Trips

Overview

Trips are the heart of the South Island Whitewater Club's activities and community. During club trips, instructors and river leaders will work to engage paddlers new and old in developing a strong sense of mutual trust through navigating on-river learning opportunities with carefully managed, moderate risk. Trips are also a fun way to meet new people, paddle new stretches of river and old favourites, and help to create a passionate community of paddlers through the South Island Whitewater Club (SIWC).

Instruction is not the primary focus of club trips, as opposed to club courses. River leaders may however offer up some ad-hoc informal tips and tricks. Please accept these little offerings in the spirit they are given — our river leaders want to support your learning and growth through paddling, and help you to build your technique and confidence!

Before each SIWC trip, an informational post will go up on our Facebook and Instagram accounts. Each trip post will describe the nature of the river the trip will take place on and detail what skill levels it is appropriate for. To be able to attend, participants will need to have completed one of the club’s two-day introductory whitewater paddling courses, or be able to demonstrate equivalent paddling knowledge and experience. The club strives to meet appropriate safety ratios between experienced river leaders and new paddlers, so if these ratios are not met, you may be asked to defer your attendance to a later trip in order to ensure your safety, wellbeing, and ability to enjoy your time on the river.

Cost

There are no fees associated with joining in on a club trip. However, participants must be paid members with signed waivers. Whenever needed, rental gear (boats, skirts, drysuits, helmets, PFDs, paddles, etc.) will be available for a fee. Additionally, participants are encouraged to carpool to save on transportation costs and cut down on carbon emissions.

Frequency

The club's goal is to organize one trip per month, year round.

Typical Locations

Our most common day trips are to either the Cowichan, Chemainus, Nanaimo, Sooke, or Koksilah rivers. We sometimes run trips to other rivers too.

Gear Requirements

A full set of whitewater paddling gear including appropriate safety equipment is required for all trip participants. If you do not own a full gear-kit, items may be rented through the club for a fee. If you are unsure or have any concerns about the appropriateness of your gear, please contact the trip organizer ahead of time for advice.

Registration

  • Information about each trip, including a Google Form sign-up for the trip, will typically be posted on the club’s social media pages and sent out through our mailing list a few days prior to the trip.
  • Participants must complete the Google Form provided in the ‘pre-trip information package’ to secure participation.
  • The trip leader will email to confirm your participation 24 to 48 hours prior to the trip, and will also include final trip details in the confirmation email.

Format

Here we provide an outline so you understand the general course of actions over a day of paddling:

  • Meet at time and location specified in the trip confirmation email. The meeting location is typically the take-out.
  • At the take-out you will:
    • Don your paddling gear.
    • Help load boats onto the cars going to the put-in.
    • Hop into a shuttle vehicle and make your way to the put-in.
  • Upon shuttling to the put-in you will:
    • Participant in a safety discussion. This will cover: river hazards, signals, location of safety gear, and assignment of safety roles.
    • Warm-up on the river bank.
    • Put-on and warm up on the river.
  • Have a blast boogieing down some British Columbia whitewater.
  • Congratulate everyone on your amazing paddling skills evident throughout the day at the takeout while changing into dry clothes.
  • Help load boats onto vehicles and shuttle drivers with vehicles parked at the put-in back to their vehicles.
  • Head home, or maybe organize late lunch or dinner with your fellow club members!

Notes

  1. Sanctioned trips versus non-sanctioned trips: Formal club trips are authorized by the club executive, and denoted as such. Club members may wish to organize informal trips between them, but these are not to be considered a South Island Whitewater Club activity.
  2. Please review the SIWC cancellation policy in the unfortunate event of a cancellation.