Packraft Mastery Course: Learn Advanced Whitewater Paddling Skills
Note: This course is for people who aspire to become advanced packrafters. You don’t need to be an advanced packrafter to take this course. However, you do need to be a solid intermediate packrafter, which means you need good packrafting, backcountry and swiftwater safety skills. Please read our blog post, “What Level Packrafter Are you?” to assess whether or not you are ready for this course. Check out some photos from previous years on our Facebook page.
Do you want to take your intermediate packrafting skills to the next level with one of America’s best packrafters? Learn the skills you need to become a more advanced boater.
What are those skills?
- ✔Technical and complex strokes.
- ✔How to expertly navigate eddies
- ✔How to read the river and make decisions as a group.
- ✔How to manage vertical drops and surf like a pro.
- ✔How to work together with other packrafters in fast-moving whitewater scenarios to ensure a safe expedition.
Listen to, “A Beginner’s Guide to Packrafting & Bikerafting,” Episode #4 interview with Jeff Creamer to learn more about how one of our advanced instructors learned advanced whitewater paddling skills and became an accomplished paddler.
A 50% deposit is required to secure your space. You’ll need to provide the remaining balance 30 days prior to your course. The remaining balance is due immediately if you are registering inside of the 30 day window.
Additionally, please review our cancellation policy, which you will find on our Terms, Conditions & Cancellation Policy Page.
Excellent instruction by a highly-accredited guide.
Lodging, shuttling, food and whitewater packrafting eqiupment.
TBA
Advanced Paddling Skills:
- ✓Technical and complex strokes
- ✓Dancing with the river: running big waves and laterals.
- ✓Managing vertical drops
- ✓Surfing
- ✓Paddling a expedition loaded boat in whitewater
Group Dynamics
- ✓Scouting and decision-making
- ✓Eddy hopping, traveling in groups. How to travel down a river safely by eddy hopping in groups
- ✓Clear communication: hand signals
- ✓Setting safety and choosing challenges: review, practice and implementation
Packraft Hacks
- ✓Basic optional roll instruction (not a focus of the course).
- ✓Backcountry repairs
- ✓Storytelling
Prerequisites
- ✔You must have swiftwater rescue certification.
- ✔You must have the following whitewater gear: a self bailing or decked packraft, a PFD (rescue PFDs preferred, but not necessary), drysuit (a wetsuit is not appropriate), helmet, paddle, neoprene cap and neoprene pogies/gloves, throw rope, whistle and river knife.
- ✔When stepping up to continuous class III and IV whitewater, quick self-rescue skills are crucial for safety. We suggest participants be able to fully self-rescue in flatwater five times in just a few minutes. Your ability to self-rescue will factor into your decision-making when considering certain rapids. Paddling fitness often declines over the winter, but many swimming pools let you bring your cleaned packraft in for training.
- ✔You must be comfortable paddling into and out of eddies in a Class III rapid.
- ✔You must be confident in Class III rapids.
- ✔Please identify the six hardest runs you have ever done and at what CFS the rivers were running approximately. If you did a Class III, but it was extremely low water, than it probably was no longer a Class III.
