GUEST INSTRUCTOR CLINICS

Each season we bring a few of the top kayak, canoe and swiftwater rescue instructors from around the country to the Deerfield River to teach special topic clinics.  These guest instructors are nationally known and respected in their fields.  Their depth of knowledge and enthusiasm for their topics make their classes both dynamic and informative.

For the 2008 season we are sponsoring three guest instructor clinics:

• 4-day ACA Swiftwater Rescue Instructor Certification with Mike Mather

Mike Mather is an ACA certified Swiftwater Rescue instructor trainer with over 20 years of rescue experience in West Virginia, Colorado and around the country. He has taught classes around the world by request, has experience with teaching courses for the military and has set up high rise construction site rope safety. He is a wizard with ropes and provides some of the best river rescue instruction in the United States.

 

• 2-day River Rescue Workshop with Charlie Walbridge

For over 40 years Charlie Walbridge has been actively involved in whitewater as a racer (top ten in slalom and wildwater in the 1970’s), equipment and safety technique innovator, business owner (Wildwater Designs Ltd. 1972-1995), instructor, author, conservation advocate, speaker, expert witness and avid paddler to this day. Approachable, humble, and always friendly, Charlie has probably done more than any other person to promote river safety and develop standards and rescuer techniques almost since the beginning of whitewater as a sport.