ISA Open Water SUP Instructor Course in Pembrokeshire

Exposed water and farm classroom blocks fill two days, usually 9.30am to 5pm, with breaks. Most of the second day is a lesson you run, a venue analysis and a recap of the plan.

Day one starts 15 minutes before registration. The water venue is confirmed the evening before if you are not starting at the farm.

Sixteen. You should already hold the ISA Flat Water SUP instructor award. Under 18s can hold this award but must work under an instructor who is 18 or over until they turn 18.

You need to be swim fit and already paddle well enough to stand, turn and stop on open water without a coach holding the board. An open-water aquatic rescue award sits around this course before the certificate is fully valid.

Day one usually starts at Gupton Farm, Castlemartin, SA71 5HW. Turn right off the main road, follow the drive, then park by the wood-clad containers and the farmhouse-style building on the left. Toilets are in the building.

Water sessions use more exposed stretches around Tenby, Stackpole or the open coast when those venues suit the wind. The pin comes the evening before if day two starts on the water rather than at the farm.

Training with an ISA presenter, use of a board and wetsuit if you need them, and tea, coffee and a kettle on site. Manuals and the workbook come before you arrive.

Accommodation, meals and ISA membership after the course sit outside the fee. Ten supervised coaching hours and an open-water rescue award sit after the two days before the certificate is fully valid.

Yes. You need the ISA Flat Water SUP instructor award before these two days. You do not need every post-course hour finished to start, but those hours and the rescue award must be done before the open-water certificate is issued.

You should already paddle well on flat water. These two days add waves, downwind lines, race starts and how you teach that on exposed water.

An open-water aquatic rescue award sits with this course, on top of the safety award you already hold for flat water. Ten supervised coaching hours also sit after the two days.

Once the workbook, hours and rescue award are signed off, the paperwork goes to the ISA so they can endorse the open-water card.

Ordinary rain does not cancel the open-water days. The water block moves, or a classroom session swaps in, when wind or swell makes the planned venue unsafe.

Messages the evening before carry the next pin. The course stays in Pembrokeshire, just not always on the same stretch if a venue is blown out.

A pen and paper, swimwear, a towel, a warm dry layer, sunscreen, a packed lunch and a refillable bottle. Your own wetsuit and board are fine. We still have kit if you need it.

There are no changing rooms at most water venues, so a towel robe helps. Send your wetsuit size before you arrive so a suit is ready.

Pack a lunch. A kettle and a microwave are in the farm building, with tea, coffee and water. The nearest small shop is about a 15 minute drive.

Stay on site for lunch if the afternoon starts on the water. Eating quickly and staying with the group beats losing an hour driving to town.

Wave negotiation, race starts, buoy turns, catching a runner, steering with your feet, drafting, sprinting, downwind paddling and a safe return to shore. You also write a simple open-water lesson plan and run it with the group.

There is a venue analysis and a practical assessment. Trainers stay with you on the bank and on the water for the coaching blocks.