Big Water Technique - How to Paddle High Volume Rivers
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- čas přidán 3. 06. 2024
- Despite the common misconception, Big Water doesn't actually mean difficult water. It doesn't directly mean hard rapids. Big water refers to the high volume whitewater found on high volume rivers. Big Water kayaking accentuates the features, challenges and needed skills you would find on everyday rivers and creeks, along with a few new ones. So even if you never plan to run something like the Baker, Stikine, Indus, Zambezi, Futa, high water Ottawa or any other famous "big water section," you can still apply the techniques and skills described in this video to your local run.
This video specifically features high flows on the Ottawa River in Canada, the Río Futaleufú in Chilé, and the Zambezi River on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. Three high volume meccas on three different continents, all surprisingly attainable for the average kayaker without ever stepping beyond class IV.
If you want to paddle with me and get more comfortable paddling in big water yourself, be sure to look into my Big Water Confidence Week at Wilderness Tours through Ottawa Kayak School. Here's a link for more info: wildernesstours.com/boyd-rupp...
Some prerequisites not included in this video:
The Lock In - How to Kayak in Boily Whitewater ( • The Lock In - How to k... )
How to Lean Boof - ( • How to Lean Boof & Ear... ) This one directly applies to boofing water features.
BOAT CHOICE (since someone asked and I had thought about putting into this video):
Typically, a half slice is ideal for big water because the edges and slicey end can be great for getting out of holes and they still have plenty of drive to move across powerful sections and enough speed to launch off waves or over holes. Playboats are great for safer big water runs because they easily go under anything you don’t want to deal with, but are really fun on big waves too. The downside is that you can’t drive as fast if you need to make moves or rescue someone as easily in a playboat… Zambezi is pretty pool drop and safe so playboats are great in there at average to low flows. I typically only pull out a creek boat if the seams are deep enough and powerful enough that I want the volume to keep me at the surface, and then the modern high-rockered creek boats are best because the parting line usually sits pretty high on those so they don’t get pushed around as much… ie the Gnarvana and Z3 are much easier to paddle in big water due to their shorter submerged length than the Nirvana. With less rocker and more length, the Nirvana gets pushed around a lot more easily in high volume rapids... The bottom line is that you have to choose based on safety, your skill set, and the way you want to paddle.
Super helpful Boyd! Being a new kayaker, I find the educational value of your videos is first rate. IMO, this is possibly your best video to date!
Thanks!! Stoked they help and more on the way
Very well made video, I learned a lot on viewing it. I have a lot or experience in kayaking but don't paddle a lot big water and you discuss and explain very well how to paddle big water. I will try to apply it as much as I can next spring.
I can’t wait to get back on the Arkansas river again. Learning the hard way is fun but knowing this these tricks will help here in Colorado.
As an Ottawa boater, big water is the spice of life! To all you shallow river boaters out there, get out there and go hangout with the gentle giant! Great video btw!
Love the valley & the Ottawa community too! Thanks for watching!
Big water is the best water!!! 😊 I have been to the Futa 3x (and counting) by far my favorite river in the world. My first time there, it was like I had to relearn everything! I think the best thing a new/beginner big water boater can do is don’t rush through the “easy” stuff and look for places to practice “hard moves” in safe water or as I was told “make Class 4 moves in Class 2/3 water”. Spend as much time as possible making hard eddy’s, doing attainments, playing in the boils, figuring out how to ride the the surges and look for safe spots to practice with big eddy fences (which I think is one of the most intimidating things).
Thanks for the great video!
oh and hours playing on magic carpet!!! 😂 Now I wanna be in Chile and not at work!!!
Thanks for watching! 🤙🏻
Excellent video, thanks!
One of your best. Looks wicked scary and fun… but scary. So follow the eddies, except they’re dangerous, so maybe don’t follow the eddies? The abundance of paddling reels were very illustrative. Very comprehensive all around.
Eddylines are great as long as you’re paying attention and use the ‘lock in’ as needed. If you don’t pay attention,
you might take a sudden trip to the underworld via whirlpool… I love paddling down eddylines and scouting from them, but always eyes wide open for the seams. I paddle off to the side during rescues too because I can see better there, but again always paying attention as things can get weird fast.
Stoked you checked it out. Thanks for watching!
Amazing lesson
insane video ... thank you for sharing !
Awesome video! Great instructional
Thank you for sharing!! I'm really intimidated by big water. This video will definitely be a game changer for me!
Once you understand what’s happening, big water is so much fun! Stoked you like it!
Great Watch !
I think this is hands down the best instruction one can get without traveling a ways and shelling out much cash for lessons!
I'm not paddling now nor for the foreseeable future, but I'm watching to get my "fix".
Thanks for the kind words and thanks for watching! That’s the goal with this channel 🤙🏻
Great detailed descriptions of many real time situations 👌. Thanks
Great video. Hope you keep making them!
so many more on the way
Really good stuff. Thanks
Thanks for checking it out!
Great video, great presenter! 19:20: Love it!
Awesome video! I wish I would’ve been able to see this before I wrenched my back and possibly ended my time paddling. Having said that, I only realize now that I have a little more time on big water than I ever thought, mostly at Sturgeon Falls and Whitemud Falls in Manitoba; and a few short stretches of a few rivers in Minnesota at very high levels.
The Canadian stuff is straight out big water at 40-60k cfs (if I remember correctly) with huge beautiful standing waves great for endless surfing, but when the time comes to leave- especially at Whitemud you inevitably run about a 2/3 mile stretch of big waves with a few holes and no rocks anywhere and you need to approach it in the manner that you describe. A bunch of it comes down to coping with features that are reactions of water-on-water. I totally loved my trips there, but knowing these tips and just being consciously aware of this mindset would’ve made things almost sublime.
A great video that brings up great memories, and who knows, I might be out there putting this to use yet! 🙂
Fantastic content!
Thanks! I’m pretty stoked about this one
Excellent video packed with essential information, thanks
Thanks for watching!! Stoked these videos help
I have always found big water intimidating, but to my surprise my first experience with it in this summer in Norway was a lot easier than I anticipated it to be even though I went over a couple of times. You have plenty of time, everything seems to be in slow motion.
so true! I still need to get over to Norway. Thanks for watching!
Keep at it Boyd! This is super solid. I'm sure content creators assume these topics are oversaturated, but they are not! Or a new perspective is needed anyway. I want to reiterate to those moving to bigger stuff from 500-1000cfs river running; the most overlooked adjustment is in your vision and planning. With creeking and "standard" river running, you are so focused on eyeing what's 5-20 yards down stream and often only plan to get to the next eddy. With big water, you are often looking 20-40, even 75 yards down river, and only catching a glimpse of what's coming from the top of a wave. And while the lines might be wide, it can take 40-50 yards to maneuver to your target.
Thanks man! So true!
Thank you for making these informative and well thought out videos.
Thanks for taking the time to check them out and support!
excellent information. thank you
Thanks for watching 🤙🏻
Another good video with lots of great information and I think I’ll try some of the techniques
Thanks for watching! Try it out and let me know how it goes! So much fun!
Nice explanations and footage to go with the concepts. Thanks. What happened when you gulped air from your boat? underwater swimming with boat?
Big water is huge fun. All of this is really well observed.
A perhaps unexpected inter-disciplinary crossover is with surf. I used to kayak surf chunky shorebreaks almost every day. Paddling out in those conditions you utilise many of the same techniques and look for similar opportunities to get up and over as you do running big, exploding wave trains. If you can reliably get out back in big, messy surf you can take a lot of that to the river. When I first started going out to Austria and Canada and other places with good volume I had a head start. The beatings are more prolonged on the river though: at least in the surf you're likely to end up on the beach if it all goes wrong! 😄
I think that’s one thing I love about surfing too… every paddle out and positioning is a lot like big water kayaking. So true about the beating getting prolonged, our big hole thrashings don’t always end on their own 😂. Thanks for watching!
Channel is awesome man! I have never gone kayaking, but just bought my daughter and me some new ones and we are going to start learning this summer and hopefully make it lifelong thing. You are one amazing kayaker brother! Super inspirational!! Hope to see some more vids soon!! 👍
Stoked you guys are getting into it. More beginner content on the way too. Thanks for watching!
The amount of things discussed by you will take me 10 years to truly understand although I'm kayaking on a big river Ganga 😅
Insane 😮
Some really awesome tips in there! The hardest thing I find about big water is situational awareness. Sometimes it doesn't feel like I'm moving downstream, particularly when you can sometimes hit a foam pile at the peak of a wave and it seems to stall you out. My biggest problem though, is with sea sickness! I never have it on 'normal' volume rivers, but I felt nauseous as hell on some sections of the Nile.
interesting on the sea sickness… definitely related to feeling like you aren’t moving downstream. When I first got back into surfing, and still sometimes if I’ve been kayaking a lot, just sitting and letting the waves roll under me feels like I’m floating downstream even though I’m not moving. It really through me off for a while. Does expanding your awareness to the bank and trees moving by help at all? Interesting problem and hoping you find a good solution! Let me know if you do. Thanks for watching!
Absolutely awesome video. Right on point. But I'm almost 60 . And unfortunately don't get to paddle as much as I use to. So really big water is pretty intimidating for me these days. But I still love the tiny technical bolder filled creeks. Thanks for the video. I'll be sharing it with the younger crowd that are getting into the sport. Great job.
No worries... The same techniques discussed can work on easier water too, but the features will just be less pronounced. Thanks for watching, supporting, and passing it on! Appreciate the feedback!
I like this video a lot! You offer the best explanations I've heard of some of these big-water phenomena. You're making me want to get out there!
It’s so much fun!!! Happy to help demystify things enough to make them more manageable for more people. Thanks for watching!
He does do an excellent job describing and explaining the elements of the sport and the river
Good video. One secret to big water rolls is foam core blades.
Love this
this one was fun to make... took a while to put together though. Stoked you enjoyed it!
Super cool video! I love what you've been putting out into the universe, it's been pretty helpful so far. Any chance you could do a short play-by-play breakdown of a harder river (class IV)? Why you're making the moves when you are, what you're seeing you want to avoid. Thanks for doing what you do!
on the way 🤙🏻
Awesome, thanks Boyd!@@CleanLineKayaking
Really wish I had watched this before going to Ecuador. The big water there was like a different world than our low volume creeks in TN. Epic video, really amazing!
One thing I had trouble with is navigating. Sometimes, the BIG holes were hard to pick out until I was right on top of them, especially if I wasn't following someone. How can you tell if the white foamy water up ahead is a giant hole or just big waves? Everything just looks like white caps. Then suddenly I would realize I was paddling straight into a huge hole, but not until it was almost too late to avoid it.
It’s really more of a developed sense of where a hole is likely to form, but you can look out from on top of the waves and if you see a suddenly steeper wave or shorter section of outflow or the appearance of suddenly slower water, it’s a pretty good indication of a hole. A challenge of big water though, is that sometimes you may not see the hole coming until the last second, as you experienced. I’ll cover more on the river reading & boat scouting videos I’m making
Wow! Great video. I was a white water canoer for many years, for one reason or another I never got around to kayaking. I don't know why or how but your video really made me want to get out there and do it. I hope you have an awesome season and great holidays! Thanks.
I live in Phoenix, AZ, what are some good big water rivers to start on? out in the west?
Thanks for watching! lots of options out west, just check for river grades and stay within your skill range 🤙🏻
Love your tutorials Boyd! Question: where did you get the go pro camera stick mount on the back of your kayak?
It’s the Jackson Kayak ‘Levator Mount’ 🤙🏻 just be careful on runs with wood because it doesn’t break off
Good tips. One thing I would like to know is boat choice. What should someone look for in a big water boat? What are the pros and cons of different types of boats?
Great question! Thought about adding that in, but maybe on another video. Typically, a half slice is ideal for big water because the edges and slicey end can be great for getting out of holes and they still have plenty of drive to move across powerful sections and enough speed to launch off waves or over holes. Playboats are great for safer big water runs because they easily go under anything you don’t want to deal with, but are really fun on big waves too. The downside is that you can’t drive as fast or rescue someone as easily in a playboat… Zambezi is pretty pool drop and safe so playboats are great in there. I typically only pull out a creek boat if the seams are deep enough and powerful enough that I want the volume to keep me at the surface, and then the modern high rockered creek boats are best because the parting line usually sits pretty high on those so they don’t get pushed around… ie the Gnarvana and Z3 are much easier to paddle in big water than the Nirvana, because the Nirvana was pushed around a lot easier.
Hey Boyd, great video! What type of spraydeck would you recommend for big water? Is rand spraydeck necessary or good-size bungee will do the work also?
The last thing I’d want to deal with in big water is probably a poorly timed skirt implosion from a crashing wave or hole. Not all bungees are the same and cockpit fit is probably most important, but when swimming is so dangerous, I get the highest performing skirt I can. That said, you can really get away with a bungee on quite a bit of big water. It really depends on how powerful and continuous it is and how risky a swim would be. When in doubt though, I’d get the best fitting rand I can… same for waterfalls.
After 20+ years, I just converted from a hard shell kayak to a pack rafting kayak this year and have been able to do "some" bigger water than what I've done in the past, but probably not going to be doing this kind of big water anytime soon. Too worried about a bad shoulder and just the consequences. It does look fun though! The crashing wave trains would be great.
stoked you’re still out there getting after it though! Some of these techniques will still apply to pack rafts and all of them can be used on smaller water
That whirlpool at number 11 has kicked my arse so many times 🤣🤣 I have a funny video of it somewhere
Man I wish I had video of it! It was a stout one lol
One video I would be interested in is how exactly to get from class III to IV to V. What are good indicators you’re ready to progress, what skills to work on first when attempting to progress, how to work on those skills most effectively and safely.
My current though process - this was my first season kayaking and I made it to class III in the pigeon (almost made the Ocoee for a first timers trip but timing didn’t work out). I would love to be confident enough to make it to the Tallulah Gorge November release next year which seems like an attainable goal, but how exactly do I get from where I am now to that level?
The real key is hard moves on easy rivers. Make the river you’re on harder and harder with the moves you choose until you can’t anymore. There are way to speed it up and one could feasibly do a skills checklist for progression, but the river sense only comes with experience. Great idea and a progression video is on the way for sure 🤙🏻
And as you stated in the video to develop effective paddle strokes is very important and eseayer to develop on easy rapids and so useful in big water.@@CleanLineKayaking
A classic ledge hole is in the middle of Lava Falls.
Does anyone know what wave is shown at 2:32?
bus eater rapid on the Ottawa's main channel. That wave is the one that turns into mini-bus 🤙
Which river is it at 11:07 and 11:31? Ottawa?
yup! Those clips were from the main channel of Ottawa at 18-19 ft on the gauge, some of the others were more like 16 ft
🤙🇺🇸🦅
In big water, what specific features (features you want to aim for and features you avoid) do you look for when boat scouting that likely provide the best line when you find yourself unclear of the correct line? That make sense? Lol
Good question. I primarily look for outflow and big fun features like tall waves and weird folds to boof for fun, but I’m extremely cautious of steep, powerful ledge holes hiding behind the waves and whirlpools tucked away in eddies or corners, and floating trees if it’s a flood stage river. Any time I’m cruising in a wave train, I take a scan of the horizon when I’m at the top of each wave, specifically looking for any sign of those three things. You can tell there’s a hole be a sudden gap in the waves or you’ll see the surging and splashing. If I go a few waves and can’t see or if my Spidey’s go off and I feel like I need a better look, I move over to the side outside of the action and take a quick scan from there. There are times when you need to scout, but usually it’s when you see significant gradient pick up or a group of ledge holes collide
@@CleanLineKayaking Ok, so scan the river when at the crest of waves. Haven’t thought of that. That’s cool! Makes sense! Thanks!
If one does end up trying to use the kayak as a surf board, would you think it best to try to lay on the deck as opposed to the hull since a kayak performs better when the hull is down? Or is it easier to hold onto the kayak with your belly on the hull? Just thinking out loud here 😅
@@jehu-kayak really just depends on the situation. Your boat will typically float better if it’s upside down with air trapped under it
@@CleanLineKayaking 👍🏼
Where’s the bomb proof your roll video😩
haha it's coming! So many edits on the way... they just take time and don't pay 🤙
Keep the hairy side up!