PLANNING OFF CAMPUS ACTIVITIES

marine 27 MHz radio
a UHF radio
V-sheet
Chemical light stick (or electronic equivalent, e.g. strobe light)
EPIRB (Note: MAST operates an EPIRB hiring service for all boating recreation activities)
Venues
Venues vary according to the purpose of the activities, the type of equipment/craft being
used, the weather forecast, the level of experience of the students and the qualifications of
the leader.
The leader must trial the trip before leading a student group.
Any canoeing on the sea (excluding sea kayaks), including surfing must be at a fixed location
within 100m of the shore.
Open water paddling on lakes and estuaries, excluding the use of sea kayaks, should be
restricted to within 100m of the shore.
There are restrictions for many venues and access points. In some cases access has been
withdrawn due to overuse.
Leaders should be familiar with regulation and licensing.
Where necessary, permission should be sought from the relevant Land owner or
management agency.
Leave No Wake - A Guide to Minimal Impact Sea Kayaking in Tasmania (Department of
Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment website) practices should be used.
Ratios
Ratios will vary according to, for example, type of craft, venue, skill, age of participants, time of year,
program, weather and qualifications of the leaders.
Ratios for flat water/inland kayaking or canoeing
In adverse weather, the conditions on a large body of inland water can approach those found at sea.
Water temperatures, even in summer, may be much lower than equivalent sea temperatures. Control
of a group can be rapidly lost as conditions deteriorate, and capsizes occur. Under such conditions,
as at sea, it can be difficult to keep the group together unless they are able to respond skilfully and
effectively to instructions.
The acceptable ratio of leader/guide to participants for conducting group kayaking or canoeing
activities on inland water is one to six, or one to eight in double canoes or kayaks.
Supervision should be increased towards a ratio of one to four under the following conditions:
participants have special needs, including behavioural, physical or mental disability
participants are primarily younger children
weather conditions are poor (existing or forecast), with white horses, wind and/or cold water
any planned trip is along a committing shoreline with few safe egress points
Please refer to the online copy of this document (TASED-4-1765), located on the Tasmanian Department
of Education’s website to ensure this version is the most recent. P a g e | 52