Recommendations for River Touring Canoe Courses?

[Jmharrick]

All,

My wife and I are looking for a good river touring canoe course to introduce us to whitewater skills and prepare us for a river trip in the future. We are comfortable paddling flatwater, but my wife isn't as adventurous as I am when it comes to trying new, potentially dangerous, things without an instructor.

I found a course offered by NOC which looks to be a good option. (2-Day Tandem & Solo Class I-II River Touring)

Canoe Courses - Nantahala Outdoor Center

Learn how to paddle whitewater in a canoe or improve your techniques in two or four-day courses. Professional instructors for any size group.

noc.com

I was wondering if any members out there have experience with NOC, and if you have recommendations for other courses within a one day drive of the Pittsburgh, PA, area.

Thanks,

-Jake

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Jake, NOC has been known as perhaps the premiere school for whitewater instruction in the USA for over 40 years. You can't go wrong with them.

Member here and old friend and whitewater tandem partner of mine, @TomP, used to work and teach open canoe there and still lives near there. He perhaps could provide relevant info. If you PM him, that will generate an email to him with your message, as he hasn't logged on for a while.

 

[Jmharrick]

Jake, NOC has been known as perhaps the premiere school for whitewater instruction in the USA for over 40 years. You can't go wrong with them.

Member here and old friend and whitewater tandem partner of mine, @TomP, used to work and teach open canoe there and still lives near there. He perhaps could provide relevant info. If you PM him, that will generate an email to him with your message, as he hasn't logged on for a while.

Thanks for the input Glenn. I think I'm going to sign up for the course. I may reach out to Tom as well.

 

[pblanc]

I took more than a half-dozen courses in whitewater canoeing and kayaking at NOC in years past, as well as some private instruction with a couple of the instructors. But the last one was now a good few years back and things might have changed. I used to know quite a few of the instructors but they have all moved on.

Overall, I would rate the instruction as very good. Whitewater instruction is largely done on the Nantahala River which has consistent water flow due to the regular dam releases. The water is pretty cold, at least for most folks.

Since you are in the Pittsburgh area I would look into the Three Rivers Paddling Club. They offer a weekend Spring whitewater clinic each year on the Slippery Rock Creek north of Pittsburgh which is quite worthwhile.

 

[Mark Z]

Since you are in the Pittsburgh area you might check into Riversport in Confluence, PA. https://www.riversportonline.com/
I took a whitewater tandem canoe introductory course from them probably 40 years ago. Although most of the class were in kayaks, the instructor and I were in a tandem canoe. It was a good class but I assume my instructor is no longer there. Their website shows primarily kayak classes (after all this was on the Youghiogheny River at Ramcat rapids) but you could check with them about solo canoe or tandem canoe classes or individual instruction.
I am a member of the Three Rivers Paddling club and know nothing about any whitewater clinic held at Slippery Rock. I suspect it may be under the auspices of one of the other paddling clubs in the area. Some of our members are also members of the other paddling clubs and may know more about a whitewater clinic. You could also check with the Solo Canoe Rendezvous website which is held at Coopers Rock in Western PA each year. A number of those folks are also whitewater paddlers.
A whitewater class is a good idea for anyone who paddles a canoe, after all, one is likely to run into rapids some time.

 

[pblanc]

The TRPC "Slip Clinic" has been held the first weekend of June for many years. For better or worse that has been the same weekend as the Western Pennsylvania Solo Canoe Rendezvous. The Slip Clinic is conducted on the Slippery Rock Creek in McConnells Mill State Park. The event has been hosted by Breakneck Campground in Portersville, PA which is where the clinic participants camp. The campground owners, the Cheesemans have also provided meal service for breakfast Saturday and Sunday and dinner Saturday night at a reasonable fee. The WPSCR is held a short farther north at Cooper's Lake Campground.

TRPC also has a weekend whitewater clinic on the lower Youghiogehny in August known as the Turkey Bash.

TRPC Slip Clinic tentative dates

Breakneck Campground at Cheeseman Farm

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I took more than a half-dozen courses in whitewater canoeing and kayaking at NOC in years past, as well as some private instruction with a couple of the instructors.

Lots of FPM in Indiana, I suppose.

 

[pblanc]

I lived in Tennessee and northeast Pennsylvania when I took most of those courses.

 

[Mark Z]

The TRPC "Slip Clinic" has been held the first weekend of June for many years. For better or worse that has been the same weekend as the Western Pennsylvania Solo Canoe Rendezvous. The Slip Clinic is conducted on the Slippery Rock Creek in McConnells Mill State Park. The event has been hosted by Breakneck Campground in Portersville, PA which is where the clinic participants camp. The campground owners, the Cheesemans have also provided meal service for breakfast Saturday and Sunday and dinner Saturday night at a reasonable fee. The WPSCR is held a short farther north at Cooper's Lake Campground.

TRPC also has a weekend whitewater clinic on the lower Youghiogehny in August known as the Turkey Bash.

TRPC Slip Clinic tentative dates

Breakneck Campground at Cheeseman Farm

Apparently I was confused between the Three Rivers Paddling Club and the Three Rivers Chapter of the WCHA of which I am a member. Sorry about the confusion. The more paddling clubs the merrier.

 

[Jmharrick]

Overall, I would rate the instruction as very good. Whitewater instruction is largely done on the Nantahala River which has consistent water flow due to the regular dam releases. The water is pretty cold, at least for most folks.

Thanks for the info pblanc. I think we are going to go for it.

Since you are in the Pittsburgh area I would look into the Three Rivers Paddling Club. They offer a weekend Spring whitewater clinic each year on the Slippery Rock Creek north of Pittsburgh which is quite worthwhile.

Is this event something a novice would be capable of participating in?

 

[Jmharrick]

might check into Riversport in Confluence, PA. https://www.riversportonline.com/

Thanks Mark Z! I checked out their website and it looks to be all kayak courses. I may reach out and see if they still offer a canoe course.

 

[stevet]

Took 3 days private instruction at NOC many years ago and it was top notch…from all I have heard it’s only gotten better.
If Riversport is still active on the Yough that would be a good option also. Used to hang out there…but again, many moons ago.

 

[pblanc]

Thanks for the info pblanc. I think we are going to go for it.

Is this event something a novice would be capable of participating in?

In past years the Three Rivers Paddling Club has accommodated boaters with little or no whitewater experience so long as they had the necessary equipment. But if you are interested, it would be best to phone the event coordinator. It is probably too early to know who that will be.

Here is some information for the event posted back in 2020:
Slip Clinic info 2020

Beginning boaters (and even intermediate and advanced boaters) usually spend some of Saturday morning on non-moving water doing stroke work. The lower Slippery Rock Creek (below Eckert Bridge) which is a tamer section of the Slip with nothing more than Class II, but still with some nice rapids and that is usually where the beginning boaters are taken. You can read about that section here on the American Whitewater site:

https://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/view/river-detail/2504/main