Top 3 Defining Characteristics Of Whitewater Kayaks Explained

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February 23, 2016

Three people carrying whitewater kayaks through the woods — Carry on. | Photo: courtesy of Dagger

Ever lifted a tag on a whitewater kayak and wish you had a translator to interpret the jargon? Designer for Dagger Kayaks, Mark “Snowy” Robertson, knows his way around a boat—in production, on the water and in retail situations. He has been designing kayaks for almost 15 years and he’s keen to help you decipher the key design features of whitewater kayaks.

Here Robertson translates the top three defining design characteristics into tangible explanations to help you predict how that in-store beauty will perform on the water.

Ample bow volume and rocker, just like the Phantom, helps the Rewind resurface and maintain speed after drops, while its slicey, low-volume stern turns every eddyline into a play opportunity. | Photo: Scott MacGregor

Best Whitewater Kayaks For 2026

The kayak hull: decoded

“The hull of a boat is the most defining feature of a kayak, and the first you should look at,” says Robertson, because each hull shape will feel distinctly different on the water.

There are three distinct types of hulls in whitewater kayaks: planing hull, displacement hull and semi-displacement hull.

Planing hulls

Planing hulls have a flat surface on the bottom of the boat, commonly seen on playboats. The flat bottom of a planing hull will plow through the water at low speeds, but at higher speeds—such as when shooting down the face of a wave—it’ll skim on the surface and allow for spin.

[ For top picks and expert reviews, check out Paddling Magazine’s guide to the best whitewater kayaks here. ]

Displacement hulls

Displacement hulls are rounded, like the bottom of a banana, and push the water aside as they travel through it. You’ll see this design on most creek boats. The continuous curve of a displacement hull allows the paddler to track and edge easier, but its primary stability might feel lacking in comparison to a planing hull.

Semi-displacement hulls

The semi-displacement hull, a more recent design, is a combination of the two, with a slightly flat hull transitioning into a curve. Semi-displacement hulls are a compromise of sorts, offering some of the stability of a planing hull and a portion of the tracking of a displacement hull.

The kayak rocker: decoded

Rocker is the curvature of a boat from bow to stern—just look at the side profile of your kayak. The angle and amount of rocker affects the speed and maneuverability of your kayak in whitewater.

“Continuous rocker generally has front-to-back continuous curvature,” says Robertson. “Kick rocker has a sudden and more obvious transition that you see in playboats, aimed to give more of a pop and release on a wave.”

Generally, less rocker means more boat in the water and a longer waterline, equating to better tracking and more speed. Boats with less rocker are designed for more technical paddling, like steep creeks, says Robertson.

More rocker means less plastic touching the water, which makes the kayak more maneuverable, and more capable of riding up and over river obstacles.

[ 14 Expert Tips For Buying A Whitewater Kayak ]

The kayak rails: decoded

The rail of a whitewater kayak is the point where the hull meets the sidewall and is marked by a protruding edge that runs the length of the boat. Some paddlers will use the term edge interchangeably with rail.

“To separate the terms, I would say that an edge could be used to describe a defining location or hard point within a rail,” says Robertson. “A rail can be softer and more rounded, but an edge would be a hard transition surface within that rail.”

What’s important for a prospective buyer is this: Rails give you control in the water and allow you to carve, but catching an edge can also cause you to flip—instantly. The more aggressive your rails are, the more aggressively you can carve, and the more likely you are to end up underwater if you tilt the wrong way.

This article originally appeared in the 2016 Paddling Buyer’s Guide issue. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine and get 25 years of digital magazine archives including our legacy titles: Rapid, Adventure Kayak and Canoeroots.

Video: 80-Year-Old Paddles The Mississippi River Source To Sea

Videos

By

Paddling Magazine Staff

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February 23, 2016

Adventureitus Productions film crew followed Dale Sanders, the oldest man to ever thru-paddle the entire length of the Mississippi River. He turned 80 on the adventure summer of 2015. Dale Sanders was also raising money to bring awareness to Type II Juvenile Diabetes. Over $24,000 were brought in for research.

The film’s planned release is in 2016, and you can follow them on Facebook.

Video: Top Tips for Sea Kayak Rolling

By

Paddling Magazine Staff

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February 22, 2016

Master your sea kayak roll with advice from Dympna Hayes and James Roberts of the Ontario Sea Kayak Centre in Parry Sound, Ontario (ontarioseakayakcentre.com).

Follow their easy progression and nail this recovery technique.

The Ontario Sea Kayak Centre is based in Perry Sound, Ontario and provide beginner to advanced sea kayak instruction.

Watch THE CANOE an award-winning film that tells the story of Canada’s connection to water and how paddling in Ontario is enriching the lives of those who paddle there. #PaddleON.

Browning Wall, Vancouver Island

By

Neil Schulman

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February 19, 2016

According to Jacques Cousteau, it was the best marine life he ever saw in cold water.

“It” is the Browning Wall at the north end of Vancouver Island: a cliff-lined passage where complex currents whiz between remote Nigei and Balaklava islands, bringing a rich conveyer belt of nutrients to the intertidal life that clings to the rock walls. The sea stars and anemones are the size of dinner plates, not to mention oversized sea cucumbers, fiery-tipped sea slugs, spiny red urchins and scores of other creatures creating a vibrant living tapestry.

ALONG THE WALL WHEN THE SUN ROSE

I asked some friends to join me for a paddle to the wall at low tide. It was an easy sell, until they realized that low tide was at 6 a.m. Following a complex round of negotiations, promises to have coffee ready, pre-packing and setting alarms, we were along the wall when the sun rose. It was everything Cousteau had promised.

With the lustrous, low-angle morning light over my shoulder, I wedged my boat into a crevice next to three enormous sea stars, and waited for my friend Karen to paddle past. Setting my zoom lens to its widest angle, 35mm, created a strong sense of perspective. I kept the focus on the intricate texture of the cranberry-red sea stars in the foreground. Cousteau was right; in many years of mucking around in the rocky intertidal, I’ve never seen marine life like the Browning Wall.

This article originally appeared in the 2016 Paddling Buyer’s Guide issue.

Subscribe to Paddling Magazine and get 25 years of digital magazine archives including our legacy titles: Rapid, Adventure Kayak and Canoeroots.

Why Scientists Say A Canoe Is The Secret To True Happiness

By

Kaydi Pyette

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February 19, 2016

There’s an old, grey three-seater couch in my living room that needs replacing. My cat has lovingly tortured it for eight years, and it’s long since sagged under the weight of sleeping friends and winter evenings spent binging on adventure flicks.

Every couple months my partner and I talk about replacing it. Many friends our age have moved onto leather La-Z-Boys and chic sectionals. The three-seater is a bit of an eyesore and far too cramped for movie nights, requiring a game of Tetris for us both to lie down. Yet $1,500 seems like a lot for a couch—where’s the return on investment?

SPENDING MONEY ON EXPERIENCES, NOT THINGS

Fortunately, science is backing up my frugality. A recent study from Cornell University found that people are happier when they spend money on experiences, not things.

According to lead researcher Dr. Thomas Gilovich, experiences, rather than material goods, make us happier in the long run. This is contrary to what some people feel is true, since material goods last longer than individual experiences. Yet, the happy memories associated with a concert or ski trip last longer, creating more of a positive impact than the short-term happiness from a single purchase.

What’s really interesting is researchers found that even relatively bad experiences create happy memories—not a characteristic unique to canoeists. A camping trip of nothing but rain becomes a great opportunity for bonding, and an excellent story to tell. Stressful, uncomfortable and scary experiences can be turned into funny stories and later be seen as valuable learning experiences.

Not only does remembering past trips make us happy, so too does anticipating future experiences. Conversely, waiting for material possessions is fraught with impatience and frustration, according to Dr. Gilovich. Boxing Day sale riots at Wal-Mart anyone?

Maybe none of this is a surprise to paddlers, and perhaps the study only proves what we each intrinsically already know.

Maybe, like me, your favorite vehicle for experiencing the world isn’t upholstered, it’s buoyant, about 17 feet long, and available in a wide variety of materials and colors. Whether day-tripper or expedition boat, plastic banana or svelte racer, a canoe promises the same: Adventure. Exploration. Experience. Even relaxation.

My family and I still tell stories about camping vacations we spent together two decades ago. Ten years from now we’ll be telling some of the same stories, and many new ones. There’s not a single material possession that will withstand that test of time. No new couch, no matter how comfortable, will ever be talked about around the campfire.

You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy a boat—and isn’t that the same thing?

10 Tips for a Successful River Cleanup Day

Skills

By

Charles Ruechel

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February 18, 2016

Over the years, when Vernon, British Columbia-based Elements Adventure Co. owner/operator Charles Ruechel ran paddling river cleanups, he began to collect more than just trash. He collected a shortlist of invaluable tips that anyone can implement to easily execute their own river clean-up initiative. “A cleanup event can be so much more than just picking up garbage,” says Ruechel. “From the people you meet, to the gorgeous fall paddling, a cleanup event builds connections and relationships that are becoming so vital to protecting our waterways.” Use these tips to plan your own cleanup on your local waterway.

1. Let the locals know about it

Most people who own river-front property will be delighted to hear about your initiative. We even had one property owner offer to host a BBQ lunch for the participants. Building relationships between the various river users is always a good idea—you never know when you might need to use a nearby phone in a hurry, or want easy access to that sweet play-wave.

2. Schedule your clean-up event for the fall, or low-water season

The lower water will not only expose more garbage, it’s also safer to retrieve the trash that is hung up in log jams or on rocks.

3. Bring along at least one canoe

Having a tandem canoe in your team acting as the garbage barge makes picking trash fast and easy. Just toss the garbage in like a big dumpster. Alternatively, kayakers can act like the scouts that bring back the smaller bits back to the mother ship.

4. Arrange for the local municipality to get involved.

They will likely arrange for someone to meet you at the take-out to pick up the bags you’ve collected and pay for proper disposal. Make it easy on them and sort the recycling from the garbage.

5. Set time aside the week before to invite people

A personal phone call is the best way to enlist helpers. Let people know in advance then followup. Some paddlers seem to be reluctant to commit to anything too far in advance, so give your friends a call or personal email two days before. That way they won’t assume that, someone else is already helping.

6. Contact related local businesses for support

A local paddling shop or outdoor store may be happy to donate some prizes to give away at the end of the day for ‘most unusual item found’, or, ‘most heroic garbage retrieval’, etc. Don’t be shy to ask.

7. Make it a social, fun event that people won’t want to miss

This can be as simple as a riverside picnic at the end of the cleanup. This way even non-paddlers or families can take part.

8. Invite your Mayor, local MP, or other political figure to participate

This can be an amazing Public Relations opportunity for them and an opportunity for you to get our decision-makers to connect with the land. Chances are they’ll decline your invitation, but at least they’ll get the message that people care about having clean waterways.

9. Safety First

When hosting a public event, you’ll want to make it clear what kind of paddling skill is required, and chose an appropriate stretch of river. Make it mandatory that everyone wear a PFD at all times on the water. Having a lawyer draw-up a simple waiver of liability can be a good idea. Don’t be afraid to ask to have the waiver created for free. After all, you’re doing everyone a favor whether they know it or not.

10. Tally up at the end of the day

At the end of the day tally up the garbage weight, the number of bags, and make note of what you find. From three years of hosting a cleanup, our most unusual items collected from the river include an office chair and a climbing harness. This kind of information can be useful when writing a press release about the cleanup. Letting the public know about how much and what you collected can help bring awareness to our rivers how we use them.

As paddlers, we have the unique ability to clean up long stretches of shoreline from the comfort of our canoe or kayak seats, all within a matter of hours. So after a long season of paddling your favorite home-river, why not consider giving thanks for safe passage by cleaning up its shores before putting it to bed for the winter?

In addition to teaching river-canoeing in the Okanagan Valley, Elements Adventure Company specializes in guided whitewater canoe trips on the Upper Stikine River in Northern British Columbia: elementsadventures.com.

Video: How to Do Live Bait Rescue

By

Paddling Magazine Staff

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February 17, 2016

[iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/LPW6a5DPPCY” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen ]

Entering the water to grab a swimmer, while tethered to shore by a rope attached to your quick-release rescue belt, is a very effective technique. In this video, rescue instructor Jim Coffey shows how to set up and execute a live bait rescue safely. Remember, a video is a supplement to, not a substitute for, hands-on training classes.

Video: Rescue a Runaway Kayak in Whitewater

By

Paddling Magazine Staff

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February 16, 2016

Learn to rescue a runaway boat with Thea Froehlich from the Madawaska Kanu Centre (owl-mkc.ca/mkc). This is an essential skill for anyone paddling continuous rivers where a swim could lead to loss of gear or a long and difficult hike out.

Photo: Under the Midnight Sun in Iceland

By

Kaydi Pyette

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February 16, 2016

Hot springs, volcanoes, moonlike landscapes and a surprisingly common belief in elves are just some of the unique features that bring close to a million tourists to Iceland each year. For professional photographer and paddleboarder, Franz Orsi, it was the endless summer days and opportunity to shoot surf, river and lake paddling all in one location that brought him to the land of ice and fire.

On a road trip around the small island nation, the globetrotting Starboard athlete experienced some of the warmest days Iceland offers (a sweltering 60 degrees Fahrenheit), as well as days that bottomed out at just 41 degrees Fahrenheit, with water temperatures hovering around the same.

“Everything about the trip was extreme—extreme weather, extreme landscape, and everything changes super quickly.” says Orsi.

Orsi got in touch with Iceland’s very small community of surfers (“Not more than 20 or 25,” he says) and contacted its four windsurfers to get beta on the best spot to catch surf. “None of them had tried standup before. One of the guys was very interested and started paddling afterwards—he’s probably the first standup paddler in Iceland,” jokes Orsi.

This photo was taken shortly after midnight near the shore of a glacial lagoon. Though there had been perfect surf and light for photos, the water was full of ice. “It was so close to the glaciers that little bits of ice were floating in the water and extremely sharp,” says Orsi.

In this photo, Orsi and road trip partner and pro surfer, Filippo Orso, are seen just after their surf session. “He’s making fun because of the size of my board of course,” says Orsi. It was a spontaneous moment—“two people sharing passion for the water, but divided by their passion for their own sports.”

While Orsi loves capturing on-water action, it’s off the water where the magic happens. “What’s been really interesting to me about standup is documenting the lifestyle. It’s related to the crazy action sports, but there’s also another side of the sport, of exploration and enjoyment.”

Standup paddling offers new perspectives of looking at the world, says Orsi. “It enables me to get to places and into situations that I would never go. It’s such a simple way of travel—even rudimentary—that it breaks down barriers with people I’d otherwise never meet.”

In his minimalist travel kit, Orsi packs two Nikon digital SLRs, a waterproof-housing unit, and two lenses, including a telephoto.

“There’s no way to shoot a standup trip with a lot of gear,” he says. “There’s a saying I always have in mind before a trip: pack light and you’ll go farther.” See more of Orsi’s work on Instagram at @supnomad.

This article originally appeared in the 2016 Paddling Buyer’s Guide issue.

Subscribe to Paddling Magazine and get 25 years of digital magazine archives including our legacy titles: Rapid, Adventure Kayak and Canoeroots.

Kayaks Should Come With Warning Labels. Here’s Why

By

Virginia Marshall

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February 12, 2016

Kayaks should come with warning labels.

I don’t mean the standard sort of cautionary risk disclaimer (the sort you’ll find in the masthead of Paddling Magazine):

Paddling and other activities described and illustrated herein are inherently dangerous and could result in serious bodily injury, including disability and death. Do not attempt without proper supervision, training and safety equipment…yada, yada, yada…

While it’s the head’s-up our litigious society demands, it doesn’t do much to sell the sport and, more than that, it seems kinda obvious in the way that “don’t stick a fork in an electrical outlet” and “look both ways” are by the time you’re old enough to read mouseprint.

No, I only wish someone had warned me that kayaking would take over my life. Consume my daydreams, holidays, basement, bookshelves and career. I would have started paddling sooner.

We’re used to negative advisories on things we might want to avoid: violent movies and video games, cigarettes, alcohol, profanity-strewn records, bear-plagued campgrounds. But here’s a thought—how about slapping portentous labels on good things?

Sleeping bags and pads—who needs a bed and sheets? Kayaks and canoes—I am being productive, I’m going paddling. This Buyer’s Guide—Honey, I’ve found the perfect, high-return investment for our nest egg!

Warning labels work by getting our attention and triggering psychological and emotional responses. In the case of labels on controlled substances like tobacco, a recent study by Cancer Council Victoria, in which researchers surveyed smokers in the U.S., Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, found that larger labels that included images were most effective at capturing smokers’ attention. Simply trying not to look doesn’t help, says the study’s author, “This just goes to prove the idea that the more one tries not to think of something, the more one tends to focus on it.”

Adventure Kayak and Paddling Buyer’s Guide readers, of course, already know this. Photos of happy, adventurous kayakers plying scenic coasts trigger overwhelming urges to drop everything and go paddling.

Paddling will make you a crusader for this watery planet. Will make you care deeply about aquatic and oceanic ecology and every other environment on our bluish-greenish-brownish globe. May shift the way you think, shop, drive, dress, work and vote.

There’s another advisory we could put on boats, but maybe we should keep it under our hats for now. Paddling will make you a crusader for this watery planet. Will make you care deeply about aquatic and oceanic ecology and every other environment on our bluish-greenish-brownish globe. May shift the way you think, shop, drive, dress, work and vote. Mind-altering, life-changing stuff.

It’s no coincidence our long-time columnists and contributors often share their concern for our society’s shift out of nature and into cubicles, and the estrangement of the next generation from wild places.

So turn the pages and dive in, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. If kayaks and paddling magazines came with this “lifestyle advisory,” it might read something like this:

Attention: Kayaking is addictive and is a leading cause of good health, mental wellbeing, and meaningful relationships with friends, family and nature. Paddlers may experience cravings and emotional highs after brief exposure. Prolonged use can result in enlightenment, heightened fitness, and environmental awareness and appreciation. Enjoy!

Recirc is a column celebrating our favorite stories from 20 years of Adventure Kayak, Rapid and Canoeroots. This article first appeared in the 2016 Paddling Buyer’s Guide.

This article originally appeared in the 2016 Paddling Buyer’s Guide issue.

Subscribe to Paddling Magazine and get 25 years of digital magazine archives including our legacy titles: Rapid, Adventure Kayak and Canoeroots.