A few years ago a kayaker named Sam complained to me that though both the ACA and BCU have instructor training programs, those programs do not necessarily train you to be a guide. Now, Sam is a professional guide, but I think that many if not most of the skills of a professional guide are also needed by amateur guides -- in other words, leader and organizers of both personal trips and club trips. What brought Sam's comment to mind is a sea kayaker I know who has ACA and (I think) BCU instructor training, who nonetheless has on several occasions shown poor judgement by leading club trips in conditions that were beyond the capabilities of some of the participants. Two trips resulted in capsizes and/or tows, while on another trip the leader felt compelled to use his tow line to help participants land through surf. In my opinion, those paddlers should not have been taken out in the first place in conditions that they could not handle by themselves. What do you think? Does instructor training also equip one to be a guide, or is that a separate, if related, discipline that deserves its own program? Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Feb 16 1998 - 09:06:56 PST
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