Sea Kayak Certification question

Advice
#1

I have a friend in the Philippines who is thinking about coming to the US for “Sea Kayak Instructor certification”.



Are there any good schools that can help him out? Any on the west coast. Any ideas as to total cost?



He is an advanced kayaker and is interested in teaching and developing courses in the Philippines.

#2

start with which org
There are 2 certifying organizations:

American Canoe Association (http://www.americancanoe.org/)

British Canoe Union (http://www.bcuna.com/)



Some discussions (arguments) about which is better, so figuring out which he wants to be certified to would be the start. Pacific Northwest seems to be BCU, SF Bay has been more ACA (though BCU is coming on strong).



Once that is set, there are lots of places that could certify him.


#3

Having been though both, the

– Last Updated: Nov-11-08 4:54 PM EST –

time frames to become a certified instructor/coach is much quicker through the ACA than the BCU. Very different certification processes. You can go through a IDW/ICE in a six day period or less depending on certification level in the ACA scheme.

#4

You could
talk to Jen Kleck at Aqua Adventures, San Diego.



http://www.aqua-adventures.com/

#5

Chris Mitchell

– Last Updated: Nov-11-08 6:54 PM EST –

and I run ACA instructor cert courses in Washington. Chris is here (falcon) or at www.secondwindsports.net

take 6 days (3 + 3 with some time between) costs somewhere around $600+ get you an ACA Coastal instructor cert, if you pass!

steve

#6

Betw the two…

– Last Updated: Nov-11-08 7:00 PM EST –

ACA and BCU - In many ways the BCU program as currently configured can be argued to provide better training in the process or theory of teaching, but the problem is that the route is longer. Your friend may need something closer to the ACA in/out in a concentrated time span because of his own time considerations. How long can he be over here?

In order to enter the instructor track for a level that would say the BCU agrees your friend can go back and independently teach kayaking, he first has to obtain a personal award (called a star award) for his own skills that would likely need to be 3 levels up the ladder. With the new structure that may be more time-consuming than he can make the time to do. And there is some time required to observe classes, help certed coaches and that kind of thing even once in the coach track - it may not be something that can be shortcut.