The ACA’s Community Paddlesports Leader (CPL) certification courses equip paddlers with the trip planning and leadership skills to provide safe and enjoyable trips with a variety of craft in environments suitable for beginner and novice paddlers. The certification is an entry point for new leaders and provides a foundation for the ACA’s Leadership and Guide certification programs. Therefore, it is appropriate for camps, outdoor non-profit staff, club and meetup leaders, or any other paddler who wants to safely lead others on paddling outings.
The course is offered in two formats, a Leader Certification course for paddlers who have already passed an ACA Level 1 or Level 2 Skills Assessment, and a hybrid course format which includes both skills assessment and leadership certification. The Leader Certification course format is suitable for paddlers who have already demonstrated technical paddling skills and knowledge while the hybrid format may be preferred by organizations who need to train and certify new staff.
Leader Candidates will focus on developing the competencies necessary to lead a variety of paddlecraft in sheltered environments from the paddlecraft they completed their skills assessment. They can extend the craft they lead from by completing additional skills assessments.. This includes protected waterways such as lakes, slow-moving rivers, estuaries, and protected coastal areas, all within 0.25 miles from shore with access to simple launch and landing locations. The outlined conditions in the course location are the operating conditions for a certified Community Paddlesports Leader. That also applies to size of the group, where a certified CPL follows the same maximum ratio for Leader Trainers.