High vs Low

Bracing is one of those fundamental skills, just like the eskimo roll, that all kayakers need to have. As the title indicates, there is more than one way to brace...

Part 1 - Basic Concepts

Draw strokes can be a very wide range of different strokes to fit a wide range of situations, indeed draws are really a whole family of strokes with endless variations and varying names...

Part 2 - Basic Eddy Turns & Peel-outs

The idea of draw strokes is that they can be used to control the angle of the kayak while maintaining speed. Often these are also used in conjunction with currents, producing dynamic results...

Five Essentials to Paddling like a God

Say what? What is a paver, and what does that have to do with kayaking? Well, simple really: PAVER is an acronym for Posture, Angle, Vision, Edge, and Rotation...

Body language is the most fundamental key to successful kayaking. The title is not an accidental metaphor; body language has similar effects on our kayaking efforts as it does on our social efforts....

The forward sweep is a very efficient way to turn a kayak, even a long, loaded sea kayak.  Starting with your paddle held in front of your chest...

Part 1 - Reading Holes

Getting worked by a big nasty hole is probably a fear we all have from time to time, but it doesn’t have to be so bad...

Part 2 - The Escape

The first thing to do once you enter that monster hole is to sit up straight and keep your boat underneath your body...

Part 1 - The Approach

Boofing is the technique of jumping off of ledges and over holes. Keeping the boat at a horizontal, or near horizontal plane as it passes over a steep drop...

Part 2 - 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...

Part 3 - 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...

As the shock of hitting the water and doing a wet exit passes, it's important to keep collected, and to act quickly. Its important that you keep a hold of your paddle and boat...

All of a sudden, you find yourself upside down in your kayak, and you end up doing a wet exit. As you surface next to your boat,it's important to stay calm and keep your wits....

Trajectory is basically the path of motion that the boat is about to take, and it is essentially a combination of your angle, speed, usually (but not always), coupled with the effects of the current. In most ways it is more important where the boat is going next than where it is now...

In my previous write up on trajectories, I hope that I have you convinced of the power of trajectory. This one is designed to help you learn to develop and exploit the potential of trajectories in as many ways as possible. In reality, the boat is always on some sort of trajectory

One of the sayings that I first heard when learning to paddle was that the expert paddles gracefully through the water, using one stroke for every ten that the beginner uses...

Making an attainment is the act of "gaining" an eddy further upstream, and is often used as a way to get back up to a play spot, or potentially as a way to get a better approach to the next segment of white water...

Part 1- Wave Analysis & Entry Strategy

Surfing can be one of the most graceful and expressive aspects of kayaking, the joy of carving effortlessly, working with the wave to glide across the water...