Safety & Rescue Series

Safety & Rescue (SR) Course Description

This post provides course descriptions of the Safety & Rescue series of training courses. These courses follow the outlines and protocols of the American Canoe Association (ACA).

General Notes:   

• SR courses are designed to be “stand-alone”. Therefore, no one course is prerequisite to another.
• Students who do not possess the appropriate craft handling skills needed for the class of water in which the class occurs may be restricted from participating in certain class activities.

Self-Rescue & Boat Based Rescue (SR1) “Roll Clinic” uses elements from the ACA “Kayak Rolling” and various river kayaking course outlines to teach the basics of righting a capsized boat, whether one’s own or another person’s, while remaining in the boat. Students will be given instruction in hip-snap, T-Rescues, “Hand of God” rescues and rolling. The two types of rolls that will be presented are the “C2C” and the “Sweep”. This course is intended for skirted kayaks but may be suitable for other paddle craft. The course will occur on flat or slowly moving water. Elements of this course may be found in other courses.

Venue: Flat Water, not moving or moving slowly, including swimming pool during cold months.

Prerequisite: Demonstrated ability to perform a “wet-exit” and General Eligibility Guidelines.

Essentials of Safety and Rescue (SR2) is a one-day class that focuses on shore-based rescues such as wading and boat-based rescues such as towing swimmer/boats (without QRHS), and includes basic un-pin techniques. This class is based on the ACA L2 Essentials of Safety and Rescue outline and will be conducted on slowly moving water with up to Class I features, such as the DuPage River (Shorewood) and will include elementary rope and knot-tying skills . This class is NOT craft specific and is suitable for the user of any type of paddle-craft (e.g. canoe, kayak, SUP, pack-raft, etc.)

Venue: Up to Class I water

Prerequisite: Demonstrated ability to perform a “wet-exit” (if in a skirted paddle-craft) and General Eligibility Guidelines.

River Safety and Rescue (SR3) is a one-day course that focuses on swimming techniques, use of ropes, anchoring, simple mechanical advantage systems, and will continue with knot tying skills. This class will be presented in Class I-II rapids, such as the Marge Cline Memorial Whitewater Park in Yorkville, IL. This class is NOT craft specific and is suitable for the user of any type of paddle-craft (e.g. canoe, kayak, SUP, pack-raft, etc.) Paddle craft are required only to the extent that trainees may need to paddle to the rescue target.

Venue: Up to Class II water.

Prerequisite: Demonstrated ability to perform a “wet-exit” (if in a skirted paddle-craft) and General Eligibility Guidelines.

Swiftwater Safety and Rescue (SR4) is a two- to three-day course which follows the ACA L4 Swiftwater Safety and Rescue outline. The focus of this class is on swift water rescue techniques some of which require use of a quick-release harness system (QRHS) and advanced mechanical advantage systems. This class will be conducted in venues with up to Class II-III features. This class is NOT craft specific and is suitable for the user of any type of paddle-craft (e.g. canoe, kayak, SUP, pack-raft, etc.)

Venue: Up to Class III water

Prerequisite: Demonstrated ability to perform a “wet-exit” (if in a skirted paddle-craft) and General Eligibility Guidelines.