American Whitewater has a safety code directed specifically to white water boating.
See, http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Wiki/safety:start.
The safety code covers the following subject areas:
- Personal preparation and responsibility
- Boat and equipment preparedness
- Group preparedness and responsibility
- Guidelines for river rescue
- International scale of river difficulty
The safety code, while generally following BSA’s Safety Afloat guidelines and policies, contains additional information and recommendations directed specifically to boating on white water portions of a river.
For instance, the safety code makes the following points important to the safety and well-being of the whitewater boating participants:
- “As river difficulty increases, the danger to swimming paddlers becomes more severe.”
- “As rapids become longer and more continuous, the challenge increases.”
- “There is a difference between running an occasional class IV rapid, and dealing with an entire river of this category.”
- “Allow an extra margin of safety between skills and river ratings when the water is cold or if the river is itself remote and inaccessible.”
Insofar as there have been at least eight reported Scouting deaths (youth and adults) while boating on whitewater since 2005, being as prepared as possible for such an activity (both in the preparation and in the conduct of the activity, while providing sufficient margin for safety) is important to maintain the well-being of the participants.
See, also, this related blog posting on whitewater safety.
Of note, BSA and the American Canoe Association (ACA) in 2016 produced a new “moving water” canoeing/kayaking safety video titled “Reading the Rhythms of Rivers and Rapids”.
Units may order a free copy from the ACA at this link (all units who canoe or kayak on rivers should do so!): https://aca.site-ym.com/?page=BSADVD#
Note also the following from the Guide to Safe Scouting (2018), page 18:
“Self-guided unit trips on Class III whitewater may only be done after all participants have received American Canoe Association or equivalent training for the class of water and type of craft involved. Unit trips on whitewater sections of rivers rated Class IV are only allowed in rafts with a professionally trained guide in each raft. Trips above Class IV are not allowed.”
The above restriction on “trips above Class IV” is new to the Guide to Safe Scouting, in relation to the prior 2014 edition of the Guide.
Safe boating!