Let’s go for a paddle!

Club trips are the heart of WAKE. They are how we explore this beautiful part of the world with new friends and old, all while learning valuable skills.

To help ensure WAKE club trips are well run and that people are prepared, we require everyone to show they have basic safety skills and basic gear before joining a club trip. And only approved trip leaders can organize and lead club trips.

See below for information about what is required for participants and leaders alike, and how to become a trip leader.

It’s important to stress that WAKE is not a guide service. You are ultimately responsible for yourself, your decisions and your safety. Trip leaders are here to facilitate safe trips, but they are not guides.

Trip Participant Requirements

1.       Before registering for a WAKE trip, you must be certified as having demonstrated two skills to a WAKE trip leader – a wet exit; and righting and getting back into a capsized boat with some assistance in the form of having the boat stabilized (commonly known as an assisted rescue). This skill certification needs to happen just once for members. You can’t register for a trip on the website until your certification has been added to your membership by a website administrator. So get it done soon!

We will host sessions to enable people to get the certified either in a swimming pool or on the water. If you need certification and a session isn’t scheduled, contact a board member to arrange an individual certification. On a case-by-case basis a trip leader can agree to meet with someone before a trip to certify them.

NOTE: These are the minimum safety skills for any WAKE trip. Trip leaders may require people have more skills depending on the trip.

Gear requirements:

• Seaworthy kayak: Kayak that will float when fully flooded (e.g. watertight bulkheads with hatch covers in good condition or working floatbags)
• Spray skirt
• Paddle
• Personal flotation device (PFD)
• Clothing appropriate for improving the chance of surviving immersion in the water in which the trip is happening (e.g. a wetsuit or drysuit for cold water).
•  Any accessory needed to get back into your boat during an assisted rescue (stirrup, paddle float, etc.)

NOTE: This is the basic gear list for any WAKE trips. Trip leaders may require additional gear for a specific trip, and each participant is responsible for determining what additional gear they might need.

For more information about trip participation requirements, see this link: Trip Participation Requirements

Trip Leaders

To lead/initiate a WAKE trip, people will need to be approved as trip leaders by a leadership committee, made up of club members selected by the board who have demonstrated strong trip-leading capabilities. For more information about trip leader requirements and how to become a trip leader, see this link: Trip Leadership Rules & Requirements

Trip Initiation (Who gets to organize a WAKE trip?)  

Only approved trip leaders will be authorized to initiate a club trip. That includes any trip listed on the WAKE event website calendar.

Anyone who is not an authorized trip leader but is looking for company on a personal paddle can use the “Short Notice” Google Groups to alert people. There will be a disclaimer that these trips are NOT official WAKE trips.  

For more information about trip initiation, see this link: Trip Initiation Rules