Kayak Rafting for Beginners - What to Wear, What to Do, and Whom to Listen To

Catamaran and Kayak Steering, Clothing for Rafting So, you’ve decided to challenge yourself with extreme water tourism.

Of course, the best teacher is practice. Even for a simple boat outing with a girlfriend on a park pond, you should at least know how to properly handle paddles. All the more so when rafting on even a relatively easy mountain-taiga river. Real rafting is where you’ll acquire the necessary skills. Nonetheless, your training will progress faster and more successfully if you have at least some theoretical foundation; if you understand why a particular technique is used in certain situations.

First and foremost, you need to hammer into your head three fundamental principles that are simply indispensable to follow.

Without these principles, it’s unlikely you’ll ever become “one of the equals.”

Principle #1

Kayak Rafting, Packing Checklist Never argue with the captain’s decision on the water, even if it seems absurd to you.

First, you’re still a novice in the art of rafting. Second, experience shows that it’s better for the team to follow even a questionable decision than to start a dispute aboard.

The captain usually sits at the stern, making it easier for them to assess the boat’s position in relation to the current.

As a beginner, your only permissible involvement while in motion is to occasionally alert the captain.

For instance, you might say: “Submerged rock on the right” (“submerged rock” is a smooth, rounded stone partially hidden by water). Or: “Sharp rock on the left!” (a sharp rock could easily puncture the flotation chambers). In such cases, it’s appropriate to add a note of urgency to your voice.

Later, on the shore, when everyone has calmed down and emotions have subsided, you can ask the captain an innocent question: why did they order the team to go left instead of right?

Before tackling a major rapid, the entire team typically scouts and assesses it, discussing possible routes. As a beginner, it’s best to keep quiet and listen, trying to understand why a particular choice is made.

However, be prepared that the captain might change their decision on the water—and follow their instructions without question.

Principle #2

Catamaran Rafting Photo If, for some reason, you fall out of the boat and end up overboard, it’s not the most pleasant experience: the current will toss and spin you, making it hard to distinguish up from down.

Don’t panic, don’t flail, don’t make sudden movements—conserve the air in your lungs. After all, you’re wearing a life jacket, which will inevitably bring you to the surface.

And now for the unique twist of the second principle:

• Under no circumstances should you let go of your paddle.

Even if the paddle is wrenched away by the force of the current, the first thing you should do upon surfacing is to look for the paddle and, if it’s within reach, immediately make a dash for it.

Naturally, spare paddles (or at least additional blades) are usually brought along on trips.

But imagine how many spare paddles you’d need if they were lost with every capsize!

So, do your best to hold onto your paddle.

Principle #3

River Rafting Photo In the event of a flip, the crew must not let go of the boat. Even if the current separates you from it, aim for it as instinctively as a baby seeks its mother and grab hold.

This achieves two things: first, the kayak (and especially the catamaran) has much greater buoyancy and will help support you on the water.

And second, losing the boat is a disgrace that will haunt all involved!

What will you do on the trip if the nearest settlement is tens of kilometers away?

Therefore, you must protect your boat as if your life depends on it.

A Few Words About Gear

Clothing for River Rafting Of course, this is a matter of personal taste, but a few recommendations won’t hurt.

• A helmet is mandatory for rivers of the third category or higher—better safe than sorry.

• A life jacket is essential for any category. Life jackets come in inflatable and foam-filled varieties. Each has its pros, but inflatable ones take up less space in a backpack and can double as a pillow during overnight stops.

• The next important piece of gear is a wetsuit , either “dry” or “wet.” Take advice from a more experienced comrade, but always follow the main rule: keep the lower part of your body, especially your legs, as dry and warm as possible.

That’s why, under a wetsuit, it’s advisable to also wear woolen socks.

• Footwear, most likely – low-top sneakers or running shoes. The main thing is that they fit securely on your feet and don’t slip on wet rocks.

And finally, one last tip: attach a piece of sturdy foam to your paddle – this will help you follow principle #2.

Paddling Technique

Rafting on a mountain river
So, everything is packed, loaded, and tied down. The craft, like an impatient young horse, eagerly awaits the start.

By the way, both launching and docking at the shore are done bow-first, against the current. Never and by no means otherwise! Now it’s time to talk about paddle-handling technique.

• The key skill in this technique (and what you absolutely won’t master at first) is the ability to lean on the paddle against the water.

Yes, you can and should lean on the water! Rowing in the literal sense—working as hard as a draft horse—isn’t often needed.

While working in currents, waves, and drops, the paddle is almost never fully removed from the water. More often, the paddler “hangs” on it with most of their body weight.

Always start your stroke not in the trough between the waves but try to plunge the paddle into the crest of the wave.

Picture this: you are rapidly approaching an angled wave. If you just sit stiffly like a post – a capsize is almost inevitable.

You must lean forward, hook the paddle onto the crest of the wave, and shift your body weight onto the paddle.

In this way, your craft will easily ascend to the crest, and there, atop it, you’ll find yourself along with the craft.

• Another technique is called planting and is used by both kayakers and catamaran paddlers.

In the channel of a mountain river, there is no even flow across its entire width; there are always currents with different speeds.

There are also so-called “eddy pools” – areas of almost still water, sometimes with a slight reverse flow. These form when there’s a small bay at the shore, just a few meters long. Or when a large powerful rock juts into the water—there’s usually an “eddy,” or a “shadow,” formed right behind it.

It’s convenient to dock in a shore eddy (remember to dock bow-first against the current), and it’s preferable to hit the shadow to rest in the current or look around. Sometimes reaching the shadow is essential.

In an eddy

This maneuver is only possible with the help of planting. The craft closely passes by the rock, and the front paddler lunges as far as possible to the side, plunging their paddle vertically into the water immediately behind the rock. The paddler barely sits on the craft; they hang their entire weight on the paddle.

And the paddler’s job is to hold on! Hold on! Momentum pulls the craft forward, the paddle twists in their grip. But still – hold on! And if the rear paddlers help (and they will), your craft will pivot like a well-trained soldier around its axis and nestle into the shadow behind the rock. Mission accomplished, time for a break.

• The next technique, especially necessary for kayaks, is as follows. Let’s briefly set the scene.

So, you’re paddling in fast, powerful water. Suddenly, there’s a small eddy on the left, and the captain commands: “Dock!” The kayak changes course and heads toward the shore.

If you continue sitting as you were, as soon as the bow of the kayak enters the eddy, you’ll immediately… fall over! Think—on which side? Hopefully, you’ll guess correctly: you’ll fall downstream. Why downstream? It’s the same phenomenon as when a bus suddenly stops: the kayak’s hull is abruptly slowed by the nearly still water, and inertia causes your body to fall in the direction of movement.

On catamarans, the technique of “presenting the belly” is also used, though less prominently.

What should you do? It’s simple: when entering the eddy, the paddler sharply shifts to the side (in this case, to the left), leans on the paddle in the water, and “presents the belly” of the kayak to the current. Don’t worry—the captain will do the same. This way, you’ll dock calmly at the shore.

You’ve rested onshore, had a smoke, sipped some tea. The sun is still high, so it’s time to move on. To do this, you must exit the eddy into fast water. Again, when exiting, you need to “present the belly” to the flow, meaning the paddler must lean on the paddle, now downstream. As you can see, the technique is simple and uncomplicated; the trick is knowing just how far to lean, not overdoing it—otherwise, you risk simply falling into the water.

• The following considerations mainly pertain to catamarans for the simple reason that we’re talking about rapids of high difficulty categories, where kayaks are not used.

This concerns “holes.” What are they? Imagine a deep, steep drop, one, two, or three meters high. All the falling water flows downward, and immediately after the drop, a standing reverse wave forms, high and sharp. If the catamaran approaches correctly, it pierces this reverse wave.

Check out more gear for river rafting ->

To ensure success, the crew specifically speeds up to pierce the hole with confidence. Often, water envelops the crew entirely, but that’s normal—a moment later, you’ll find yourselves on the other side of the hole.

A \"step\" away from the hole
Alas, sometimes the catamaran doesn’t make it in time or fails to position itself correctly, and you fall into the hydraulic (recirculating current) sideways or partially sideways. In such cases, a flip is guaranteed. You won’t be able to break through the hydraulic, as the water falling on the catamaran from above will flip you like a twig, leaving the entire crew along with the vessel endlessly swirling in the hydraulic—neither here nor there, sometimes up, sometimes down. Breathing in the water-air whirlwind of a hydraulic is nearly impossible.

This is arguably the worst situation for a catamaran—getting stuck in a hydraulic. No special maneuvers can help; the only solution is to avoid such a scenario altogether. And to achieve this, you must keep working until the very end. Even if you have only one second left—or less—keep working! Work even in that second! The catamaran must be brought back on course!

Even if your technique isn’t perfect yet, if you give it your all until the very end, you’ll earn respect from others—“props to you,” as the youth like to say.

Of course, there are other technical and tactical rafting techniques. For instance, one could mention concepts like reverse speed, stream traversing techniques without losing altitude, or methods for navigating tight spots. You could also explore active and passive water safety techniques or how to right a capsized catamaran. But all of this will come with time, provided you don’t get cold feet on your first rafting trip—and provided you feel that spark inside you: I was able to do this, and I want to do more and do better!

Video

Check out the video—rafting down a mountain river on a catamaran:

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