Advanced Creeking Clinic IV+
Paddle the steep creeks of Ecuador with Don, Darcy and the
rest of the Small World Adventures’ crew!
Are you a fairly confident IV/IV+ paddler looking to take
your kayaking to the next level? Feel
like you are so close to being able to run the local steep creeks but are just
missing something?
If any of this hits home with you, Small World Adventures
Advanced Creeking Clinic IV+ might just be perfect for you.
This trip/course is for people who are already good paddlers
and are looking to become great paddlers. We focus on paddlers who have the basic and
intermediate creeking skills down, feel good on IV and even IV+ creeks, but who
want to refine their skills in order to push themselves even more. This week
should help prepare people who are interested in running steep, continuous
creeks. We will review basic creeking skills, learn advanced techniques, on-river
safety, focus on the “mental game” and then work on putting it all together
when you are running the steepest creeks around.
We will teach the following paddling skills in this
course: advanced boof strokes such as
the draw-to-boof and delayed boof stroke, effective paddling for low volume
creeks, stroke timing and using the river features to move your boat/save you
energy, hole-punching techniques, hole riding/hole escaping techniques,
advanced boat scouting maneuvers, catching micro-eddies, and much more. Besides on-the-water skills, we'll talk about
the necessary mental skills, group skills, river rescue, and equipment
necessary for being a Class V boater. On river safety and having a good crew
are of the utmost importance when running hard and potentially dangerous
whitewater. We hope to train you to be the
kayaking partner everybody wants to paddle with since they’ll know you “have
their back” out there on the rivers!
Class V kayaking is a whole different animal than Class II,
III, and IV and we can help prepare you for this challenge. (Disclaimer: not everyone who signs up for
this course will become a Class V boater. We can only help give you the tools
you need, and the knowledge to use them, but Class V kayaking is not for
everyone. Class V rivers should be taken very seriously and you should only run
them once you know you are fully prepared). During the week, you can expect 7 days of Class IV and IV+
kayaking with the occasional Class V rapid thrown in. No Class V will be
must-run. We will work on all the essential skills for running hard whitewater:
boofing, effective paddle strokes, mental preparedness, scouting, teamwork, and
much more.
While this is an instructional course, you can expect to do
full river runs each day. We will offer
dry land skills discussions in the mornings and evenings and will paddle hard
all day! There will be an element of training
on the river as we work on specific skills, but we will always complete one of Ecuador’s
fantastic creeks as we do this.
Skill requirements for this trip: A solid combat roll is a
must for this trip, and even better if you have a bomber combat roll on both
sides. We will be paddling steep and continuous whitewater so good boat control
and the ability to stay on line with minimal mistakes in Class IV and IV+
whitewater is also a must. If you sign up for this trip and fail to show
competency in your combat roll, or in your boating skills you will be asked to
sit out certain sections as to not hold back the rest of the group.
Dates for SWA’s Advanced Creeking Clinic IV+
1.)
November 3rd-11th
2.)
November 24th-December 2nd
3.)
December 22nd-30th
4.)
January 12th-20th
5.)
February 23rd-March 3rd
For all these trips, you’ll want to fly into Quito, Ecuador
on the first date listed, fly home the last date listed and you will paddle
with us the 7 days in between.
If you would like to discuss whether this trip is right for
you, please contact our office info@smallworldadventures.com or 970 309 8913
If you are just getting into the discipline of creeking, we
also offer an Intro to Creeking Class IV- course. http://www.smallworldadventures.com/trips.html#intro
Hope to see you on the rivers of Ecuador!
Small World Adventures
www.smallworldadventures.com
info@smallworldadventures.com
970 309 8913