River Safety and Rescue /Swiftwater Rescue

The Carolina Canoe Club strongly encourages all paddlers to attend safety and rescue training. Doing so is an investment in the safety of our community.

Traditionally our club coordinates at least one ACA Swiftwater Rescue Course and two River Safety and Rescue Course each year.   We also attempt to host a Cold Water L3 RSR course during the winter months.  Course participation is limited to current members of the Carolina Canoe Club and is offered at a very low cost to the participant.

Please refer to the CCC Calendar for dates for this year’s course.  Upcoming and Registration information for future courses will be announced via the CCC Website and Facebook page as soon as they become available.

If you have questions, ideas for improving the safety of our community or would like to register for a course, please contact the Safety Chairperson at safety.chair@carolinacanoeclub.org.

Course Descriptions

ACA Level 3 River Safety and Rescue Course:

The River Safety and Rescue course generally will last about 10 to 12 hours and will be physically challenging.  It covers accident prevention and management, hazard recognition, self-rescue, boat based rescue, wading, swimming, and basic rope rescue techniques.

The first portion of the course is spent learning how to recognize hazards and avoid them, group management and other topics. The rest of the course is spent on and in the water, learning more techniques and practicing material learned in the morning. Participants should be comfortable and in control paddling class II water and be ready to spend lots of time in the water. Participants will need a boat, skirt, PFD, helmet, paddle, WARM CLOTHES, and a throw rope (The Safety Chair has numerous throw ropes for use during the course, if you have not already bought a rope then wait until after the course to ensure you buy what you really need/want). Warm paddling clothes are essential because students will spend lots of time in the water.

The L3 RSR Course usually focuses heavily on Swimming, Wading, Throw ropes, and basic rescue methods along with all the safety aspects dealing with these topics.  The L3 RSR will NOT cover the quick release belt on the Rescue PFD nor the Z-Drag (amongst other more complex mechanic advantages)

ACA Level 4 Swiftwater Rescue

The ACA SWR course generally lasts 2 to 2 1/2 days and is physically challenging. It covers accident prevention and management, hazard recognition, self-rescue, wading and swimming, basic and advanced rope rescue techniques, unpinning and extrication, entrapment rescues, and use of swiftwater rescue vests.

The first day of the course is usually spent learning techniques on land; the second day is usually spent in the water, learning more techniques and practicing material learned on Saturday. Participants should be comfortable swimming in class II+ water and be ready to spend lots of time in the water. Participants will need a PFD, helmet, paddle, WARM CLOTHES, throw rope and minimal rescue gear (Safety Chair has extra ropes, and rescue gear, which can be loaned to you if needed). Warm paddling clothes are essential because students will spend lots of time in the water. Many people find an SWR class to be their coldest paddling experience.

The major difference in L3 RSR and L4 SWR is that the L4 SWR is spread out over the course of 2 days and has the addition of the quick release belt on the rescue PFD, goes more in depth on the mechanical advantages such as the Z Drag, covers more complex rescue methods, and will may focus less on the basic safety and rescue methods such as swimming and basic wading.

Keep in mind all of this is generally speaking as each instructor uses his/her discretion as to which parts of the outline to focus on heavily and which ones to just cover briefly as there is never enough time to teach everything in full detail.

For the detailed outline of each level of Safety and Rescue/Swiftwater Rescue please look at the PDF file at the following link;  NOTE:  On the document, if something new was added to that level it is depicted by the underlined color for that level and unless otherwise stated, it stays for each level above that.

ACA SAFETY AND RESCUE COURSE OUTLINES.pdf

Additionally we understand that our dates will not work with everyone so below is a list of regional locations that also teach River Safety & Rescue and Swiftwater Rescue.  With that being said, if you are interested in a course and the listed dates do not work for you please get in contact with myself and I will see if we can work out a date for you.

List of Outfitters and Instructors in our region (The CCC does not endorse any of the following instructors or businesses, we only list them to give our members the information of other locations to find instruction.)

(if any instructor in the region is not listed please send me a message and I will add you to the list)

The CCC is always looking for new prospective Safety and Rescue instructors and it does offer an instructor course reimbursement plan along with financial incentives to its Instructors and Safety Boaters.  If you are interested in becoming a Safety and Rescue instructor please contact me to get more information.

safety.chair@carolinacanoeclub.org