The Landing

No matter how well you sky off some great boof, and no matter how cool you look sailing through the air; you still need to pay attention to LAND the boof correctly. Landing the boof can mean all sorts of things; basically landing the boof involves dealing with whatever it is that lies waiting at the bottom of the boof. You may be boofing into an eddy, or into a big hole, each landing zone will require a specific technique to land in control. If we don’t pay attention, sometimes we can get a great boof and then loose it on the landing.

Most of all we are looking at what awaits at the bottom, such as a big hole, or an eddy. In nearly all cases it will be advantageous to land with our body forward (lower center of gravity; greater stability), and an active paddle blade. Landing in an eddy usually means that we will want to land on a slight upstream edge, and utilize our upstream blade to execute an eddy turn (otherwise we may trip over our downstream edge at very high speed). Landing in a big hole we will usually want to make sure that we keep our momentum heading straight downstream. Hopefully, if we are landing in a big hole, we can land on an aggressive forward stroke, but if our boat has a lot of angle from the launch (even if we launched “straight” off the boof, our boat often turns during the boof stroke), we may need to compensate by landing on a sweep stroke to straighten. It is also possible that we will need to set up another move upon completing the boof; the landing is a great time to initiate whatever moves may be coming up downstream. The real key to finish off a great boof is to STAY ACTIVE; don’t just wave your paddle in the air, reveling in how cool you look sailing off the lip.

Ideally, we will want to begin our landing the split second that our boof stroke is finishing its job, by reaching immediately for our landing stroke. A left boof stroke will lead nicely to a right landing stroke, and visa versa. Reaching for another stroke in mid air will also provide us with a convenient way of keeping pressure on our knees to keep the boat level. While we are reaching for the landing stroke we can perform a “sit-up” type motion, bringing our knees to our chest (NOT the other way around!); this not only helps keep the boat level, but also lowers our center of gravity, and provides us with an active paddle blade upon landing.

During the launch we may intentionally, or unintentionally, be edging our kayak to one side or another. We will want to transfer our weight off of that edge before we land the boof, other wise we will not land in a very balanced fashion. Landing in an eddy in particular tends to produce a need for an edge transfer in mid air. Say for example that you are driving your boat off a rock on river right, at about a 45-degree angle, into an eddy. When you drive off the shoulder of the rock, the height of the rock will tend to lift your right edge slightly higher than your left. Now as you come off the rock and land in the eddy, you will need to lift your left knee up and shift your weight to your right edge to prevent tripping over your downstream edge. Landing in a sticky hole, with your boat anything other than flat and level will provide the hole with more to grab a hold of to stop you. It is import to “un-edge” the boat before landing, by shifting your weight and lifting up on whichever knee is lower.

Landing involves keeping your kayak under your control during the entire boof sequence. Things to keep in mind are your angle, edge, and what paddle strokes you may need. There is no magic formula that works every time, the information of this tip represents some hypothetical situations to get your brain thinking of the different possible technique that you will need every time that you take a boof. Keep at 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.

Happy landings…

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