SUP Inland Open Water Leader Training

Course Overview

The British Canoeing Awarding (BCAB) SUP Open Water Leader course will give you the skills required to take groups out on Large lakes and lead SUP journeys on most days of the year. The beautiful lakes of Cumbria are the perfect location for developing your leadership skills on open water. Based in the moderate open water environment (500 meters offshore with up to and including force 4 winds), the SUP Open Water Leader award covers most of the great open water locations in the UK.

 As with all new PaddleUK leadership assessments, you can choose to access the assessment directly without the need for formal training, however we also offer a variety of training options.

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Training 

We run official BCAB / PaddleUk SUP  Open Water Leader training courses over two days and can arrange bespoke training, either 1:1 for your individual needs or as a closed course for your centre or group. 

We look at tools for assessing your group's ability and how to match this information with planning the day and leadership options for individuals in the group. We cover open water group management options for crossings; strategies for making efficient upwind and downwind progress; recap rescue techniques

. All this allows you to choose the options that work best for you and the people you lead in the future. You'll leave the course with plenty of skills to choose from and a clear picture of how to continue developing these skills. With many years of experience leading paddlers on open water, we have loads of tips and tricks to give you to make planning and leading open water journeys slick, fun and relaxing.

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Training Prerequisites

Go paddling! Go and plan and paddle a new journey for yourself, or create some challenging days on open water for yourself. To get the most from the training course, you should be able to paddle in force 3 winds comfortably.

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Assessment

Our aim is to create relaxed, supportive, and friendly assessments that reflect a real day guiding clients. This one day assessment will involve you planning and leading your group on an open water journey on a large lake in force 4 winds. To be successful, you will need to demonstrate your ability to lead the group in an appropriately challenging way for their abilities and aims. We’ll also create opportunities for you to demonstrate that you can rescue yourself and the people you're looking after in an open water setting.

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Assessment Prerequisites

• Full, on the water National Association membership. Click here if you live in England, here if you live in Wales and here if you live in Scotland.

• Register for the course through your membership portal. Click here for registration guidance. 

• Valid (within 3 years) 2- day First Aid Award recognised by British Canoeing Awarding Body

• Valid (within 3 years) Safeguarding Training recognised by British Canoeing Awarding Body

• Minimum age: 16. If you are aged under 18, you will need to be joined by a parent or legal guardian who has also paid to do the course/assessment.

Prerequisites​

Minimum age: 16. If you are aged under 18, you will need to be joined by a parent or legal guardian who is also paying to attend the course.

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Course Documents

Further information available from BCAB here.

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Kit List

• SUP and paddle

• Buoyancy aid

• Dry suits or wetsuit/warm layers 

• Wetsuit boots or thin soled old trainers 

 

We have SUPs, paddles, buoyancy aids and dry suits available to hire if you do not have your own. Please let us know what you need and your size at the time of booking. See our Kit Hire page for pricing.

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Location

We’ll base the course on the lakes of the Lake District. To make the best use of the conditions we’ll choose the lakes based on the wind forecast immediately prior to the course. We'll confirm the meeting point at least 3 days prior to the course. If you are booking accommodation, Kendal or Ambleside are the ideal spots to base yourself.

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What Happens Next?

To develop your paddling further, you may be interested in a bespoke coaching session

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Book Now

To book a place on this course, click above to book and pay for the course, then complete and submit the Booking Form. If the following dates are not suitable, or you want to make a private booking for your club or centre, please get in touch.