ORCKA Instructor Certification ORCKA Kayak Tripping Instructor 1 Provincial certification to teach and certify kayak tripping in Ontario, from a first paddler on sheltered water through to Kayak Tripping Level 1. Five days on the Saugeen Peninsula, including a multi night trip. 5 DaysDuration 3 NightsMinimum Trip Class 1Conditions 25 NightsTripping Log What It Authorises This is the certification the Ontario Recreational Canoeing and Kayaking Association issues for the instruction and administration of its flatwater and Kayak Tripping Level 1 programs. Where the coastal stream is built around skill development, the tripping stream is built around getting groups out, keeping them safe, and bringing them back. Once certified, you can direct, instruct, and certify: ORCKA Safe Kayaking Kayaking Concepts (Flatwater) Flatwater Kayaking A and B Kayak Tripping Level 1 Camp Kayaking Instructor, at Ontario Camping Association camps You can also assist on Flatwater Kayaking Instructor courses and on Kayak Tripping Instructor 1 courses. The Trip Is the Course This is not five days of drills with a night out bolted on the end. ORCKA requires a minimum three night trip inside the course, because tripping instruction cannot be assessed any other way. Route planning, packing, campsite selection, food and water, weather calls, group pace, and the decisions that follow when the plan stops working: none of it is testable in a day. You will be teaching and being observed while living the thing you are teaching. Trip Planning and Leadership Route selection, float plans, access and egress, group speed, contingency days, and the judgement calls that separate a trip that adapts from one that pushes on. Assessed across the whole trip rather than in a session. Loaded Boat Skills and Rescues Everything changes with gear aboard. Handling, rescues, and re-entries in a loaded kayak, plus how to teach them to people who have only ever paddled empty. Camp Craft, Taught Properly Packing and trim, campsites and shelters, fires and stoves, food and menu planning, ropes and knots, hygiene, and low impact practice. The unglamorous half of tripping, and the half participants remember. Risk Management in the Field Personal and group safety, emergency response, communications, weather interpretation, and what happens when someone is hurt a long way from a road. Planned before departure, not improvised. Programming and Program Development ORCKA policy, accreditation and recertification. Legal and liability exposure for instructors and trip leaders. Equipment choice, scheduling, teaching progressions, and human resource management. What running programs actually involves. Conditions Kayak Tripping Level 2 conditions: winds to around 15 knots, waves ideally 0.8 metres and not exceeding 1.2, breaking near shore or obstructions, less frequent landings, and up to about 3 km from shore. Loaded boats, which changes how everything handles. For paddlers who think in Paddle Canada terms, that maps to class 1 water. We state both because candidates arrive from both systems and the numbers matter more than the label. Prerequisites Minimum age 18. Current ORCKA membership. Certification. ORCKA Kayak Tripping Level 2, or an equivalent certification accepted at the Course Director's discretion. Paddle Canada Sea Kayak Level 2 Skills or higher is accepted as equivalent for the paddling and water component. Tripping experience, and this part is firm: at least 25 nights of wilderness kayak tripping, at least 500 km paddled, at least six trips where you carried some responsibility for organisation or leadership, and at least one wilderness trip of five days or more. Strongly recommended alongside your paddling qualifications: swimming certification, wilderness first aid with CPR, and a VHF marine radio operator certificate. If You Have the Mileage but Not the Paperwork Most recreational trippers have never kept a formal log. Guides do, because their employers make them. Everyone else has a decade of trips and no record of any of them, and that should not be what stops you. We accept a written attestation in place of a formal logbook. It is not a formality and it is not a lower bar. It asks for the same experience, set out so it can be read and discussed. What the attestation asks for: Each trip listed separately, with approximate dates Water body and general route Nights out and approximate distance Your role: participant, co-organiser, or leader A name and contact for one person who was on at least one of those trips Your signature confirming the account is accurate We follow it up with a conversation. Not an interrogation, just a chat about a couple of the trips you listed. People who did the trips enjoy talking about them, and that conversation tells us far more than a spreadsheet would. Email info@kayak-ontario.com and we will send you the template. How You Are Assessed The log gets you onto the course. The assessment decides the certificate. Continuous observation throughout, across safety, care of equipment, group dynamics, and leadership. A written test of about an hour, with 80 percent required to pass. Three teaching demonstrations, at least two on the water, with at least one drawn from the Kayak Tripping Level 1 skills area. Three written lesson plans submitted to the Course Director. Every test item is graded Pass, Weak, or Needs Major Improvement. To certify you need a Pass in every item, or all but one, which may be Weak. Candidates who do not meet the standard receive a Letter of Attendance, and that outcome exists for a reason: this certificate lets you certify other people, and we will not sign it because someone paddles well. One retest is available to every candidate, up to twelve months from the course, covering only the items you did not clear. Our Standards Two things on this page go beyond what ORCKA requires, and we would rather label them than let you assume. The attestation format and the follow-up conversation are ours. ORCKA requires the experience; how it is evidenced is left to the Course Director. Accepting Paddle Canada Level 2 Skills as an equivalent certification is our reading of the discretion the manual gives the Course Director. We are harmonising the two systems' water classifications and are discussing it with ORCKA. Everything else on this page is the ORCKA standard as written. What Is Included Five days of instruction and assessment, directed by a Kayak Tripping Instructor Trainer A minimum of two instructors on the course, as ORCKA requires The multi night trip, including group camping fees and permits Your place on the course group site for nights on shore Online learning dashboard, open from the moment you register and yours to keep Assessment and certification against the ORCKA standard, including one retest within twelve months Not included ORCKA membership and certification fees, paid directly to ORCKA Personal paddling and camping kit. Valley sea kayaks and drysuits can be rented, towlines cannot Food. You plan and pack your own, which is part of the assessment Travel to and from the Saugeen Peninsula Equipment Bring gear that fits you and that you already trip in. You will be demonstrating with it, teaching from it, and living out of it for several nights. Sea kayak with at least two sealed bulkheads and a closed cockpit, able to carry a full trip load Drysuit or immersion clothing appropriate to May on the Saugeen PFD and spray deck that you paddle in regularly Towline with a one-handed quick release. Bring your own, we do not rent these Spare paddle, pump, whistle, knife and a 15 metre buoyant heaving line Compass, charts, and repair kit, and whatever else you actually use to plan Full tripping kit: tent, sleeping system, stove, cookset, dry bags, and food for the trip Travelling in? Hauling a loaded sea kayak across the province is often not worth it. We have Valley sea kayaks and drysuits available to rent with your course. Book early so we can get you into the boat, loaded, before the trip starts. If cost is the obstacle rather than distance, email info@kayak-ontario.com and we will work something out offline. Who It Is For Paddlers with real tripping mileage who want to pass it on. Camp and school outdoor education staff running multi day kayak trips. Guides and trip leaders who have been doing the work for years and want the credential that matches it. Anyone building toward Kayak Tripping Instructor 2. Good to Know Your online dashboard opens as soon as you register, and the pre-course reading is expected before you arrive. The trip runs in weather. Wind and rain are part of the assessment, not a reason to stand down. We only stop for lightning or genuine safety risk. Evenings on trip are working time. Lesson planning and debriefs happen at camp. Route and campsites are chosen to suit the group and the forecast, and may change during the course. That flexibility is part of the learning. Certification is issued by ORCKA. Membership and certification fees are paid to them directly and are separate from the course fee. Certification. Successful candidates earn ORCKA Kayak Tripping Instructor 1, or a Letter of Attendance. After this → Kayak Tripping Instructor 2 extends your authority to Kayak Tripping Level 2 and requires an existing instructor certification plus substantially more logged wilderness experience. We are glad to map out what that takes. Questions I have the mileage but I have never kept a log. Am I out? No. Write it down as an attestation: each trip, roughly when, where, how many nights, roughly how far, and what your role was. Add a name and contact for someone who was on one of them, and sign it. Then we will have a conversation about a couple of those trips. Most recreational trippers have never logged anything, and we are not going to pretend that means the experience did not happen. Email us for the template. I hold Paddle Canada certifications rather than ORCKA. Do I qualify? Paddle Canada Sea Kayak Level 2 Skills or higher is accepted as the equivalent certification for the paddling and water component. The tripping experience requirement applies either way, because a skills certificate evidences boat handling rather than trip leadership. Send us what you hold along with your log or attestation and we will confirm before you pay for anything. Do I need to have taught before? No. There is no instructor certification or teaching log required to enrol. What is required is that you can teach by the end of it. This certificate lets you certify other people, so the assessment is on your teaching as much as your paddling. What are the conditions like? Kayak Tripping Level 2 conditions: winds to around 15 knots, waves ideally 0.8 metres and not exceeding 1.2, breaking near shore or obstructions, less frequent landings, and up to about 3 km from shore. In Paddle Canada terms that is class 1 water. Loaded boats, which changes everything about how they handle. Where do we camp? On the course group site for nights on shore, and at trip campsites for the multi night portion. Bring your own tent and sleeping system. Group camping fees and permits for the trip are included in your fee. What happens if I do not pass everything? You need a Pass in every item, or all but one which may be graded Weak. One retest is available within twelve months, covering only the items you did not clear. If the standard is not met, you receive a Letter of Attendance. You will know where you stand well before the last day rather than finding out afterwards. Does this lead to employment with Kayak Ontario? No, and we would rather be straight about it. We are small, and when work comes up it is posted publicly. Most people who leave this course go on to lead trips for camps, schools, and outfitters, or for themselves. We are glad to see it, including when they become our competition. Training instructors properly is the point. We acknowledge that our courses on the Saugeen Peninsula take place on the traditional territories of the Anishinaabewaki, the Odawa, and the Mississauga peoples, as well as the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, the Chippewas of Saugeen First Nation and the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation. This land is covered by Treaty 45 ½, signed in 1836. We are grateful for the deep connections that the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation at Neyaashiinigmiing continue to hold with these lands and waters. This acknowledgement, accompanied by action, includes contributions to Indigenous-led organizations that make a lasting impact.