Dates: April 15 to 19

Location: Anglesey, North Wales

Description: This five-day training program, which includes the ONTP course, will cover the necessary elements of leadership, group safety and seamanship skills, as well as developing personal performance as set out in the BCU 5 Star Sea syllabus. This award is intended for paddlers who journey and lead others on the sea in areas where tidal races, headlands, open crossings, swell and challenging coastlines will be encountered. Completion of the training course will lead to a personalized action plan in preparation for the BCU 5 Star assessment.

Open Water Navigation and Tidal Planning – The aim of this one-day classroom based training programme is to give participants the necessary tools to plan and navigate effectively on open water journeys in advanced sea conditions. It is suitable for paddlers wishing to improve their seamanship knowledge and ocean awareness in order to undertake challenging journeys that may include islands over 2 nautical miles offshore in areas of strong tidal movement of 3+ knots and/or winds of up to force 5. This course is designed to compliment areas covered in the BCU 5 Star Sea Award training and is a prerequisite for the BCU 5 Star Sea Assessment.

The 5 Star Sea training program aims to cover the following:

Personal Paddling Skills

• Launching and landing
• Efficient forward paddling
• Effective maneuvering and boat control
• Navigation on the water and in poor visibility
• A range of self-rescues
• Rolling in rough water

Rescue Skills

• Application of appropriate rescue skills
• Different towing methods

Safety, Leadership and Group Skills

• Application of leadership principles
• Leadership strategies, judgement and decision making
• Safety awareness and risk management
• Group control and management tactics
• Paddler welfare and community building
• Incident management

Theory

• Equipment
• Safety (includes coastguard and rescue services)
• Weather
• Hypothermia/ First aid
• Access
• Planning
• Group awareness and management
• Navigation
• General (and historical)
• Leadership responsibilities
• Water features/hazards

Prerequisites: BCU 4 Star Award or the ‘old’ Level 3 Sea Award.

BCU Information: For syllabus details, visit the BCU website.

Contact: For more information, course fees or to register, e-mail info@greenlandorbust.org.