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I have only done class 3 rapids in a raft and whitewater kayaking looks like a good way to get hurt .I think what worries me the most is rolling and banging my head on a rock (and I get that you wear a helmet). I am curious to see if I could do it but I am not sure that I would want to kayak on anything more than class 3 rapids. Now these guys that I met at a paddling meeting tell me they can teach me a lot of technique and that hitting rocks like I am worried about is rare. So am I worried about nothing?
Learn the proper techniques, like a wet exit, wear proper clothing including head, hand and elbow padding, start with the smaller less violent water and practice. You may want to consider paddling a canoe to learn how to "read" the water before you start using a kayak. Have fun and do not let you buddies push you into trying rapids that may be too strong for you when you are not ready.
Like most exciting things you can get hurt doing them. Knowing what you are doing reduces the likelihood of being hurt.
Kayak models are as varied today as orange juice in the Super Market. There are short inexpensive hobby ones for a couple hundred bucks up to 16' touring ones for several thousands.
The kayak you take on the rapids will be different than the one you take for paddling around.
I started with a basic 8' wilderness system with a keel and it served me well on ponds, bays and rivers with a bit of current. It was wide and stable and took a beating. I have since moved up to a 12' Old Town and it is narrower, and a bit more tippy without the keel but it is easier to paddle on a longer trip.
My brother in law likes the rapids and his kayak is very short and stubby. Good for shooting the rapids but not so for longer journeys.
I say start with a basic one 10' plus and just go out and have some fun this Summer. Would you hop on a mountain bike and go tearing down a dirt trail before you knew how to peddle on a flat surface? The rapids can wait until later.
BOISE - He'd kayaked hundreds of rapids, and the Class V rapids on the North Fork of the Payette River were nothing new for expert Conrad Fourney. This weekend, though, it turned out to be too much.
Well I went to pool practice today to learn how to roll and it didn't go well. I found out I don't like to be upside down and I felt trapped in a whitewater kayak. Are their any alternatives? Someone recommended trying a sit on top kayak.I would just go back to my original idea of flatwater kayaking accept the paddling group I belong to (the paddling group is for all kinds of paddlers but whitewater paddling is their main thing) is more active where as the flatwater kayaking group isn't well organized and is not as social as the paddling group. The people in the paddling group are very friendly and a blast to be around but now I have my doubts I am cut out for rapids although as I said this one instructor said I should go on a raft trip that are planning in May and she might organize and a trip for novices in May and she said she had a sit on top kayak I could use. She really believes I should give a sit on top kayak a try for the summer on some easier rivers. I am not sure what to do but I hate to give up on a group of people who have been very helpful. Another thing is that the guy who heads the paddling group said that he would like to get the group into other kinds of paddling besides just whitewater and that if I took up flatwater paddling I could organize flatwater trips for the group. So the group is very welcoming. Any suggestion if it turns out I am not up for big time whitewater so I can stay involved with the group?
Last edited by senecaman; 04-18-2015 at 04:16 AM..
Hello Senecaman.
Rolling over is scary and it is a neccesary skill you need to master if you want to challenge the rapids. It could be a matter of life or death for you and you don't want to have your group constantly worried about you.
I'd say practise makes perfect so maybe you just need to keep trying that roll over maneuver in the safety of the pool if you want to go with that whitewater group.
The sit on kayak is an alternative but still nothing like what your friends are using.
I had the same problem when friends got into extreme mountain biking. I was cool with a casual trail ride but then they stepped it up big and I couldn't keep up. They bought expensive off road bikes and they had a ball but they always broke something on their bikes and occasionally on their bodies. That kind of riding just wasn't for me after the first time I wiped out so off they went without me. Casual riding was still a good time.
My advice to you would be to get a nice sit in kayak that you can get out of quickly if you go over. you will stay dryer in a sit in VS the sit on. Get those guys interested in the flat water or slight rapids trips and they will have fun there too.
As your experience grows so will your confidence and maybe you can work your way up to the whitewater.
Just getting out there with like minded people is fun. You don't need to risk your neck to have a good time.
Hello Senecaman.
Rolling over is scary and it is a neccesary skill you need to master if you want to challenge the rapids. It could be a matter of life or death for you and you don't want to have your group constantly worried about you.
I'd say practise makes perfect so maybe you just need to keep trying that roll over maneuver in the safety of the pool if you want to go with that whitewater group.
The sit on kayak is an alternative but still nothing like what your friends are using.
I had the same problem when friends got into extreme mountain biking. I was cool with a casual trail ride but then they stepped it up big and I couldn't keep up. They bought expensive off road bikes and they had a ball but they always broke something on their bikes and occasionally on their bodies. That kind of riding just wasn't for me after the first time I wiped out so off they went without me. Casual riding was still a good time.
My advice to you would be to get a nice sit in kayak that you can get out of quickly if you go over. you will stay dryer in a sit in VS the sit on. Get those guys interested in the flat water or slight rapids trips and they will have fun there too.
As your experience grows so will your confidence and maybe you can work your way up to the whitewater.
Just getting out there with like minded people is fun. You don't need to risk your neck to have a good time.
I guess what I have figured out is that I would rather be causal and go on a sit on top kayak and forget about the sit in kayak.I just don't care to be in one and worry about rolling and I think I only want to go down easy rapids(class 2 or less).My aim starting out was just flatwater kayaking and I think I would like to do that and as you said "slight rapid"trips on a sit on top kayak.I will kill myself in a sit in kayak.But do you really think I can get some of the people in the paddling group interested in what I am interested in?Something more causal because many , but not all of the members of the paddling group are hard river runners(class 4 and 5 rapids). Supposedly there are others in the group who like more easy rivers. And you you think I should take them up on the guided raft trip in May? They want me to come. And then there is the woman who is an instructor who says she wants to organize a novice river trip so I can use her sit on top kayak.How does that sound? These people are a friendly group and this woman, the instructor, is the one who mentioned to me about going on the rafting trip and she is encouraging me to try sit on top kayaking. They like for people to stay in the group by doing what's comfortable for them.
One thing I have going for me is that I recently reconnected with a friend ( who is not in the paddling group)who wants to do some causal river kayaking and I think that's a good reason to look into a sit on top kayak. I don't really care if I get wet on a sit on top kayak because I don't really care to go in cold weather like many in the paddling group.I am happy to wait for warmer weather and warmer water temperatures .Anyway I am planning on doing more skiing next winter ,which is my first and best love.I live in the East but I learned to ski out west at the Arizona Snowbowl near Flagstaff and I can ski pretty good. I am hoping to get some from the paddling group to take up skiing in the winter.I figure people in outdoor groups like other outdoor sports like skiing.
Lastly the flatwater kayak group is a completely separate group but its just disorganized.Its basically a husband and wife who offer trips to the coast (which I cant afford now) or they plan very long paddling trips on the local lakes (which are huge).They haven't offered trip for beginners at our local lakes that don't involve paddling for more miles than I would be ready for now.So how would you go about making that group more beginner friendly and get more people invovled in it? Its not a very socially oriented group right now like the whitewater paddling group that's very social. Technically the flatwater group has a lot of members (over 300 I think) but its not a cohesive group and the only trips offered so far are from the husband and wife that started the group but anyone can post a trip to the members. I think the flatwater group needs beginner trips and just social get togethers like maybe a bar be que or a night out at a local restaurant to get to know each other and see what the other members interests are. So far no one is doing that but like I said anyone can post events that they want to do to the members.
Last edited by senecaman; 04-19-2015 at 01:44 PM..
The flat water paddlers have 300 loose members WOW that is A LOT. Why not suggest shorter paddles to the group. You could all meet somewhere paddle from point A to B, have a picnic lunch then paddle back to A.
Plan a trip that will be a few hours to say 4. Casual kayakers don't usually like long journeys. paddle for an hour or 2 get out stretch your legs, have a snack then head back.
In my bachelor days my girlfriend liked out door activities and kayaking was one of them. We used ot go with a loose group from her job and it was fun. A few guys had a canoe but that was OK. We always had fun.
Last year I got into marsh trips with a friend. We would try to catch the tide so we were not fighting it all the way in or out and we would paddle until we ran out of river.
The flat water paddlers have 300 loose members WOW that is A LOT. Why not suggest shorter paddles to the group. You could all meet somewhere paddle from point A to B, have a picnic lunch then paddle back to A.
Plan a trip that will be a few hours to say 4. Casual kayakers don't usually like long journeys. paddle for an hour or 2 get out stretch your legs, have a snack then head back.
In my bachelor days my girlfriend liked out door activities and kayaking was one of them. We used ot go with a loose group from her job and it was fun. A few guys had a canoe but that was OK. We always had fun.
Last year I got into marsh trips with a friend. We would try to catch the tide so we were not fighting it all the way in or out and we would paddle until we ran out of river.
Don't plan a Bar BQ just yet that might be too big a commitment for some and you will scare them off.
Have fun.
Some good ideas for the flatwater group. Thank you. I think some sort of casual group meeting at a local restaurant to talk about members interests would be good and a bar be que could come later on when people know each other better. What I would like to do is make the flatwater group more social and cohesive like the paddling group if that's possible. Seems like a causul group meeting once a month at a restaurant to discuss things like trips would be a good thing.
But you do think I can be a more casual kayaker(using a sit on to kayak) but still be a part of the paddling group? By involved I mean fit in. The woman who is the instructor encouraging me to stay in the group by trying sit on top kayaking instead says the paddling group is large enough that I will find people in the group who like easier rivers.
And do you think I should go on the rafting trip?I guess it will bond me to the paddling group more regardless of whether I choose to do sit in or sit on top kayaking on easier rivers.
And what type boat and I looking for now if I want to do rivers with some rapids but that I could also use on flatwater on our lakes here? Something about 10 to 12 feet long? I would want it to be a sit on top boat too. Right now I can only afford one boat but I would like to be able to use it on lakes and easier rivers with some rapids.
Last edited by senecaman; 04-19-2015 at 05:36 PM..
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