Introduction to Flatwater Packrafting

This course will introduce participants to the essential skills of packrafting on flatwater, which includes lakes and slow moving rivers.  It is suitable for anyone who desires an introduction to packrafting equipment, gear, and paddling skills.  It is suitable for people with little or no boating experience.

There are three activities with this course plus an experience paddle:

• An evening lecture to introduce equipment and course overview
• A lake training field trip
• A class I river training field trip

After completing these activities, join the experience paddle on October 29.  

Scheduling Note:  You must be able to attend all three course activities.  To graduate, you must also do an experience paddle.  The paddle on October 29 is guaranteed with a place reserved just for you.  If you can't make that, there are likely to be other opportunities, but that is not guaranteed.

Participants must attend all outings and demonstrate proficiency in essential skills in order to graduate.  The most difficult skill may be the self-rescue in deep water, which requires pulling and swimming yourself into your boat.  The class also requires swimming some distance in cold and slowly moving water.  See the skills below and consider if this is something you will be able to do.

As a graduate, you will have the skills to paddle packrafts on flat water, identify and manage risks, and obtain the privilege of joining mountaineer flat water paddles.  

Skills

COLD WATER SWIMMING AND RESCUE (in immersion wear and lifejacket)

• Float for 5 minutes in a lake
• Swim 100 feet (30m) in a lake without paddle
• Swim 100 feet (30m) in a lake with a paddle
• Enter and swim in a Class I river
• Swim cross current at a ferry angle in a Class I river
• Transition to and maintain a safety position

BOAT RIGGING AND GEAR KNOWLEDGE

• Packraft inflation, rigging, deflation and care
• Drysuit donning, doffing and care
• Perform a mock boat repair

SELF RESCUE SKILLS

• Capsize and wet exit in flat water
• Self-reentry from deep water
• Reenter a stabilized boat in deep water
• Stabilize a swimmer's boat while they reenter

GROUP RESCUE

• Capsize, wet exit, and push away from paddle and boat to become the swimmer
• Paddle to collect the swimmer; tow the swimmer to their boat
• Right a capsized boat and boat bump to a swimmer
• Collect the paddle and paddle with two paddles 50 feet

FLAT-WATER READING AND HAZARDS

• Identify wood hazards and how to avoid them
• Read wind on flat water and coping strategy
• Identify chop and paddle through it
• Read braided rivers, identify cobble bars, and pick through lines
• Identify potential dangerous wildlife encounters and strategies 

PADDLING SKILLS

• Launch from a shallow lake entry
• Draw stroke sideways for 5 feet
• Paddle in a figure 8 within 50 feet
• Launch from a rocky shoreline into Class I current
• Ferry paddle across a Class I current
• Paddle through a Class 1 riffle
• Break through a well defined eddy line near shore and at a mid-stream boulder
  
• Demonstrate the ability to manage boat speed and spacing by choosing slower water, catching eddies, or backpaddling