American Canoe Association and British Canoe Union Certified

About the Program
Level I-II Lessons introduction, calm water
Multi-Level Lessons, including roll class
Level III Lessons moving water and wind
Level IV Lessons dynamic water
BCU Assessments, Trainings and related courses
Leadership Courses

Instructional Tours
Instructors

Multi-day Workshops
BCU 2-star/ 3-Star Training
BCU 3-Star Workshop, w/ Navigation

Calendar of Lessons and Tours

At Columbia River Kayaking, you will find a contagious passion for learning and having fun! Coaches continue to refine and challenge their own skills. For us, kayaking is a way of life which share because we love to. Let us help you reach your goals!

Columbia River Kayaking
is officially a
BCU-Endorsed Center

About the Instructors

Square Water Workshop - Roll Class at the Astoria Aquatic Center
1 1/2 hours, $60. max 3 participants
appropriate to any level
First and third Thursdays 6:16-8pm

Rolling is fun! It's also an important skill in whitewater, surf, and sea kayaking. Having a roll increases your safety in capsize situations. Simply working towards your roll improves your self-awareness and confidence.

Practice in Astoria's heated pool with a patient, encouraging coach. You'll refine techniques for keeping and regaining balance, including bracing. Discover the roll that works best for you, then add others. You can start from scratch, troubleshoot an almost-roll, or add new varieties for safety and fun, including sweep, C to C, storm, extended paddle, back deck roll, various Greenland rolls, hand roll, Eskimo bow rescue, sculling brace, and balance brace. Challenge yourself!

Keep an eye out for guest instructors like Don Beale who specialize in Greenland rolling. It's a great treat to share their expertise! Calendar

Stroke Refinement
4 hours, $75.
6-7 hours, $115-125
Pursue the ultimate in boat control as a foundation for open water skills. Use wind, waves, and current as teaching tools. Improve body-boat-blade coordination. Increase efficiency and boat control through use of edging and technique. Take this class repeatedly in varying locations and conditions. There is always more to learn! Calendar

Applied Navigation
6-8 hours, $115.
Expect a very practical course set among the islands of the tidal lower Columbia River. Read a nautical chart. Use hand-held and deck compasses. Calculate tides, distance, and speed. Pilot (follow a shoreline while keeping track of yourself on a chart) and dead reckon (calculate speed, direction and time). Locate yourself on a chart using only landforms, or using a compass and landforms. Locate hidden campsites using a compass and a chart. Use ranges to check progress or drift, and ferry angles to compensate for cross current or wind. Create strategies for success if lost or stranded. Do all of this while touring the islands of the Lewis & Clark National Wildlife Refuge. It's not magic; navigation really is a fundamental skill for those who paddle unguided in places beyond a corridor or a lake (even if you have a GPS). And it's fun! Calendar

Required: BCU 3-star award, ACA Basic Coastal Kayak certification, or instructor approval

Surf Play for Sea kayaks or surf boats
5-6 hours, $125.
Surf is an excellent teacher of bracing and instinctive boat control. It's also great fun! Practice surf launches and landings. Broach and side surf. Learn the basics for safety in this extremely dynamic environment. Ride waves. Get a great workout and that elation that only a full day of surf brings! This class taught in conjunction with other instructor/members of Shellback kayak club. Calendar

Night Navigation
4 hours, $75.
6 hours, $125. Navigation review plus Night Nav.
Experience the Columbia River at night--the lights of the channel, the dark quiet bulk of mountains, the movement of invisible water. This exciting instructional tour is scheduled the day after full moon, so the almost-full orb will rise about an hour after sunset, while we're on the water. Calendar

Coastal Journey (listed on Day Tour page)

BCU Assessments and Assessment Training

The British Canoe Union has offered an internationally respected standard of kayaking for over 40 years. The program is based on cycles of training, practice, and assessment. In training, you are introduced to skills and concepts. Then follows a period of practice with periodic coaching. Once the skills are mastered to the level desired, you take an assessment. After passing assessment, you may train at the next level.

An assessment is like a checkup on your paddling skills. Depending on the level of the award, you are asked to do specific strokes, or maneuvers, or demonstrate judgement and boat control in various conditions. The assessment lets you know where your skills are against an international standard, and more than that, lets you know exactly what needs improvement.

BCU skill awards are called "star awards" and are as follows:

1* Encouragement (no actual awards given)
2* Competency. Evidence of understanding cause and effect in boat control.
3* Proficiency. Solid skills in flat water.
4* Proficiency in conditions such as current, wind, surf.
5* Expedition and Leadership, including the ability to navigate, lead groups at night and retrieve situations gone wrong in 4* conditions while maintaining the integrity of the group.

BCU star awards link where specific criteria for the star awards can be found.

2-Star Training
5-6 hours, $115
2 days $225
2-Star Training includes drills, practice games, and specific coaching to further paddler's safety, confidence, and ability. Learn to apply your core to get the job done with less effort. Discover the importance of posture. Become friends with your paddle. Calendar

BCU 2-Star Assessment
3-5 hours, $50
According to the BCU, the 2-star award is "an improvement award that covers basic flat water skills. The emphasis is on creating the desired movement of the boat through developing an understanding of cause and effect..." Skills include forward stroke with torso rotation, stopping in 4 strokes or less, reverse paddling to a target, moving sideways, preventing a capsize by bracing, ruddering, edging, a low brace turn, assisted reentries, and more. In addition, candidates are expected to be able to address basic questions about gear, safety, hypothermia, responsible access and environmental care, etc. Candidates should also bring a log book showing their paddling experience. Log book pages can be downloaded from the PDXseakayaker website or you can create your own. BCU star awards link. Calendar

BCU Primer: 2 & 3-Star training
2-days $235 3-days $325
Day 1. 2-star assessment walk-through, either as practice or as assessment, depending on participants. Introduction to the BCU structure of training, practice, and assessment, and to the star awards.

Day 2. Body-boat-blade discovery workshop designed to reveal the how & why behind good paddling technique, followed by challenges designed to reinforce skills. Individual coaching.

Leave with a personalized plan for practice and technique development. More about the skills in this course can be found at BCU star awards link.

3-Star Workshop with Navigation
3 days. $335
This is an excellent introduction to the British Canoe Union system for those with experience, or a next step for those with BCU 2-star award. At the 3-star level, technique is refined so strokes such as the bow rudder, sculling draw, hanging draw (sideslip to us Yanks), and forward stroke are clean and efficient. Then they are practiced until good technique is automatic. Confident edging is expected in turning and when sculling for support. Towing is included at the 3* level, as is rolling. More info on this award can be downloaded from: BCU star awards link. This workshop will integrate navigation skills appropriate to the waters this award prepares you to paddle in. For sample itinerary, see the Multi-day page: BCU 3-star Workshop plus Navigation.
Calendar.

3-Star Weekend
2 days. $225
This is the next step for those with BCU 2-star award or with solid experience self-trained or through other programs. At the 3-star level, good technique including edging should become automatic, both forward and in reverse. More info on this award can be downloaded from: BCU star awards link.
Calendar.

BCU 3-Star Assessment
4-5 hours, $65
The 3-star award shows a foundation of basic kayak mastery. From here, the BCU curriculum branches into specialty areas of sea kayaking, surf kayaking in little boats, and inland (river) kayaking. The standard is high in 3-star. Skills must be demonstrated with good form. The difference between 2* and 3* is that at 2* you can do the maneuver right most of the time. With 3* competence you don't do it wrong; skills are fluid and instinctive, both forward and in reverse. Candidates should also bring a log book showing their paddling experience. Log book pages can be downloaded from the PDXseakayaker website or you can create your own. More info on this award can be downloaded from: BCU star awards link. Calendar

Rough Water Training/BCU 4-Star
1 day $135
2 days $245
3 days $350
4 days $450
Prerequisite: BCU 3-star award
Those 3-star skills come to life when the water gets rough. We go to the mouth of the Columbia to find exciting conditions for solidifying those edging, bracing, and blade angle skills. An excellent course for those aiming to paddle the open coast or looking for BCU 4-star award. On multi-day courses, we use various locations to refine skills in a number of different conditions. More info on this award can be downloaded from: BCU star awards link. Calendar

BCU 4-Star Assessment
1 day, $135
Prerequisite: BCU 3-star award
At 4-star, your skills and navigation should be an asset to a group journeying in wind, waves, and current. Assessment gives detailed personal feedback on your skills and provides opportunity to learn more. And it's good fun to be out there in conditions with other solid paddlers!

More info on this award can be downloaded from: BCU star awards link. Calendar

CRK coaches hold American Canoe Association and/or British Canoe Union certification. The American Canoe Association is the largest US organization for water sports. The ACA certifies coaches, educates paddlers, promotes water access, provides insurance, and more. The British Canoe Union provides the most comprehensive training program in sea kayaking today. It formed 40 years ago to coach British olympic athletes and continues to be rigorous because recreational sea paddlers in Britain face rough and dangerous waters. The Pacific Northwest can present equally hazardous conditions with surf, wind, and current.

The rating of skill levels is being widely adopted in the Northwest paddling community and beyond. Its origins are found in the British Canoe Union's star system, rated one through five.

Level I programs are generally scheduled for mornings or days with little tidal movement, or in protected lakes or creeks.
Level II may experience light wind, small waves, or moderate current.
Level III programs take advantage of afternoon wind or greater tidal action.
Level IV programs require well-refined paddling skills as they venture into surf, strong wind, or dramatic current.

Environment. The diverse Lower Columbia River region is a paddler's paradise. From protected sloughs to the coastal surf, it offers something for everyone. The wildness of this lightly populated area surrounds paddlers in stunning scenery. The Lewis & Clark National Wildlife Refuge alone encompasses 35,000 acres of mid-river islands, which is an ideal classroom for navigation classes. World-class paddling on the Oregon Coast rewards the paddler with bold cliffs, offshore rocks, sea caves, and fun surf rides.

History. The native peoples here before us had a water-based existence. Canoes were the cars of today, and much more. Water was the highway, not the divide. Even to the early European-derived settlers, the river was the central conduit and resource. Although nature has reclaimed much of the evidence, the stories and the river itself remain. Paddling is a teriffic way to connect with history of this place.

Equipment. All scheduled tours and lessons include kayak and paddling gear: paddle, PFD, skirt, pump, wetsuit & paddle jacket if necessary (specify size in advance). Available kayaks include: Wilderness Systems Tempest 165, 170 & 180; Necky Eskia, Zoar Sport, Looksha 4, Looksha Sport & Amaruk double; Eddyline Merlin, Falcon 16 & Nighthawk 17.5; Pygmy Arctic Tern 17.

Instructors & Coaches

Skamokawa Center, Skamokawa, WA 888-920-2777 or 360-795-8300
Alder Creek in Portland, OR 503-285-0464 or 503-285-1819 or 888-571-4545

Body Boat Blade on Orcas Island, WA 360-376-5388

Directions to launch sites. Calendar page lists the launch sites of each class.