General Aims
The Level 4 River Kayaking Skills Award aims to enable candidates to:
- Kayak safely and proficiently on rivers up to and including Grade III difficulty as part of a group of peers.
- Be capable of negotiating obstacles likely to be encountered on Grade III rivers.
- Deal competently with rescue situations that might occur on rivers up to and including rivers of Grade III difficulty.
- Develop group awareness.
Requirements
To obtain the Level 4 River Kayak Skills Award a participant must successfully explain and demonstrate the following techniques and skills at a level higher than that required for the Level 3 River Kayak Skills Award and be capable of demonstrating any combination of the strokes competently and efficiently.
- Forward Paddle, Reverse Paddle
- Emergency Stop.
- Forward Sweep, Reverse Sweep, and a combination of Forward and Reverse Sweep.
- Edging
- Draw Stroke
- Sculling Draw
- Hanging Draw
- Low Brace
- High Brace
- Sculling for Support
- Stern Rudder
- Bow Rudder
An ability to use water conditions available for the effective and efficient manoeuvring of a kayak.
- Competence in negotiating water obstructions i.e., Standing Waves, Stoppers, and an ability to utilise it to cross a river.
- Forward Ferry Gliding.
- Reverse Ferry Gliding.
- Breaking In accurately.
- Breaking Out accurately.
- Competence in negotiating bends where water flows under trees or against vertical riverbank.
- An X Rescue and/or Assisted X Rescue.
- T-Rescue (maximum lower body rotation).
- Roll.
- Capable of Self-Rescue.
- Curl Rescue and/or TX Rescue.
- Stern Carry.
- Unconscious Casualty (method of righting an unconscious person in a capsized kayak).
- An ability to manoeuvre an empty kayak between two specified points.
- An ability to assist an incapacitated paddler in a kayak between two specified points.
- Offensive & Defensive Swimming.
- An ability to use a Throw Rope to rescue a swimmer.
- A practical knowledge of First Aid and its relevance to possible situations arising during a canoeing trip to include: Shock, Hypothermia, Head Injuries, Dislocations, Bleeding, CPR, EAR.
An understanding of the following:
- River Grading
- River Route Finding
- Types of GP kayaks and paddles
- River Running Methods
- Towing Systems and methods
- Group Control and Awareness
- Signals and Commands
- Personal Equipment
Course Documents