[Txoof]

Bill Dvorak's SWR class is good. I took it three seasons ago and we spent almost the entire first day talking abou theory and knots and then spent the next two days getting our asses beat by the river bed as victims and rescuers . The focus of the class was rafting issues. From what I know, Dvorak will taylor the class to the needs of the group. Give his office in Nathrop a call and plan on freezing your ass off sometime in mid may. You don't need a rescue vest for the class. You can trade with someone in the class if you want to try one out. Definitely try out a few and think about some of the safety issues of having one. I use one as a comercial raft guide, but find that for kayaking, it's more of a pain in my ass than actually useful. Probably the most useful feature is the cow tail for rescuing boats and paddles when I'm working with new kayakers.