What is an Introductory Safety Course?

Our Introductory Safety Course offers an immersion experience in sea kayak safety and rescues. We cover a lot in a short amount of time. Anyone is welcome to take the course, however we require that all renters pass the course before they can rent.

So what does the course entail? Why is it so important?

Well, what would you do?

Sea kayaking on Lake Superior requires judgement and skills. I often hear “we have a lot of canoeing experience” or “I kayak on the river at home, so I don't need to take your course." You may have experience in those areas, however sea kayaking on open water requires a completely different set of skills and invites many new potential hazards. This course is meant to give you an introduction to the skills needed to be safe, and to illuminate what skills you still need to develop in order to travel and better enjoy your time on the water.

The course begins with “The Beach Talk” as we call it, and is about an hour long discussion to help you become familiar with the Wind, Weather, and Water specific to Lake Superior and the Apostle Islands area. Also included is a session on gear use and care, (Renters pay for breakage from mis-use, so this is 'valuable' information) as well as brief introduction to advanced sea kayaking gear to lend breath to the talk. This on-land time also gives you time to ask questions about your upcoming trip. We often have participants alter their routes/campsites after learning what we teach during the beach talk.

Assisting another boater via a “contact tow”

After the beach session we teach the foundational paddle strokes and techniques to help you move more effectively, efficiently, and safely on the water, along with more advanced strokes to try on your own as you advance in your skills.

To pass this course you must “wet-exit” your boat, and get back in while in deep water. This is physically challenging. If you don't pass we can't rent to you, and we don't provide a refund. In other words if you don't pass this course you're out the course fee, the rental costs, and your camping permit fee. We mention this so that it is clear that you need to be in good physical condition to rent a sea kayak.

We will teach an assisted rescue, in which another kayaker helps you, and a 'self-rescue', or one in which you use a paddle float to get back in. We save the rescues for last, as it can be be a chilling experience! But one that is valuable for sure.

A photo of someone performing a paddle float rescue while in waves. (larger waves than what we have during the course for sure!

We also accept safety courses from other outfitters. In order to use this option the outfitter facilitating your course MUST do two things; email us their curriculum, along with confirmation that everyone renting from us has passed the course, which follows our course description for passing;

"you must demonstrate that you can capsize your kayak and safely exit while underwater, remain calm and manage yourself and your equipment, and get back into your kayak unassisted and without touching bottom."  The course must also include sea kayak specific knowledge regarding the conditions you may find on a large body of water such as Lake Superior, and how best to handle them. (Wind, Waves, Weather, Water Temperature, and Other Hazards)

For more information, the American Canoe Association has some great resources, including their Online Paddlesports Safety Course. It's well done and free to take. Coast Guard approved! We highly recommend taking this course prior to joining our ISC.

#seakayaksafety #seakayakcourse