Thanks to your continued support, it has been another great year for Coaching and Qualifications at British Canoeing Awarding Body. We have put together this Coaching Advent Calendar with some of our key picks of the year. We would like to take this opportunity to wish all Paddlesport Instructors, Coaches, Leaders and Guides a very Merry Christmas! 

The NEW Stand Up Paddleboard White Water Leader Course is appropriate for people who want to lead others on journeys on grade 2(3) white water rivers. Throughout this course you will be assessed on your personal paddling skills, rescue skills, incident management and more.

The NEW Stand Up Paddleboard White Water Leader course will be available from 4th March 2024.

The Advanced White Water Safety course is designed to support kayakers and canoeists on grade 3 and 4 white water rivers. The two day course will cover casualty management, moving around steep environments, dealing with stuck craft and paddlers, in a more complex environment.

The NEW Advanced White Water Safety course will be available from 2nd January 2024.

On 15th November 2023, over 80 delegates gathered at the Heart of England Conference and Events Centre in Warwickshire to attend British Canoeing’s first safety conference. The main theme of the conference was Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP) safety as a result of continued steady participation by those new and novice to the sport. The conference provided detailed insight into the breadth of SUP as a sport, the types of SUP safety incidents occurring through RNLI data and rescue stories, and key research updates on offshore winds and leashes in flow and white water environments. Overall the day provided a valuable opportunity to discuss and reflect upon how organisations can work together to raise awareness of SUP safety. 

In 2019, a coasteering group led by a single experienced coasteering guide, suffered an incident which resulted in a fatality during the activity. This case study contains important lessons to be learned by every outdoor instructor, coach, leader and deployer in light of the tragedy.