Sage advice for newbie or inexperienced kayakers

This was a great EF thread, now lost (maybe forever), so starting it again....
A list of sage advice from all the experienced kayakers to help the inexperienced avoid some of the School of Hard Knocks issues we have all had.

Some basic stuff:

Never tie your body to anything, also don't tie your paddle to your boat.

Helmet and lifejacket are mandatory kayak gear!

Common Newbie mistake - tucking the Skirt handle inside the boat.
Always check that handle is available before leaving shore.
If you cannot find handle after flipping, the skirt is weakest on the sides, by your hips. Pull here to get the skirt off. Try this on dry land (while in tucked position), before you need it.

I personally wished I had taken kayak lessons in the beginning.
I recommend.... http://www.utahkayakschool.com/

Add your own Sage advice....

Triple X Becks

Great post triple Becks.

My 2 cents: Flow changes everything. Newer paddlers frequently underestimate how different a river can be at higher water. Also, wood moves around at these times.

Put float bags in your kayak! If you are not sure about what these are, ask your kayak dealer or renter about it. These are for your rescuers, if you swim they can more easily wrangle your boat.

You may want to consider how isolated a new run is before you do it...
For instance, two river may be listed as class III.
But one river is near a road (easy to scout rapids or you can get out) or difficult rapids can be easily portaged, if needed.
Versus another class III river that is closed in by canyon walls (difficult or impossible to scout rapids, impossible to get out) and 200 miles from the nearest road.

There are stories of people that have broke/lost their paddle or boat, and had to stay on the river overnight before being rescued. For an isolated run especially, it wouldn't hurt to be prepared. You could carry a first aid kit, waterproof matches, granola bars, and a breakdown paddle/hand paddles.

I also carry an extra pair of contacts and a small bottle of solution in my lifejacket - in case I lose a contact on the river.

Triple Becks

Yeah I feel for the guy that swam out of his brand new LL Remix at the Narrows Race. No float bags, and destroyed at the end. I bought bow, and stern bags for my Jefe. Although I have not used them yet when I do I will be glad they are there, and so will the people getting the boat. Learn to paddle with hand paddles, they are cheaper than a breakdown, and take up less space. Although most can not use these on harder runs, they will work great on Class III. I also read somewhere to make sure you carry what you need for a night on the river on you. If you lose your boat you lose you survival gear.

Try to find a good friendly hole where you can play as much as you can. A friendly hole is one that doesn't have hazards downstream (no rocks, logs, branches, other holes), has good eddie service that allows you to get back in the hole, has a good recovery pool downstream in case you swim and it is not too sticky. Start playing in small holes. This will help you with:

1) Getting a kick ass role. If you are not rolling, you are not playing enough.
2) Edge control. You will have to get in a out of the eddie many times and also you will understand why you need to keep your upstream edge up always when you are in a hole.
3) Staying cool when you are unintentionally in a hole while running a rapid.

When surfing and bracing, remember to keep your elbows as close to your body as possible. This is to prevent shoulder dislocations.

And remember ALWAYS HAVE FUN! If it's not fun, it's not worth doing it.

Mind suggesting the hole you had in mind or maybe an option or two?

afaust wrote:
Mind suggesting the hole you had in mind or maybe an option or two?

I'm not familiar with rivers in Utah, but close to Boise are the weir and the gutter.

Ogden Play Park, between 600-800 is a good start. 1000+ gets sticky and entertaining, but a bit more dangerous. The Riverdale wave is great also if the water gets high enough.

The best placed to get thrashed with almost no consequences around here I think would be at Green River, WY play park (runs most of the year).

PeruH20 is right...

Getting your ass kicked in a hole helps with edge control, being aware of where you are even if your upside down and ass backwards, and most importantly helps you get comfortable with the water.

My biggest help was watching people who know what their doing.

I thought this was an excellent article regarding flood stage running.
http://www.nrsweb.com/Safety_Tips/Riding_The_Flood.asp?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=posting_info&utm_term=face_nl_ridingtheflood&utm_campaign=social

Here is a great video about Improving the Brace, with Eric Jackson:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=iu_MkXs-TAI

Rope. Always have a rope in your boat. Everybody must have a rope as part of your kayak gear. Practice with your rope at home. I've heard many stories of people throwing the whole rope. No bueno. Remember to hold the rope with one hand and to throw the bag with the other. You need to know the right way to store the rope in the bag. When sht happens or you see potential for sht to hit the fan, get out of your boat fast and be ready to use your rope. It can save a life. In this video note that the dude in the green boat (opposite bank of the river) gets ready to throw a rope fast. Also know that you only have 1 try (you will need a lot of time to repack the rope in the bag) so be patient to make your throw count. Also, it helps if there are more than 1 person ready on shore to throw their ropes. In this case, our swimmer was getting recirculated just above another drop called trasher.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqNg-NCSGE4

It is not enough to have a rope in your boat and know how to use it.

One of the most important thing in being a creekboater and the thing that if you don't do will piss off any serious creekboater you are with is this:

TAKE YOUR ROPE WITH YOU EVERY TIME YOU SCOUT.

If you get out of your boat to scout a rapid and do not bring your rope with you, everyone will think you are a kook who will not be able to help when stuff goes down. Standing on shore scouting a rapid without your rope, you are worthless and there is no time to run back up and grab it when someone decides to fire it up. So bring it with you EVERY time you scout.

Speaking of ropes; its more important than one may realize to keep your rope secured when you are boating (in your waistbelt or pfd, or clipped in your boat). If its loose in the boat and you swim, a lost rope in the river becomes a serious hazard. In fact there was a fatality in Kirschbaum rapid on Gore because of a loose rope in the river a while back. This was something I had not thought about much until I saw the buzz threads on it. I have seen fellow boaters lose a rope in a swim, and the thought was kinda "bummer, you have to buy a new one"; I did not hear anyone mention that the rope could very likely come out of the bag, and get hung up, where others are likely to swim (since someone just swam there to lose the rope in the first place).
http://www.mountainbuzz.com/forums/f14/rope-lost-in-lower-kirsch-40184.html
This accident report is referenced in that thread:
http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Accident/detail/accidentid/667/
"This is not the first death resulting from an abandoned throw rope in the river. "

Also clip them in your boat so the rope shakes down into the bag, not out of it.

Compton Boater wrote:
TAKE YOUR ROPE WITH YOU EVERY TIME YOU SCOUT.

Yeah, I felt like an idiot filming with the handheld cam without my rope when she was in the hole. It's a pretty straight foward line with a boof on the right, but she totally missed it and went middle. Things like this can happen and you need to have your rope with you.

I'd like to also stress the importance on knowing how to use a throw rope. I had an experience on the Murtaugh at high water when i got stuck in a ledge hole and took a ride i hope i never take again. I was in my boat for a while trying to get out of the hole and expended all my energy. When I pulled my skirt, my arms felt like spaghetti noodles. I was then recirculated a couple times and came the closest to drowning that day than i ever have. When a rope was thrown my way, the paddler tossed the whole thing at me and didn't hold on to one end. Lucky for me i was spit out of the hole and i had some help from friends in boats, but i'll never forget watching and feeling a huge relief seeing that i was going to get a rope tossed to me. That emotion quickly dissipated when the whole throw bag landed right next to me and i was left swimming down river some more.

Moral of the story, whitewater safety is key. Know what you'd do in certain situations and always consider the risks involved with what you're paddling. We're all in between swims and sooner or later we will be dependent on the skills of those we boat with, and they will be dependent upon ours.

Also take a swift water rescue coarse, and get trained in CPR. You never know when a two day swift water rescue coarse, and a three hour CPR class could save a fellow boaters life. One thing I am going to start carrying is a small first aid kit, and a CPR mask in my PFD.

Surf, surf, surf your brains out. Don't look down on small waves just because your more experience buddies pass them by, surf them. They are a great way to learn control of your kayak, how to edge, how to carve, where to place your weight side to side or fore/aft, how to brace and steer, how to scull, every basic skill you are going to need for playboating or creeking or serious big water you can learn on a 6 inch wave. If you can't stay on a small wave, how do you expect to pilot your boat through a rapid with control? Once you have those skills down on small stuff try bigger waves or small holes until you have them licked. Don't try to surf holes till you have your skills on waves, holes have different skills you need to master, walk before you run. One minute on a wave is equivalent to running 10 rapids or more. As a beginner you should never pass up a small wave that you can surf. Soon it will become second hand where to put your paddle or how to place your weight when you encounter a feature in a rapid... all learned from that little wave. When I started kayaking my nickname was the "Microwave Surfer" as I would surf everything and I'm sure that is what helped me gain confidence in my paddle and boat.

If you get to a put in and there are people with more scratches on their boat than you have, saying they are not going because of conditions, high, low, what ever, decide to have a picnic instead.