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Canoe and Kayak Committee

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Getting Started in Canoeing & Kayaking

          The information on this page is intended to help you get started canoeing or kayaking with the New York-North Jersey Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club. We hope that the canoe and kayak trips you see in our online schedule or in the Chapter Schedule are interesting and inviting, and that you will come paddle with us. This Canoeing Page tells you a bit about what to expect. It touches on how the trips are organized, how much a trip will cost, how to register, why we ask for so much information, what the trip ratings mean, the instruction courses we offer and how to get more information.

          If you love being in the outdoors, paddling a canoe or kayak is an activity that you probably will enjoy. For beginners, and for those who just want to enjoy the outdoors and nature away from the crowds, there are wonderfully remote and easy canoeing rivers and streams in the Pinelands of Southern New Jersey. If you'd like more excitement, there are more complex streams in Northern New Jersey and still more challenging whitewater rivers in New York and New England.

          You do not need to own your own canoe or kayak to paddle with us. We have a fleet of over 30 canoes and kayaks that we rent to our members and guests at very reasonable rates. Our fleet includes standard tandem open canoes as well as the latest designs in high performance solo open canoes, kayaks and C-1's. We may ask you to cartop boats if we can't find driver to tow one of our canoe trailers, or you can rent canoes or kayaks from this list of Where To Rent Canoes & Kayaks.

          The NY-NoJ Chapter of the AMC has the organization, the equipment, and the dedicated people to help you get into canoeing or kayaking. All you need is the desire and initiative to start paddling.

Canoe & Kayak Trips

          Our canoe and kayak trips are planned and run by volunteer leader/members of the AMC who paddle. Your leader may be wearing a PaddleSport Leader Patch like the one on the right, or a Canoeing and Kayaking Cap like on the left, both of which have been awarded to our volunteer leaders in recognition of their contribution of time and expertise.

          Most of our events are two-day weekend trips and are a combination of paddling and social activity. Several hours during the day on Saturday are spent on the river - don't forget to bring your lunch. The night is spent at a group campsite. Both Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast are community meals. The trip leader makes arrangements for the camping, plans the menu and provides the food. Chores are assigned by the trip leader, and tasks are shared by all participants.

          The campground socializing, often around a cozy campfire, is a wonderful way to get to know your new paddling friends in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.

          On Sunday, a different section or a different river is usually paddled for several more hours. Remember a lunch for Sunday, too.

Conservation

          On all of our canoe and kayak trips we try to minimize the damaging impact that we have on the river, lake or stream and any camping area. The Canoe & Kayak Committee has established a Conservation Policy Statement that all paddlers are encouraged to follow while on the river or at a campsite. In addition, for several years we have been participating in the Annual National River Cleanup by cleaning up several local rivers. We have some suggestions for river cleanup trip leaders online as well as reports on our local cleanup trips for the past few years.

          In May 1996, along with many local civic organizations, we were part of a project to help local residents cleanup a several block section of the Bronx River near the Bronx Zoological Park, in New York City. More than 40 AMC members, including about 20 paddlers, helped remove thousands of pounds of trash from the river, and assisted more than 100 local residents clear and begin landscaping several acres near West Farms School for a mini park on the riverbank.

Canoe & Kayak Trip Costs

          The cost of a canoe or kayak trip depends on several factors. The average cost of a weekend trip for a beginner paddling tandem in a Club canoe is about $43. Some trips may cost as much as $60, others as little as $20. The cost will depend on whether Club, private livery canoes, or personal boats are used, distance to river, meals prepared, camping fees, and leaders' expenses.

          For Instruction Courses, there is a flat fee - the fee for each course is shown in the regular Schedule. They generally cost a little more than regular cruising trips.

Club Equipment: - The Club owns many canoes and kayaks, paddles, life jackets, spray skirts, and community camping and cooking equipment. Go to our Club Boats for Rent Page to see the canoes and kayaks that we currently have available for rent. Many beginner trips use a Club canoe trailer, but it is often less costly, and more convenient, for the participants to cartop the canoes on their vehicles.

Personal Equipment: - Like most sports, you can buy lots of specialized clothes and other equipment for boating. However, to get started, the general outdoor activity gear which you may already have for hiking, backpacking or bicycling, etc., is often quite suitable.

Camping Equipment: - Unless a specific trip is identified as a one-day event, you will need personal camping equipment, such as a tent, a sleeping bag, and an air or foam sleeping pad. If you don't have personal camping equipment, leaders may allow you to participate for a single day.

Registering For A Trip

          The number of people on novice canoe and kayak trips may be limited by the number of boats which can be transported, or by the leader's desire to maintain the quality of the experience by limiting the group's size. Trips often fill soon after they appear in the Chapter Schedule; so if a few trips interest you, you should sign up for them as early as you can.

          In the Schedule, our trips are rated for difficulty from the easiest, "quiet water" (QW), and Class 1 whitewater (CL 1) to the most difficult whitewater that we schedule (CL 4). Please don't try to register for trips well above your ability. Read more about this on the Canoe & Kayak Schedule page.

          A registration deposit is always required, but it is refunded unless you cancel late. The amount of the deposit for each trip is listed in the trip description. The deposit is used to help the leader with the expenses of arranging the trip, such as phone calls, postage, camping reservations and food purchases for community meals. It may also be used to pay the Club for rental and transportation of a boat which can't be used when you don't show.

          In addition to the deposit, your registration should also include your name, phone number, the trip name, your paddling experience, and a Self Addressed, Stamped Envelope (SASE). The trip leader uses your SASE to send you the information you need to go on the trip. This "Dope Sheet" contains specific information about when and where to meet, how to get there, who is offering rides, who needs a ride, and more.

Canoe & Kayak Instruction Courses

          The Club offers a complete series of canoeing and kayaking courses, from raw beginner to advanced whitewater skills. There are several Basic Instruction Courses given each year to introduce novices to paddlesport. Beginning in late winter and lasting into early spring, we offer pool paddling sessions at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) pool in Newark, NJ. See our schedule for more information.

          At a basic course we teach the elements of paddling strokes, launching, landing, and how to handle the canoe and/or kayak on calm water. In addition you'll learn how to carry a boat, load and unload canoes from a trailer or car top without hurting yourself, and lots of stuff about canoeing equipment and clothing to wear.

          On our regular trips, if the leader knows that you would like some informal instruction, they will try to pair you with an experienced paddler who can help you.

          We teach canoeing and kayaking with the intent of improving the skill levels of all of our paddlers and leaders. In addition to the Basic course, we also have canoe and kayak courses for Novice, Intermediate and Advanced whitewater paddling, solo paddling, and Safety and Rescue. For more details on the content of our courses, take a look at our Canoe & Kayak Course Descriptions.

          Our courses help you to become a better paddler, and we have a paddler rating system to help leaders match the skills of the paddlers to the difficulty of the rivers. Our paddler rating system is based on the evaluation of paddlers by their peers - your paddling companions. It is keyed to the International Scale of River Difficulty and we rate paddlers from Class 1 to Class 4. Basically, when you can comfortably paddle Class II rivers, you are rated as a Class 2 paddler, and so on. You get evaluated by your peers by attending courses, and on regular trips, by asking paddlers who are rated higher than you, to observe your paddling and to complete a "RATING FORM" for you. Rating Forms are distributed at training courses, and some leaders may have Forms, but it is best if you have some of your own.

• Paddler Rating Form - Sea Kayak
• Paddler Rating Form - Canoe/Kayak

          Many of our instructors are American Canoe Association (ACA) Certified Canoeing or Kayak Instructors, and all of them are volunteers. They donate their time to teach you, because other AMC volunteers took the time to teach them, and they are returning the favor.

Getting More Information

          The Canoe & Kayak Committee publishes a complete paddler's guide called THE FEATHERS. It's now online.

          THE FEATHERS includes a lot more information on registering for a canoe or kayak trip, going on a trip, what to wear, how to do things, and Canoe & Kayak Committee policies that affect paddlers. In fact, it probably contains the answers to many questions that you don't know you should ask.

          We also publish -

          - our Canoe & Kayak Committee newsletter. When you become an active paddler, you automatically get it every other month.

          For more information about our canoeing and kayaking program, contact the Canoe & Kayak Committee Chair.

Contact information for committee members can be found on the Chapter Committee page.

Come Paddle With Us

          You can paddle with us as a guest of an AMC member/paddler, but to paddle regularly and receive our publications, you have to be a member of the AMC.

• To join us, get a copy of our online AMC Membership Application.
• The application form includes all the information that you need, but you can also read about the membership options.

Join Us On Our Trips and Events

• To join us on our trips or for training you have to be a member or guest of the AMC. To request any membership option, get a copy of our online AMC Membership Application.
• The application form includes all the information that you need, but you can also read about the membership options.