Greetings fellow paddlers! We’re really glad you’ve signed up for our upcoming kayaking course. We think you’ll find this an exciting and rewarding lifetime sport that will give you years of enjoyment and will continue to present new challenges as you build your skills.

The course curriculum we will follow is that outlined by the American Canoe Association, the country’s premier training organization for the paddle sports. This course will include off-water discussion of equipment, techniques, the paddling environment, safety and working as a padding team. We’ll start the class on land and then move into the water for our ‘wet work’. We try not to be bound to the clock and will do all I can, within reason, to give you as much time for any aspect of the course that you’d like. You’ll find that paddling requires a lot of flexibility in plans and this course will be no different. We may shuffle our itinerary around to fit the environment and the needs of the class.

You will need the following equipment for the course. You may bring your own appropriate equipment or we can make arrangements to provide you with rental equipment.

1. 1. Boat - For Quickstart or Intro courses, we can teach in any type of kayak: Recreational, sea-kayak, whitewater kayak, sit-in, or sit-on-top. Where possible, we’ll try to arrange courses with similar boat types so that we can teach to those skills particular to that type. For the Essentials of River Kayaking course, sea-kayaks will be inappropriate for the conditions. You will need a shorter, more maneuverable boat. If possible or available, have floatbags/airbags in sit-in type boats to displace water. This is especially important in riverine courses.
   

2. 2.Paddle - Any two-bladed kayak paddle is fine. See our website (www.trianglekayak.com) for a discussion about paddle types and considerations for buying.
   

3. 3.Personal Floatation Device/PFD (life jacket) -This must be a U.S. Coast Guard approved Type III or Type V approved for use as a Type III. There are many PFDs on the market designed specifically for paddling and you will be most  comfortable with one of these. Be sure to have a whistle attached to you PFD. We’ve found the ACR WW-3 whistle to be the perfect (and inexpensive) tool for this purpose.
   

4. 4.Footwear- We all like to think we’ll spend a leisurely day in our boat and won’t need foot protection but it frequently doesn’t work that way. Good protective footwear is a must when kayaking. Try to find a good balance between comfort in the boat (and test your footwear in the boat) and something with a good sole for walking over rocks. Strap-on sandals like Teva or Keen work great if they fit your boat.
   

5. 5.Water-Have a bottle of water with you for hydration. Paddling is exercise and you will need to hydrate in any season.
   

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8. A note about Spray Skirts: If you are paddling a sit-in ‘decked’ kayak and plan to use a spray-skirt now or in the future, it is very important that we go over some safety issues relative to these in the class. While the use of sprayskirts is part of the Essentials of River Kayak and Whitewater Kayak curricula, we do not teach the use of sprayskirts in Quickstart or Introduction to Kayaking clinics.  Please don’t use a spray skirt without training.
   

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Clothing- Wear casual and comfortable clothing for the classroom portions of the course that are appropriate for the day of the course. Having rain-gear may make life more comfortable.  Once we get in you will want to have warm clothing suitable for staying wet in for several hours. This precludes any type of cotton clothing. There is a wide selection of paddling-specific clothing available; much of it made from artificial and wicking fibers like polypropylene. Patagonia Capiliene serves very well in this function as a wicking layer. Various vendors have similar products. Always try to have an extra layer available to add to what you have on in case you begin to get chilled. Try to also follow the advice to “dress for the swim” rather than the paddle. While neoprene wetsuits provide fairly good insulation, they also provide really effective evaporative cooling. If you’re wearing a wetsuit, try to have a thin splash layer over it to cut down on evaporative cooling.

Weather-We will try to hold the course during nice weather but that’s not always possible when scheduling a course in advance. Your instructor will make a final decision to hod the course on the basis of the weather providing a safe and enjoyable experience. Should a class need to be rescheduled due to weather, we will make a reasonable alternative date available.

Once you have your boat and gear available, try it all on and sit in your boat for while and get comfortable. Adjust your footpegs of footbraces so that you’re snug in the boat not cramped. We’ll do some fine tuning during the class, but it’s good to get a feel for your gear and boat as early as possible. I would advise not getting into the water with it prior to the class so that we can go over a few basic maneuvers to help insure your safety. Hang out on the living room floor, surf the web, watch the tube, get comfy.

If you have any questions, please feel free to give us a call at 919.368.2151 or email us at larry@trianglekayak.com or nancy@trianglekayak.com. We look forward to the class as much as you do. You’ll find that most instructors in this sport are teaching because they love to paddle and love to see others learning those skills. We’re no different in that regard.

On this page, we’ve also put together some thoughts on additional equipment and supplies you may want to consider to make your later paddling safer and more enjoyable.

--Larry and Nancy