The Launch

Great boofs take three main components to generate them: the approach, the launch and the landing. Each of these three ingredients is crucial to examine, as a lacking in one will be extremely detrimental to your ability to boof consistently. In this tip we will examine how to get the ideal launch, and how to maximize your distance from that launch. We are assuming for this entire tip that the approach was well set up and executed in order to perform the launch that we desire. (See Basic Boofing 1 - The Approach for information on the approach.)

The launch is where we can get our boat to actually leave the water momentarily; this is the fun part where we “catch air”. The better our launch, the more air time we will get, and the further downstream our boat will travel before landing. Our angle, speed, as well as the timing and execution of a boof stroke, all play into how good of a launch we get.

In general, the less perpendicular to the drop we are, the easier it is to keep our boat flat (horizontal). The more perpendicular our angle to the horizon line, the more that gravity will have the tendency to cause our kayak to fall more vertically. You can try to visualize it this way: picture three kayaks, drifting in slow motion, across a vertical drop at three different angles (perpendicular, 45 degrees, and parallel). As the first kayak (perpendicular to the lip of the drop) slides across the horizon line, the bow will begin to fall before the stern, and it will continue to tilt more vertically until the stern has crossed the horizon line and begins to fall as well. The second kayak (at 45 degrees to the lip) will have booth ends crossing over the horizon line at a more similar time frame, and therefore, there the bow will not fall as far before the stern also begins to fall (falling at a less vertical angle than the first). The third kayak will have both ends cross the horizon line and fall simultaneously, therefore, it will fall horizontally. This simply demonstrates the effect of our kayak’s angle without our input. While a more angled approach will make it easier for us to keep the boat flat, a more angled approach will also be more likely to get stuck if we land in a sticky hole.

The ideal angle to boof our boats totally depends on the situation. A 45-degree angle can be a great for boofing out of the main flow, into an eddy. Driving the boat in a perpendicular angle to the drop is preferable if we are dealing with a sticky hole. There are plenty of variables that affect what angle will be ideal, however, choosing your angle to boof will eventually become an intuitive process through trial and error.

The greatest effect that you can make on your launch is from a “boof stroke”. A boof stroke is much like a forward stroke (near vertical paddle shaft, blade close to the boat), except that with a boof stroke you get additional power from continuing to pull the paddle past your hips. A boof stroke will have its maximum effect if planted at your toes just as they reach the lip of the drop. During the boof, with our paddle planted we want to thrust our hips forward, bringing our boat and body up to, AND PAST our paddle (planted at the lip of the drop). The key here is that as our body passes over the lip of the drop we want to continue driving the boat forward on its horizontal plane; this is where pulling on the paddle as it passes behind our hips provides us with a dramatic booster. During the entire motion it is imperative that we lift our knees, by tightening our abdominal muscles, to keep our boat as horizontal as possible. Often edging the boat slightly toward the paddle can help to maximize the launch, by making it easier to keep at a horizontal plane as well as helping it to track straight across the lip.

Speed can be a great thing in a boof; more speed means more “air time” and greater distance out of our boof. Speed is also advantageous if we are landing in a big hole. More speed is great in general, however it can be more difficult to time our strokes and place our boof stroke as ideally with more speed. A boof stroke that is planted early will run out of juice before the boat has completely taken off from the lip, thus the boat will fall short of its goal, and will tend to dive more vertically into the hole. Being too late with a boof stroke is even worse than being early; being too late means that our kayak has already begun to fall vertically. Speed ultimately takes skill to be able to handle, first and foremost we need to time and place our strokes precisely. As our timing gets better, then we will be able to do execute a perfect boof with greater speed. Good timing and precision will make more of a difference than good speed!

Now that you’ve got a great launch, it’s time to land it…

Safety note: This tip, does NOT apply to paddling over large drops and waterfalls. This technique is ideal for use on ledge holes, and smaller drops with a good deal of aeration in the landing zone. Landing flat on any drop CAN injure your back; the two greatest risk factors to consider are the height of the drop, and the “hardness” (more aeration will soften the landing) of the water in the landing zone. For safer landings this tip assumes that you are boofing off drops no higher than three or four feet, and that you are landing in moderately aerated water. For any higher drops or “harder” landings it will be imperative NOT to land flat! With experience much of this technique can be MODIFIED to use in a wide variety of applications (including certain play paddling moves); it is therefore highly recommended that intermediate paddlers learn to use this technique on smaller features in class 2-3 water. Look for more advanced boofing technique in future tips.

Look for more boofing technique tips in Boofing: The Approach and Boofing: The Landing.