Continuing education within the outdoor industry is important. looking back through my training records, my first Swiftwater training course was in 1997, and have continued taking them over since. Having the opportunity to sit in on this one with a group of paddlers and educators from the island was an excellent training and skill development opportunity.
This course was run by Craig Gerrard of Raven Rescue. One of the fun things with this course was it was mobile, using multiple sites along the river to work different skills. Practice one thing and then move down the river to set up scenarios, then to another location to practice anchors, and so forth.
We managed to get 2 days of the course on the Chemainus River, the levels fluctuated quite a bit over the course. Made it fun to work areas and of course running the river provided some fun entertainment.
With the levels rising on the last day of the course we moved around to another river a bit north. This time we would spend time on Haslam creek, near the Nanaimo airport. This would be more of a static location on a smaller river which gave the group opportunities to work some different systems that they learned over the previous two days.
After the crew worked some scenarios from mid-day into the afternoon, we played around with some anchor systems with gear that we carry in our PFD’s/ in boats/ on our person. The light was brilliant and was able to make some coffee in my Wacaco Minipresso coffee device. A great afternoon of learning and coffee drinking.
Great times on the river and a good way to keep the skills fresh and up to date. Thanks to the organizers, Raven Rescue and Craig Gerrard.
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