WHITEWATER KAYAKING ACA INSTRUCTOR DEVELOPMENT AND CERTIFICATION COURSE Location: Four Corners Riversports, Durango Colorado Dates: Monday-Friday April 27-May 1, 2026 First Day Meeting Location: 8:30 AM Monday, April 28th: Meet behind 4Corners Riversports Example Schedule: Daily roughly 8:30 am- 7:00 pm. The last day finishes 4 pm. Cost: $650 (plus ACA instructor membership $40.00) Prerequisite Skills: Class II-III paddling skills are required along with a solid river roll. Bring a boat you will use for teaching. (A creek or river running boat is required). Course Description: This intensive course is for those looking to develop their personal paddling skills and become a certified whitewater kayak instructor. The 40+ hour course is focused on the latest technical knowledge, terminology, teaching skills, personal paddling skills, and safety awareness in a swiftwater teaching environment. This course helps you work on personal and interpersonal development and pushes you to build skills and knowledge through peer feedback, video analysis, and lectures. We combine practical on-water demonstrations and presentations with real-world scenarios that will equip you to deal with teaching this multifaceted sport as a professional. This course sets the industry standard for instruction in paddle sports. The ACA instructor certification process is broken up into two core components: the Instructor Development Workshop (IDW), and Instructor Certification Exam (ICE). The IDW presents students with the skills and knowledge that are required to become an instructor. The ICE is an opportunity for each candidate to demonstrate his/her proficiency in the presentation (logical progression) and demonstration (proper modeling) of the skills, and knowledge necessary for certification. Level 4 Whitewater Kayak: This is an instructor development workshop and an instructor certification exam (IDW/ICE) for level 4 Whitewater. ACA courses are structured for several levels of certification: Level 2 Essentials of River Paddling, Level 3 River Kayaking, and L4 Whitewater. Our courses are targeted at instructors who expect to be teaching on whitewater. The L4 Whitewater Instructor Criteria is demanding, and relatively few candidates achieve this on their first try unless they have extensive technical whitewater backgrounds. So not everyone will receive “Full” L4 whitewater instructor certification, especially if this is their first exposure to formal paddling instruction. No worries! There are means for upgrading within the ACA system. Course Questions: Contact Instructor: Dave Bumgarner INSTRUCTOR UPDATE: If you hold a current certification and only need to renew then sign up for the Instructor Update. Work for 4CRS Paddle School! After the instructor course, there is potential for hire at the 4CRS Paddle School! If you are hired and commit through at least the middle of August you will get 50% of your class back!! For more questions or job inquiries email Ashleigh at [email protected]
