The American Canoe Association (ACA) is the oldest and largest organization devoted to paddlesports and paddling instruction in the U.S. The ACA has standardized several open canoe courses for tandem and solo paddlers and a system of workshop s called IDW and ICE for Instructor Development and Certification in these same disciplines

1. Quick Start your Canoe: A 3 hour flat water course that is designed to expose beginners to the very basic paddling and safety skills necessary to have when paddling on calm and protected water.

2. Introduction to Canoe: A 6 to 8 hour course that is more comprehensive than Quick Start Your Canoe.

3. Essentials of Canoe Touring: This two day course is the foundation of canoe instruction. The core strokes of paddling (those strokes, which make up 20% of the technique, but do 90% of the moves) will be practiced , as well as rescue skills, safety awareness and general knowledge of canoe sport.

4. Freestyle (Advanced Flat Water) Canoeing: (Prerequisite: Recommended to have taken the ACA Essentials of Canoe Touring course or its equivalent and be proficient at paddling a canoe in a straight line). This is a five level course, where a minimum of 6 hours is spent per level. In this class students are introduced to the fundamentals of this elegant form of quiet water paddling. After concentrating on strokes, posture and alignment, kneeling positions and balance the students will progress through the four different quadrants learning the Axle, Christie, and other hallmarks of Freestyle technique.

5.Essentials of River Canoeing: This 2 day course gives river track students a solid and complete foundation in flat water skills (It's where whitewater skills come from) and an introduction to applying them on moving water. In this class students will be exposed to the following skills: moving water techniques, stroke refinement, safety skills, reading water, hazard identification and how to run a river safely.

6. White Water: (Prerequisite: Recommended to have taken the ACA Essentials to River Canoe course and be proficient on moving water). This 2 day course focuses on stroke refinement, safety and the macro and micro-river reading skill necessary to run class II proficiently and safely.