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Your Instructors
It is really important for your safety on the water that you have properly qualified instructors.
On open water like that around Dalkey Island, the only instructors qualified to take you out is a Level 3 Sea Kayak Instructor or above.
The important word here is ‘sea’ not ‘kayak’. A ‘sea kayak instructor’ has a completely different qualification to a ‘kayak instructor’.
Here's now the structure works...
Level 2 instructors are qualified to teach on flat water. This generally means enclosed water such as harbours or esturies.
After Level 2, instructors are qualified depending on whether they operate on the sea or the river.
A Level 3 Kayak (river) instructor is a totally different qualification to a Level 3 Sea Kayak Instructor. Similarly at Level 4.
To teach on the open sea, an instructor needs to be a Level 3 SEA kayak instructor or above.
Here’s a summary of where the different instructors are allowed to work.
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Areas and conditions in which they can operate (in decreasing order of difficulty)
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Level 4 SEA kayak instructor
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Level 3 SEA kayak instructor
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Level 4 KAYAK instructor
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Level 3 KAYAK instructor
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Level 2 instructor
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Advanced sea
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Yes
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No
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No
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No
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No
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Moderate sea, coastal area
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Yes
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Yes
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No
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No
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No
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Very sheltered water / sheltered tidal areas
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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- Dalkey is an open water coastal area i.e. not sheltered.
- Ratios - a Level 3 or 4 Sea Instructor can take up to 4 students on open water (Bulloch Harbour) or up to 8 students in enclosed water (Dun Laoghaire Harbour).
- Deep Blue - both Sonja Ewen and Des Keaney are Level 4 Sea kayak instructors. Our maximum ratio of instructor/assistant to student from Bulloch Harbour is 1:4. We never put anyone in charge of a group who is less than a Level 3 Sea kayak instructor.
You can check the qualifications of any instructor by calling Canoeing Ireland on 01-6251105.
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