My girlfriend and I were both interested in doing this, but the cost is prohibitive for us as well (both in grad school). Are there any plans to do shorter courses? I used to be a surf instructor, so I know how much more useful more time can be, but we just can't afford the 2-day for now.
Thanks for your inquiry, I'll try my best to explain the situation. Kumsheen does a 12 commercial guide training, which gives you a basic training for navigating river, they end up doing another month of training before they can take customers down river on their own. The 2 day Level 1 Course is a very condensed version of the 12 day, we also offer Level 2 and 3 courses, to increase your knowledge on river navigation and river rescue.
As for the price, it's a deal compared to what companies charge in the USA. Basically Kumsheen is doing this course as a favour to me because I worked for them in the 90's, it's hardly worthwhile for them. Due to liability insurance (which is $3000/year) I would have to charge way more to do it on my own! Kumsheen is charging the same amount as their 2 day trip and that's without any instruction! What price is your life worth?
I personally have to take time off my real job to do these courses, but I'm passionate on educating other on how to safely navigate rivers. We've had several people in our course tell us about their near death experiences of flipping on log jams, and swimming under logs, other being rescued by Chilliwack Search and Rescue. I heard of at least 2 boats flipping on the lower Chilliwack river last winter/spring, one being a guided trip! The lower Chilliwack is a VERY easy section of river, if you have the basic navigational skills. I find it absurd that commercial raft guides require training to take customer down, but fishing guides don't! 2 days is the absolute shortest course to give people the basic skills to get them safely down easy rivers. Rivers are not "moving lakes" or oceans, when situations happen on rivers you need the knowledge to react quickly and what to do in certain situations. Learning basic navigation will prevent near death experiences, and you'll be able to enjoy the experience and not be afraid of easy rapids and bridge pillars!
If there was enough interest I could do a 3 to 3 1/2 lecture on river features, hazards, safety equipment and the fundementals of basic navigation and rescue. I wouldn't be able to do anything on rivers due to liability issues, but could do some dry land stuff.
So if anyone is interested in a 3hr discussion let me know and I'll come up with a cost.
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Topic: River Navigation Course for Sept 9/10 (Read 3527 times)