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Whitewater Canoe ACA Instructor Certification Workshop


  • Canyon River Instruction 11120 County Road 194 Salida, CO, 81201 United States (map)

The American Canoe Association (ACA) has one of the best established paddlesport instruction programs anywhere in the world. The courses are comprehensive, but allow enough flexibility for individual teaching and paddling styles. The main benefit to taking the course is improving your understanding of paddling technique and theory, so you can paddle more efficiently and teach more effectively. A secondary benefit is the development process which can give you structured feedback on becoming an effective instructor. A third benefit are the significant insurance, liability, and networking benefits of ACA certification. Instructor development workshops are very rewarding and enjoyable, because of the opportunity for idea exchange.


This is an instructor development workshop and an instructor certification exam (IDW/ICE) for Level 4 Whitewater Canoeing (Class III Rivers). ACA courses are structured for several levels of certification for instance: Level 2 Essentials of River Paddling, Level 3 River Canoe, and L4 Whitewater. However, this is no guarantee that you will earn that level of certification. Not everyone will receive “Full” L4 instructor certification, especially if this is their first exposure to formal paddling instruction. No worries! There are means for upgrading within the ACA system.


Instructor Trainer Kent Ford: Kent’s unique background includes thirty-five years of international racing and coaching, combined with similar experience teaching recreational boating to all levels of paddlers. His twenty videos and books on paddlesports have influenced the education of half a million paddlers. More info on Kent: http://www.performancevideo.com/kent_ford

By your participation in this course, it is assumed that you possess and can competently and comfortably demonstrate all of the skills and concepts listed on the Instructor Criteria and Sample Skills documents. This includes demonstrating paddling and rescue proficiency in your chosen river craft in Class III whitewater. An ICW is intended to refine these skills for demonstration quality and give you the tools and framework to effectively communicate these concepts to your students in a dynamic whitewater environment. A pre-course questionnaire and study material will be assigned and due before the course.

Please contact CRI with any questions or for clarification!

Click here to download this PDF for a more detailed course description.

Earlier Event: July 4
Women's Rowing Clinic - 5 Day
Later Event: May 27
Raft Flip & Recovery Practice