Ottawa Kayarafting Adventure

You don’t need any previous river experience or training.

To participate, you need to be:

• Age 14 and up (age 10 and up for private groups)
• Physically active, with average swimming ability
• Free of COVID symptoms, with no history of contact with somebody who screened positive or was presumptive positive with the past 14 days.

COVID Precautions

We built this program from the ground up with COVID in mind: it’s 100% outside; with physical distancing throughout; clean gear; and no need for group transport.

The specific training sites and equipment that we’ve chosen allow you to ‘self-rescue’—with your skilled instructors nearby to coach you along and help you if you need it—while maintaining physical distancing.

NOTE: If you need to cancel because of a reason related to COVID, or if we have to postpone because of COVID, you’ll get a full credit to repeat the program anytime in the next 18 months—or you can give the credit to a friend.

Pre-screening

Before your session, we’ll screen you as well as all of the other participants and instructors. Screening questions include:

• In the last 14 days, have you had close contact with an individual who has tested positive for COVID-19 or is presumptive positive for COVID-19?
• In the past 14 days, have you experienced:
  • Fever over 37.8°C / 100°F? Persistent cough? A loss of smell or taste?
• In the past 14 days, have you experienced new or worsening:
  • Sore throat, runny nose, nasal or sinus congestion?
  • Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing?
  • Fatigue? Headache? Muscle aches?
  • Confusion?
  • Nausea, vomiting or diarrhea?

If you screen ‘positive’, we’ll ask for further clarification, and we may ask that you get medical clearance before you can join the program

Upon arrival

When you arrive at the meeting location, your instructor or Boreal River staff will screen you independently for symptoms and risk factors.

We’ll have an area dedicated for this, away from the main meeting area.

Any participants who screen positive will be given a credit for a later date.

Transmission prevention

• The whole experience takes place outside
• We’ll maintain distancing between people at all times
• Please arrive wearing a mask—we can remove them once we’ve screened everybody and have discussed the 2m distancing guidelines
• For safety reasons, we won’t wear masks around the river but we will maintain physical distancing (people who live with each other don’t need to distance)
• We supply an outdoor hand-washing station and the meeting location with soap and clean water
• Please bring your mask in a case (such as a ziplock bag) and a small bottle of hand sanitizer on the river—we’ll provide you with a small drybag to keep it in that you can clip into your boat
• No sharing snacks or supplies, unless it is with somebody you live with
• Please avoid touching your face (especially your eyes, nose, and mouth)
• If you need to sneeze or cough, cover your face with your upper arm

The safety of everybody in the group is always our number one priority. The most important factor is our instructors’ years of experience, training, and knowledge of the river.

Many people think of whitewater as extreme. But in fact, with the right approach to decision making, we have a lot of control. Throughout the day, as you learn about how the river works, you’ll see that whitewater is 100% predictable.

Safety practices

• The Ottawa Kayarafting Adventure always has a minimum of two river instructors—no matter how small the group
• Our instructors have extensive and current industry-leading safety credentials and certification. Every trip has a minimum of 2 guides with Wilderness First Responder (an 80-hour medical course) and Whitewater Rescue Technician certification—As well, many of our instructors teach those disciplines
• Each trip carries 2 cell phones. They are always carried by the guides in separate waterproof containers in different boats
• Each trip carries an extensive first aid kit, river safety equipment, and an AED (defibrillator)
• All activities are ‘challenge by choice’. It is up to you if you want to participate in a given activity

Of course, river travel and whitewater paddling have inherent risks. We ask that you read through and sign our Liability Release Form before you arrive.

Please contact us if you have questions about safety. It’s one of our specialties and we enjoy talking about it. As lifelong wilderness travellers, our guides feel more safe on a river than they do on city streets—and our primary goal is that we want you to feel the same way!

What to expect

Experience paddling and swimming in rapids and learn how to ‘read’ the river.

Get an understanding of key safety concepts so you can recognize danger and make good decisions on and around moving water.

For groups—this is a great way to bond during an active, outdoor adventure while maintaining distancing from those outside your ‘bubble’.

We’ll outfit you with your own packraft, which is a lightweight inflatable kayak. These boats are great for learning because they’re stable and easy to steer.

You’ll gain a foundation that’ll allow you to safely expand into more river activities, from wilderness canoe trips, to packrafting expeditions, to fishing around rapids, and more!

Prep

• Register and pay online
• Start your learning with a 30 minute online mini-course with videos, a safety briefing, and sign your digital waiver

Your day on the river

• Go to Brébeuf Park, in Gatineau (minutes from downtown Ottawa). There’s free parking and it’s accessible by bike path
• Your session goes from 9:00am to 1:30pm
• Meet your instructors (please arrive 15 minutes early)
• Your instructor will ask you some COVID screening questions
• Meet the group and intros
• Suit up with top-quality gear that we’ll provide for you
• There are nearby public bathrooms and changing areas
• You’ll get right into the action and into the water!
• We won’t take a long lunch break but we’ll do a couple of 15-20 minute breaks to refuel (bring your food and water bottle) and use the bathroom
• The 4.5 hours will fly by

TOPICS COVERED

Skills

• Swim in whitewater
• Shallow water crossing techniques (wading)
• Paddle rapids by packraft (inflatable kayak)
• Whitewater maneuvers
• Surf waves (or at least attempt to!)
• Inflatable kayak self-rescue (flip and get back in)
• Intro to technical safety gear: whitewater PFD, knife, whistle

Knowledge

• River hydrology (understanding the water moves…so you can ‘read’ rapids) and basic terminology
• River hazards and decision making
• Internationally recognized river signals (hand and whistle)
• Safety principles
• How to safely ‘rig’ (tie stuff in) to a boat

• 4.5 hours of professional instruction with 2 Boreal River Rescue instructors and up to 10 participants
• 30 minute online learning (to complete beforehand)—you can do it on your phone—covering river hydrology and whitewater safety principles
• Equipment provided:
  • inflatable whitewater kayak (self-bailing) and paddle
  • helmet and PFD (lifejacket)
  • small drybag (to store your lunch, water, hand sanitizer, etc.)
  • Wetsuit:
    • From June 15^th to Sept 1: summer-wetsuit (1mm) top and bottom
    • Before June 15 and after Sept 1: 4mm wetsuit

The weather and water temperature in the summer in Ottawa are warm.

We’ll provide you with a summer-wetsuit (1mm) top and bottom. It’s a good idea to bring at least one complete layer of merino wool or synthetic clothing to wear under your wetsuit

Remember: avoid cotton—it doesn’t dry and doesn’t insulate when it’s wet.

Please also bring a pair of surf shorts or quick-dry shorts to wear over your wetsuit—they’ll help protect our wetsuits when you sit!

Your packing checklist:

• Face mask (we wear these when we first meet, until we’ve screened everybody and reviewed COVID safety—we don’t wear them on the water for safety reasons and because we can maintain distancing)
• Small bottle of hand sanitized (70% alcohol content)
• Water bottle with 1L of water*
• Food for snacks / lunch*
• Sunscreen
• Optional: sunglasses or prescription glasses (If you wear glasses—please bring a strap, or the river may take them!)
• Closed-toe shoes that you can get wet (lightweight trail running shoes or running shoes are best)
• Long-sleeved quick-dry shirt
• Long underwear or tights
• Undergarments, sports bra
• Surf shorts / bathing shorts (please wear these over the wetsuit to protect the wetsuit when you sit)
• If you get cold easily, you can “layer up” some more with thicker layers of merino wool or fleece (no cotton)
• Change of clothes and footwear for your way home and a bag for your wet clothes

*Arrive hydrated, caffeinated (if that’s your thing), and well fed with a proper breakfast