American Canoe Association - Top 10 Safety Tips

Planning to Paddle? Know Your Limits!

 American Canoe Association Top 10 Safety Tips

When getting ready to head out on your next paddling trip, be sure to keep these five safety tips in mind to ensure you have an enjoyable time on the water.

1. Take an on-water Course - whether it's a safety or skill development course, an ACA on-water instruction course provides the information you need for canoeing, kayaking, stand up paddleboarding, rafting or safety & rescue.

2.  Wear Your Lifejacket - Expect to capsize and swim occasionally when paddling a canoe, kayak, SUP or raft? Learn more about PFDs and how they might just save your life.

3. Cold Water Safety - Cold water is extremely dangerous! Learn more about protecting yourself in this environment

4. Rules of the Road - What paddlers need to know when sharing the waterways

5. Safety Check - Safety tips you need to consider the next time you head out on the water

In addition to the "Top Five" here are 5 more to round out the "Top Ten"!

6. Practices, Ethics and Conduct - Key points on how to appropriately share, and enjoy our natural paddling resources

7. Know Your Limits - Good things to contemplate before you leave shore

8. River Paddler's Guide to Rescue - The basics, just in case...

9. Best Practices for Paddlers and Paddlesports Programs

10. Trip Preparation and Planning - Getting ready to schedule your next trip? Learn more useful tips

Finding Minnesota: Canoeing Whitewater Rapids

Finding Minnesota: Whitewater Rapids « CBS Minnesota

Filmed in May of 2012, WCCO's Finding Minnesota visits the Kettle River in Banning State Park.

Finding Minnesota

This piece was filmed at the top of the rapids in Banning State Park, most of the whitewater paddling takes place on Blueberry Slide - a Class III rapid.  On this day the river was flowing at 1400 CFS.

The editing in the video makes the paddling look very intense and non stop.   

Finding Minnesota: Whitewater Rapids « CBS Minnesota

The Northern Open Canoe Access Project

Who's ready to give it a try?

River Levels

River Levels

Get Connected to the river levels,

Baptism River Gauge

Flow rates and river levels are very important to the Northern Open Canoeist.  Get to know your local rivers and how they change as the flows increase and decrease.

River Level Resources 

http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/view/

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/rt

http://rapidsriders.org/rivers

Stony River Gauge

You can also get apps on your smart phone, my fav is River Reader - 

Northern Open Canoe Access Project 

connecting paddlers with...

The Training

The Inspiration

and The Equipment

Whitewater River Guide Book

North Woods Whitewater

Jim Rada’s Guide Book to the Northern Rivers, the river guide every Northern paddler should own.  

The guide covers the rivers of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ontario. You get river information, access information (put-ins and take-outs) and history lesson of the Northern river exploration.  The book is an inspiration to canoeist and kayakers, filled with adventure stories and tales of first descents.

   

Get the Rada book, Northwoods Whitewater, and start exploring the amazing Northern rivers,  start checking off your descents and recording the river levels.

        

Rolling an Open Canoe Video

Here' a video I put together to show how to roll an open canoe.  Below I break the roll down to 3 steps.

Step 1

The set-up, head and body flat against float bags.

Step 2 

Canoeist rotates to have body and paddle perpendicular to canoe.

Step 3

Finish with a low brace, sweep your paddle forward, keep your head down, kiss the gunwale.

The Northern Open Canoe Access Project, helping to get paddlers onto moving water.

What are you waiting for?

Live the Life of Your Dreams - Whitewater Canoeing

"The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams." 

Oprah Winfrey

Live the Life of Your Dreams

The Northern Open Canoe Access Project provides the...
Training
Inspiration
and Equipment

If your dream is to paddle an open canoe on whitewater rivers,

 NOCAP can make it happen.

Whitewater Canoeing Classes

Whitewater Canoeing Classes

Get the Training

The fastest way to get into the sport of whitewater canoeing is to take a course from a professional American Canoe Association (ACA) instructor.  

Canoe U 2013 Courses - 

The Rapid Riders Paddling Club has classes for canoeist and kayakers  First class is in a pool, following classes are on area rivers. (water levels determine where classes will be held)

May 5 - Intro Classroom & Pool Session  

May 18 & 19  - Canoe-U Weekend  

June 1 & 2  - Graduation Weekend

http://rapidsriders.org/canoeu

ACA Open Canoe Multi-Level Instructor Certification Workshop (ICW)

University of Duluth Minnesota

https://events.d.umn.edu/ACA-Open-Canoe-Multi-Level-Instructor-Certification-Workshop-(ICW)--004168.htm

Introduction to Canoe Tandem & Solo: June 23-24 9am-9pm 

Other Essentials & River Canoe: June 24-25 9am-9pm 

Tandem Whitewater Canoe: June 26-27 9am-9pm 

Solo Whitewater Canoe: June 28 9am-6pm 

Course Overviews

http://www.americancanoe.org/?page=Courses_Canoeing

Throw Rope - Essential Gear for Whitewater Canoeing

The Throw Rope 

-an essential piece of equipment for whitewater paddling.

The one piece of safety equipment that every whitewater canoeist should have in their boat is a trusted throw rope.  Your throw rope should be kept accessible, and ready to be used.

Throw ropes are generally between 50 and 75 feet in length, with a rope diameter between 1/4 and 3/8 inches.  Ropes are made out of a floating polypropylene and are a bright color for easy visibility.

Only as Good as the Thrower -

Practice with your throw bag, a throw bag is worthless if the rescuer can't get it to the victim.  Practice on dry land and practice throwing the rope to swimmers in moving water.  

To rescue a moving target in whitewater, throw the rope ahead (downstream) of the swimmer, crossing in front of them. 

Keep your throw rope accessible, you may only have a second or two to make the rescue.

Besides being used to rescue swimmers, the throw line can be used for setting "z" drags, and cross river stabilizing lines to support a swimmer with a foot entrapment.  Throw ropes can also be used to recover gear or to ferry a boat across a river. 

Throw Bags are a available from a number of manufacturers, here are some links to help get you started.

http://www.nrsweb.com/shop/product_list.asp?deptid=961

http://www.levelsix.com/store/index.php/producttype/safety.html

http://www.wrsisafety.com/throw_bag.asp

My preference is a 50'  1/4 inch.
My throw bag is always in my canoe, in a very accessible location.

Throw Bag
Get one,
Learn to use it,
and always have it Available.

Northern Open Canoe Access Project aims to connect canoeist with the training, the inspiration, and the equipment to get you on moving water.

What are you waiting for??