Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

We will be holding a 2 day Level 5 Swiftwater Rescue course in Malvern AR at Porterfield's on March 22-23

The Level 5 program is an advanced tactics course and requires that you have already completed a Level 4 Swiftwater program or have equivalent experience. All participants will need a rescue PFD and tether, as we will be utilizing them repeatedly.

We start where the L-4 stopped and will be teaching numerous useful techniques that target the main hazards in whitewater paddling and rescue. We will likewise be teaching how to deal with injured paddlers, specifically on handling spinal injuries in and out of the water.

The main causes of paddling fatalities are strainers, sieves and flush drowning. We will be focusing heavily on aggressive methods of dealing with these all too common problems. While avoidance is always our number one goal, it is critical to know what to do when that didn't work!

There will also be time spent on practicing advanced haul/mechanical advantage systems to solve odd problems or times when you might be really short handed.

The cost for this 2 day course is 125.00 and free camping is available on site.

For more information, contact me at SwiftwaterRescue@gmail.com or 479-595-1655



Tom Burroughs

Thanks for the info, Tom. May I ask who the instructors will be?

I learned so much in the SWR Level 4 class. I generally don't paddle any water more challenging than Class 2, but if you kayak and haven't taken any of these classes, you should. I'm primarily a wife, mom, and teacher. Kayaking is just something I occasionally indulge in when I can steal the time. Even so, the skills that I acquired during those two days were vital. Great class...great instructors.
Sandy

If you've never taken one of these courses, what level should you start at? 1?

You can take a level 4 course with no prior SWR training. they will cover everything from the basics to some more advanced stuff. The level 5 you are required to have level 4 training before and you will go more in depth on what you learned before and get into some pretty advanced stuff. I highly recommend any of the courses that get listed on this message board, the instructors and their programs are ALL top notch.

Ouachitoff,

The link below lists the various course levels and has links that describe what to expect in each class.

http://www.americancanoe.org/?page=Courses_SR" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hi Folks,
Just to answer a few questions-

Brian- On all of our higher level technical rescue courses such as this, I am the lead instructor. I bring in additional highly qualified instructors as needed based on class size. I assure you though, if an instructor does not actually utilize these skills regularly and have a solid outdoor education/teaching resume, they don't instruct in our programs. We have extremely high standards for our courses and the number of repeat participants speaks for itself:)

Sandy- We'd love to have you come back for this next level! I'll begin sending out registration info this week.

Ouachitoff- Like Adam and Steve have said, start with our L-4 course. We lay solid groundwork for all that we do in the L-5 program.

For anyone who has not taken our skills courses, I would mention that we utilize a very hands-on format. While everything we do is "challenge by choice", I can say that if you choose to participate in all we do, you will be worn out at the end of each day! We utilize a very experiential approach to all of this and bring in a lot of "cross-pollination" from other disciplines that puts a fresh twist on all we teach.

The course is currently about half filled, if you are interested let us know!

Cheers,

Tom

Thanks for the info. I'll be on the lookout for the next L4 course. If I recall correctly, there was one in Nov of last year, but I did not have my cold weather gear at that point. Should be gtg the next time a course is offered.

Hi Tom
I would like to sign up for this class too if u still have room ?
Rob

Hi Rob,

You're in! I am sending out the first round of paperwork today.

Best Regards,

Tom

OzarkTom wrote:On all of our higher level technical rescue courses such as this, I am the lead instructor.

Just want to clarify what Tom is referring to here...

The Arkansas Canoe Club has a number of highly trained instructors who offer SWR courses throughout the year. Usually the lead instructor will post an announcement of a course they are organizing (such as Walter Felton, or Marcell Jones, or Chris Martin).

In addition to such individual ACC instructors, we also have a great resource in the state which is Tom's company, Ozark Safety & Rescue Educators. What Tom's referring to in his response here, when he says “on all of our…courses” he means all of OSRE courses. When OSRE offers this rescue course, Tom is the lead instructor. ACC instructors also offer these training sessions throughout the year, and hopefully between what ACC instructors are able to offer plus what OSRE can offer, paddlers in our area will have a variety of training options throughout the year.

Both Tom/OSRE as well as individual or teams of ACC instructors are using the same American Canoe Association training curriculum, so if you have taken one course with one set of instructors and want to take a class with a different set of instructors, you will find the overall content the same. It can be helpful to take the same course from different trainers as it's interesting what different trainers might emphasize or demonstrate differently, and to get multiple perspectives.

We're lucky to have this many educational resources available...I hope everyone can find the right class and schedule to take advantage!

Heather, thanks for fielding the question, I am currently paddling in Ecuador and have limited email capability.
The only thing I would add is that the L-5 SWR curriculum differs somewhat from lower level courses in that it is very customizable. The L-5 we have coming up is significantly different than any that has been offered previously in our state. Besides being two days long instead of one, this one is specifically targeting the three primary causes of whitewater fatalities and will be incorporating some new techniques that were sourced from this years' ACA National Swiftwater Rescue Conference.

As mentioned, we have a number of instructors in the ACC, thanks to the Club's focus on education! Different instructors offer different styles of courses, based on their teaching styles. It is really worthwhile to find a style that works for you, and amongst the different courses offered, you are sure to find the right one.

Best Regards from Tena, Ecuador (where it is currently about 85 degrees!)