White water kayaking provides as much adventure and thrill as white water rafting. The only difference is that a kayak can hold a maximum of two people but a raft holds anywhere between 6-8 people. You are much safer doing white water rafting than white water kayaking. The rules are the same, the rapids are the same, but the crafts are different. The kayak is an inflatable, elongated, and slim craft. Taking it into white water of moving water requires tremendous skills.
Whether you are planning to kayak in rivers or streams, they both offer equal opportunity for thrilling adventures as well as dangerous moments. Hence, it is extremely important to master some of the techniques, which can help you to maneuver and control your kayak in moving water. The first skill that you will have to master is of understanding the river. The river keeps changing with the time and hence you need to start by looking a few hundred yards downstream. First, you need to understand the rapid, where it falls, how high it is, and then you go backwards counting the hazards and eddies. If you find a rapid, which appears to be extremely dangerous then try to find a way around it.
There are quite a few hazards that the rivers or streams can produce. You can notice some of them in advance while others require you to have complete understanding of the water body and the landscape surrounding you. There are times during kayaking when you may come across a flat horizon line on the water. This will denote two things; there is either a waterfall ahead or a dam. Either of them can augment your speed, and it is always best to portage around them.
There are times when you may hear people say that they couldn’t do anything because their raft or inflatable kayak was capsized and overturned. This normally happens when there is an eddy line. Eddies are formed when the current of the river encounters a stationary object like a rock or a fallen tree. The river current always flows downstream but due to the presence of the rock, the current will hit the rock and the flow will move upstream. Sometimes, this can even cause a whirlpool. Hence, you need to be extremely careful while entering into the eddy.
If you watch closely then you will notice the tongue of the rapids. The tongue is a V-shaped surface that is created on the head of the rapid and it will always show you the way ahead. They always point downstream and point you to places where you might counter a strong flow and fewer obstacles. The tongue of the rapids is your roadmap.
These are some of the basic things that you need to know and understand before getting into white water kayaking but above all you need to have respect for the river. To make white water kayaking fun and thrilling, you can check out the Coleman Kayaks, which provide some of the best kayaks offering safety and space. |
