The purpose of the flatwater training is to provide the Trainees with a gentle introduction to boat control and flip drills before introducing them to moving water.
The underlying purpose is to make the early parts of Basic Training less overwhelming for Trainees by introducing skills more slowly.
The flatwater training should cover the fundamental on-river skills that do not require moving water, making sure to stay within the learning progression. Skills covered include basic paddling strokes, the Paddle Talk, basic guide strokes, guide commands, self rescue, rescuing others, and boat-flip technique. Mastery of these skills is not expected within this class.
This class will not include instruction on incident management or rescue protocol, but instead will focus primarily on the execution of the re-flip.
This class will not include instruction on Throw Bags.
We want to eliminate distractions as much a possible. Camping and camping equipment, shuttle, moving water, reading water, route planning, ferrying, and managing personal gear away from base camp are all eliminated or mitigated.
We should attempt to mitigate cold weather as much as possible by providing a cozy "base camp" (right next to the launch site), and a warm lunch.
Hypothermia talk.
Safety Talk
Wetsuits handed out in advance would be nice.
Perhaps. The schedule should only be considered a guideline for topics to cover.
Those who prefer more flexibility may think of it this way: the morning is for practicing paddling skills, and the afternoon is for practicing boat flips.