ICU Level 5 Canoe Skills

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Adrians
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Joined:Sat Nov 03, 2007 1:22 pm
ICU Level 5 Canoe Skills

Post by Adrians » Fri May 02, 2008 10:21 pm

Howdy folks,

I know there is limited apeal for this but I am looking to round up a few bodies who might be both interest and eligable in doing ICU L 5 Canoe skills. There has been never been one of these run before so everything is still up in the air. But if I can get 4ish serious expressions of interest we can go about setting something up and I will be able to give you more information if what the plan in.

Please feel free to drop me a line [email protected]

Cheers

Adrian


ICU Website wrote:Level 5 Canoe Skills Syllabus

This award is designed for Open Canoeists wishing to develop advanced paddling and rescue techniques appropriate to grade 3+ water. It is an appropriate award for Open Canoeists who paddle with others of Level 4 or higher ability on Level 3+ rivers.

The Level 5 Canoe Skills Award is a pre-requisite for progression to Level 4 Canoe Coach. The Level 4 Canoe Coach is the appropriate qualification for those wishing to teach others on Grade 3+ water.

1.00 General aims
The Level 5 Canoe Skills Award aims to enable candidates to
1.01 develop the necessary skills and group awareness and management to paddle safely and proficiently on rivers up to and including rivers of Grade III+ difficulty.
1.02 deal competently with rescue situations, which might occur, on rivers up to and including rivers of Grade III + difficulty.
1.03 deal competently with First Aid situations in the river environment.


2.00 Course Outline
The Level 5 Canoe Skills Award requires that a candidate attend training programme and a two-day assessment. The general course outline is as follows


1.
Methods of River Leading

2.
River Reading

3.
Canoeing Equipment for White Water Leading

4.
Management of a Rescue Situation

5.
Rescues from a Canoe

6.
Use of a Throw Rope

7.
Rope Rescues

8.
Protection against Hazards

9.
First Aid in the River Environment

10.
Resuscitation in the River Environment

11.
Trip Planning

12.
A River Trip on a minimum of Grade II/III water leading a group under the supervision of a Level 4 Open Canoe Coach
Skills Award.

13.
Assessment Procedures


3.00 Applying to attend a Training Course
Before applying to attend a Level 5 Canoe Skills Course, a candidate must
3.01 hold a Level 4 Canoe Skills Award.
3.02 have unrestricted access to a suitable Canoe and the necessary equipment.
(See Canoe Skills List of Equipment)
3.03 have registered, with the ICU Office, as a Level 5 Trainee
3.04 be at least 18 years of age at the time of application.



4.00 Applying to attend an Assessment
Candidates wishing to be assessed for the Level 5 Canoe Skills Award must
4.1attend a Level 5 Canoe Skills an approved training programme.

4.02 complete training in the two consecutive years preceding an assessment.

4.03 complete at least 20 hours of varied river experience on the water under the supervision of two Level 4 Canoe Coachs. This requirement can only be completed following participation in a full Level 5 Canoe Skills training programme.

4.04 in addition to 4.03 the candidate must provide documentary evidence of a range of river trips. These must show experience of low/medium volume rivers as well as technical rivers. Such experience must have been gained over a minimum of three years’ white water paddling, showing a bias towards ‘wild rivers’. Wholly artificial courses and weirs would not count towards the evidence

4.05 have a REC First Aid Certificate or equivalent

4.06 be at least 18 years of age

A candidate will only be invited to attend an assessment on the satisfactory completion of a logbook detailing all the above compulsory requirements for the Level 5 Canoe Skills Award.

5.00 Format of the Level 5 Canoe Skills Assessment

5.01 The Level 5 Canoe Skills assessment will take the format of a
personal skills test
river trip of 3 - 5 miles on a minimum of Grade II+ water
test of white water rescue techniques and deep water rescues
written test
oral and practical First Aid and AR test as applied in the canoeing environment
interview

As part of the Level 5 Canoe Skills Assessment, a candidate will be expected to

5.02 demonstrate all techniques/skills at a skills level higher than that required for the Level 4 Kayak Skills Award and of a standard comparable with the techniques/skills necessary to paddle competently on water of Grade II to III+.

5.03 demonstrate a thorough of knowledge of safety precautions and procedures to be adopted while paddling with a group on water of Grade III+.

5.04 demonstrate an ability to assess any group's competence to deal with conditions likely to be encountered on water of Grade III+.

5.05 demonstrate an ability to command trust from a group of peers.

5.06 demonstrate the necessary communications skills on water of Grade III+.

5.07 deal with rescue situations that are likely to occur on water of Grade III+.

5.08 be capable of knowing where on the river a group is at any time and have sufficient knowledge of the river's environs.

5.09 demonstrate an ability to read white water to a high standard.

5.10 present a suitable and correctly fitted out canoe and other appropriate personal equipment (See Level 5 Canoe Skills List of Equipment). It would be expected that a candidate's equipment would be of a standard consistent with the responsibilities of paddling with others on grade 3+ rivers. Examination of equipment will form part of the overall assessment.


List of Equipment suggested for the Level 5 Canoe Skills Assessment

A properly equipped open canoe must include
Suitable Buoyancy
End Grabs
Sufficient length of painters
Method of securing paddles

Personal equipment must include:
Paddles
Wetsuit or sufficient thermal clothing
Buoyancy Aid
Cagoule
Canoe booties or adequate footwear
Helmet for Moving water work

Equipment must also include
Towing system
Throw Rope
Bivvy bag or equivalent
First aid kit
Repair Kit (For repairs to both fibreglass and plastic kayaks)
Waterproof Bag or other method of keeping equipment dry
Spare paddle
Spare dry clothes
Flask and emergency food
Waterproof bag or other method of keeping equipment dry
Whistle
Knife
Torch
Karabiners x 2
Sling
Prussic Loop
Map

The candidate’s personal and group kit will be evaluated. Candidates must present with suitable personal equipment, plus any additional equipment deemed to be appropriate to support other paddlers in the group. Equipment should reflect such things as the season, the ability of his/her peers and the difficulty of the waters to be paddled. Borrowed equipment will be assessed as if it were the candidates own. The candidate should be aware that on the level of water being paddled, having too much equipment can be nearly as hazardous as having too little.


Level 5 Canoe Skills Award Guidelines
All assessments must be organised through the Canoe Skills Officer

It is recommended that the Level 5 Canoe Skills Award is assessed by an coach other than the coach who has run the training course leading to the assessment. Notwithstanding this, a Level 5 Canoe Skills Award can only be assessed by a member of the Level 5 Canoe Skills Assessment Panel

Candidates cannot depend on any assistance (material or practical) during the course of the assessment.

No other award may be assessed at the same time as the Level 5 Canoe Skills Award.

Clear guidelines will be given in writing should a candidate fail an assessment as to the areas that they need to improve on.

The candidate/assessor ratio should be a maximum of 2:1.

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