Canoe Tasmania will be conducting an Introductory Whitewater Packrafting Course based at the Arm River Outdoor Education Centre and Mersey River Whitewater Course in NW Tasmania over the weekend of the 3rd and 4th October.
The course is suited to complete novices, beginner paddlers who intend to paddle grade 2 whitewater plus existing packrafters who are aspiring to paddle grade 3 safely & competently. The focus for the course is on developing safety and technical knowledge specific to packrafts being used on grade 2 whitewater. There will be a combination of both theoretical and on-water practical components and all participants should be prepared for sessions involving capsizes and swimming in moving water (wetsuits or drysuits will be necessary).
The course is being run by experienced professional whitewater instructors - Alex McWhirter and myself. Spaces are extremely limited with only 8 spots being initially offered. This course is ideal for those who wish to enrol in future intermediate whitewater courses that will be offered by Canoe Tasmania. We also intend to ultimately offer advanced whitewater packrafting courses on grade 3+/4 water for those who are looking to safely journey down more serious rivers and steep creeks.
Further information can be found at: http://tas.canoe.org.au/introductory-whitewater-packrafting-course/
To secure a space on the course please return the Registration Form (available from the above link) with payment to Canoe Tasmania. Canoe Tasmania can be contacted directly via canoe.tas@canoe.org.au or if you have specific questions regarding the course feel free to post here or PM me.
For those interested in getting into packrafting but who do not currently own a packraft or suitable whitewater paddling gear - you can potentially hire equipment for the course. See the Registration Form for details and note that this needs to be arranged privately, as it is independent of Canoe Tasmania.
Not sure if packrafting is for you - to learn more about the benefits of packrafting check out the video below or on a mobile device follow this link:
Thanks everyone for your patience - I know that a number of you have been waiting on this information.
Just bumping this topic back up top after posting on the earlier topic about potential interest in training courses.
I haven’t advertised the course yet on bushwalk.com (probably will tomorrow) as I wish to give to those who have previously shown interest here the opportunity to sign up, due to the limited spaces available.
Hi Mark
Looks good. I will look into it and get back to you asap. Please don’t hold off on advertising more widely as I’m not sure if I can make it down to Tassie then, but hoping so.Thankyou.
Thanks Andy, no worries. I was going to post a comment tonight anyway to say that as of late this afternoon the course is full (pending payment by the 8th and last applicant). That said we are hoping to potentially bring on an additional instructor and if so we will be able to open a final 4 spaces. We will let this forum know if this is the case although I suggest those interested sign up for the reserve list as soon as possible.
Just to update everyone, this course is now fully booked out. We bought in a third instructor and already the associated spaces generated are now taken. For those who missed out this time, apologies. Given the interest I have no doubt that we will be running more courses in the near future. If you are keen to be involved in future courses I encourage you to register your name with Canoe Tasmania. Some of you have also expressed interest in more advanced/intermediate level and specific packraft rescue training courses - again if you can contact Canoe Tasmania to register your interest then we will see what we can do.
For those on the course, all three instructors are very much looking forward to it and we will be sending out an additional information/resource pack a few weeks prior to the actual course. There is a great mix of females and males undertaking the weekend and we look forward to meeting you all there.
It’s exciting to hear there is so much interest and that you have booked out so early.
I will register my interest with Canoe Tas.
I’m also interested to hear about anything similar in Sydney if anyone is aware of anything similar.
Enjoy the weekend. Andy.
We will look into the possibility of running courses on the mainland, including Sydney, and will let you know how we go. It won’t happen quickly though.
Canoe Tas has received quite a lot of interest from others who also missed out so we are already looking at additional dates for another course later this spring (in Tasmania). For anyone who is keen I suggest you get in touch with them. Also let them know what level of experience you have and what level of course you are looking for as we do hope to offer a range of courses in the coming 12 months.
Will let you know when we know more.
Cheers, Mark
P.S. I know how well received John McLaine’s presentation at last year’s US Roundup was, so certainly encourage those who can do so to get along to his upcoming presentation in Sydney.
