Explore, Connect, Laugh

Rivers are magical places that many people take for granted because they're inaccessible without certain skills and equipment.  Learning the basics of river kayaking offers you the freedom to get to know these unique environments.   Though you paddle your own kayak, river kayaking is a very social activity.  People who meet at the river tend to form strong bonds of friendship that connect them to each other and to the larger paddling community.

Getting started is easy.  We first match you to a boat from our fleet of over 75 state-of-the-art kayaks.  The key is to find a boat that is both comfortable and snug enough.  Since every person is built differently, it helps to have a lot of boats to try.

Next, we head to flatwater - generally a local lake or pond - where we show you how to get into and out of your kayak.  One of the most natural fears in a kayak is that you'll get trapped in the boat if you flip.  We deal with this in a few ways.

First, we use boats with keyhole cockpits that are designed specifically to make exiting easy.  Then we teach the wet exit as one of the first on-water skills. We start on dry land where you can take your time learning the three simple steps - tuck, pull, push.  When you do your first wet exit on the water your instructor will be right there with you talking you through it and helping if you need it.  

Most people find wet exiting much easier than they first imagine it will be, but if you're still not comfortable with it after a few tries, we have a fleet of whitewater sit on top kayaks that let you learn the same river moves without needing to wet exit if you flip.

Once everyone's comfortable with wet exiting, we work on strokes and maneuvers on flatwater.  We introduce strokes in a logical progression that allows students to build on success and we play lots of games as a means of reinforcing the strokes and making them automatic.

Then we head to the river for our first taste of moving water.  Starting in a calm area with mild current, we apply the skills we have taught on flatwater to the river environment, again by building step by step.   We teach eddy turns (how to stop in the river), peel outs (how to get going again), ferrying (getting from one side of the river to the other) and river running strategies.