Essential Eligibility Criteria for our Programs

 

Essential Eligibility Criteria for all students


All activities are open to all individuals who meet the following essential eligibility requirements plus the minimum age restrictions listed for each specific course.


Participant must:


  1. •Be able to manage all personal care and mobility independently or with the assistance of a companion* who accompanies the participant.

  2. •Be able to reach event area alone or with the assistance of a companion who accompanies the participant.

  3. •Be able to perform all water activities, following instruction, independently or with the assistance of a companion who accompanies the participant.

  4. •Be comfortable in the water including: floating on back independently with a properly fitted PFD (life jacket), turning from face down to face up independently while wearing a properly fitted PFD, and holding breath while under water. We can accommodate a maximum 52” chest circumference with our PFDs or you may bring your own properly fitting PFD.

  5. •Be able to breathe independently without any medical assistive devices.

  6. •Be able to maintain a balanced, upright position when seated in a  floating kayak, with adaptations and instruction if needed. Adaptive equipment cannot impede nor lessen the effectiveness of the safety procedures or equipment No one may be strapped nor belted into a water craft.  **NOTE** No adaptations providing head or neck support can be accommodated due to safety issues of righting and maintaining a face-up orientation following a capsize.

  7. •Be able to get in and out of a kayak independently or with the aid of a companion, following instruction.

  8. •In the event of a capsize, be able to exit a kayak independently including getting out from under a capsized watercraft if necessary.

  9. •Be able to re-enter the kayak following a capsize after receiving instruction, with the assistance of one other boat.  Any additional assistance, if required, must be from a companion who accompanies the participant. In moving water, the participant must be able to identify, make progress toward and ascend upon the shoreline.

  10. •Be able to control a kayak, paddling safely on flat water or on moving water after receiving instruction, as required by the specific course.

  11. •Meet the maximum manufacturer’s weight capacity limits of the range of kayaks available for rental by Paddle Creek. Examples would include Pungo 140 or Tarpon 120 with capacities of 350 pounds.


All of our kayak instruction venues are located on developed public access sites and/or on undeveloped public waterways. Due to the necessity to move flowing-water courses (River Kayaking and Whitewater Kayaking) to find river conditions appropriate for the needs of instruction, it is impossible to list all or specific barriers to mobility for these venues, though they can be typified by steeply sloped banks as high as 25' with large and small rocks or rip rap, heavy vegetative undergrowth, uneven terrain, and/or slippery, steep mud banks. Conditions expected at entry and exit points may not be typical of points where the group may pause for breaks during the course.


We teach our flat water courses at the following venues which have possible mobility barriers as listed:


  1. •Falls Lake Dam: Approximately 12 wooden stairs from the parking lot to a clay/gravel sloping trail to the water's edge.

  2. •Lake Jordan-Bell's Point Access- Gravel parking lot with a gently slope to the water's edge. Rocky shoreline.

  3. •Lake Crabtree- Paved parking lot leading to grassy, gently sloped banks to water's edge.



* A companion who accompanies the participant in on-water activities may do so by paying standard course fees plus any applicable gear rental fees.