Touring & Freestyle Canoe Instruction
 

Touring & Freestyle Canoe: Skills Courses

The back-water lakes and rivers of North America and where the open canoe evolved and have been the highways of commerce and exploration for thousands of years. We still travel these lakes and rivers, however the trips now tend to be recreational.

The purpose of the Touring Canoe instructional program is to prepare people to travel on these semi-protected waters safely and efficiently. For FreeStyle Canoe, the purpose is to continue to develop advanced techniques for technical quiet water boat control.

Instruction / classes are conducted in tandem canoe, solo canoe or both in either program. Touring Canoe is a pre-requisite to the FreeStyle course series.

Essentials of Canoe Touring: Level 2 is an eight-hour class focused on helping the student learn to travel safely and efficiently by canoe and assumes a significant commitment to the sport. It is designed as a stand-alone course, but could advantageously follow the QS or IC courses. There is more emphasis on stroke and paddle mechanics and the stroke/maneuver list is more complex than in the shorter courses, including corrected forward strokes and cross strokes. Classes may be in tandem, solo or both. Touring canoe is a prerequisite to the FreeStyle course series.

Freestyle Canoeing: Level 3 is a five-part, multi-day program emphasizing advanced techniques for technical quiet water paddling. Levels are based on a progression of compound and linked maneuvers with strong emphasis on canoe and paddle dynamics and biomechanics. Students and instructors should combine excellent technical skills with the required intellectual content. Classes may be in tandem, solo or both.

Become an Instructor

Canoe Certifications are awarded in Solo or Tandem. There are three levels of instructor certification in the Touring Canoe series:
  • Level 1: Introduction to Canoe (not discipline specific)
  • Level 2: Essentials of Canoe Touring
  • Level 3: FreeStyle Canoe

    • Each level requires a more advanced understanding of:

  • safety awareness
  • general technical knowledge
  • paddling skills
  • teaching skills

    • Each level requires:

  • completion of a course of instruction at the same skill level or higher
  • completion of an Instructor Development Workshop (IDW)
  • successful completion of an Instructor Certification Exam (ICE)

    • The purpose of the IDW is to help instructor candidates learn how to effectively teach safety and canoeing skills.
    The purpose of the ICE is to evaluate the candidate in each of the above areas.
    (For more information on IDWs and ICEs see "Instructor Criteria" and the IDW/ICE sample outlines and contact the IT of the course you are considering)

  • Touring Canoe Instructor Criteria
  • Touring Canoe Instructor Certification Workshop Examples (IDWs & ICEs)

    • Endorsements

    • Canoe Camping

    Adaptive Paddling

    Other Links

    Instructor Resources