School of Whitewater Paddling

Instructor's Pre-School Interview with participants

This School of Whitewater Paddling is something new, exciting and challenging for many, maybe most, of the participants. Typically they are very anxious and want to talk about with someone who knows "what's going on."

Please contact each participant in your class as soon as possible after you get your class assignment.

It's best to talk with each one by telephone, or if possible, face-to-face. What you talk about is not as important as just getting to know each other.

Please make yourself familiar with the general info page and school application, so that we can all be giving consistent answers. The Director Message to Instructors may help you prepare for your pre-school interviews also.

Please take everything from the school application with a grain of salt. People may or may not intend to mislead, but more often than not, they just don't know what we are talking about. That's why it is so important for you, the instructor, to talk with your participants as soon as you get the names.

Here is a list of questions and discussion items originally supplied by Walter Felton.

1. Give each participant an idea of what is expected from them in the way of meeting times, equipment requirements, and time on the river. You may have to "break the ice", but encourge them to ask questions about the school and paddling in general.

2. What kind of boat do you have and how is it outfitted? Does it have air bags?
How often have you paddled this particular boat?
If it is not your boat, how will it get to Turner Bend?

3. How often do you get to paddle?

4. What kinds of rivers do you normally paddle?
Determine if he knows what an eddy is and if he usually catches eddys and makes ferries or not.

5. Have you attended a paddling school or rescue clinic before? who was your instructor?
What do you want to accomplish or expect from this school?

6. If this is a tandem canoe class, then ask about partner.

7. Discuss approprate layered, quick dry clothing and footgear.
Everyone will get wet in these classes.
Stress dressing for swimming and avoiding cotton fabrics.

8. Do you have a helmet and Life Jacket?
A Well fitting Life Jacket in good condition is required
Helmets are required for kayaks and canoes with straps.
Helmets are recommended for all

9. We will be spending long days on the river. So bring food and water that you can take on river

10. Do you have any health or physical problems? Any special needs?
This two day school is more strenuous than many first timers expect.
Beginning students may not be aware of the need to kneel in the canoe

11. Are you a good swimmer?
If anything indicates less than a strong, competent swimmer, take time to warn and inform of the danger of drowning.
The ACC requires all participants to be capable of swimming

12. Are you going to make it to the 7:30 PM Friday night meetings?

• If so bring your boat so that we can load it on Friday night
  
• If not a discussion of AW Safety Code and ACA Waiver is needed.
• And you need to be at the Turner Bend parking lot by 7:30 AM to load and leave before 8 AM.
• Then, designate a meeting place with truck or trailer description

13. Some instructors make a "Homework Assignment" to read Part 1, Personal Preparedness and Responsibility in the Safety Code of American Whitewater as a method of introducing river hazards. A link to the Safety Code is on WW School General Information Page.

14. Determine if ACA Waiver has been read, understood, and signed. There are guidelines for discussion of the waivers on Waiver and Assumption of Risk Page.

Then tell them that there are three things that we are going to do as a group this weekend

1. We will be safety conscious on the river.
   Safety is not a promise, but we will do our best to explain the hazards and to help you learn options for avoiding or dealing with them.
2. We will have fun, if its not fun what is the point of being there?
3. We will learn something about whitewater paddling.