualified candidate shows up for an IDW. It helps keep instructors’ skills sharp. And it’s a better and more fair process for instructor candidates.
A few photos and a video from our May 20 skills assessment. The camera always seems to flatten the waves. I think Bill and Dan will agree the waves were more challenging than they appear here…
