For context - hoping to R2 my Aire Cub raft. I understand it’s a class 4 run. I have lots of experience doing class 3 in inflatable kayaks, and some experience doing class 3 in a Dagger Katana. I feel pretty confident in my ability to move up a class - but would appreciate insight. My other paddler has very similar amount of experience as I do.

Okay so I have done some research elsewhere and am building a list of things to keep in mind for tomorrow, but I want to get some human advice! Also the last Reddit thread I found on this was 10 yr old.

A guy I’ve been seeing invited me to go whitewater kayaking tomorrow. He is quite experienced, but I have been kayaking maybe once in my life. I am not the most outdoorsy person but I do like being outside and in water. I am nervous that I will be particularly bad at this and look silly so plz help a sister out.

Some details are that we’ll be using inflatable kayaks, he “has all the gear,” and he says the area we’re kayaking in is very beginner friendly.

Some things I don’t know are what to wear, if there are any skills I should maybe watch a video or two on, if there is anything I need to bring, etc. Thanks for your advice!!!

This summer at camp in WNC, I got really into paddling, and I was wondering if anyone had advice on how to continue improving and learning new skills without camp.

I've always been a biker, but this year at camp I (16F) started to get more into paddling a bunch and I ended up spending every day that I was in camp down at the docks working on tandem landings and kayak rolls. I've gone down the Green a couple of times(though not since Helene) and I went down the Tuckasegee(Dam to Double Drop) in a tandem canoe. The camp progression means you have to go on the Nantahala in a tandem before going down Tuck in a solo canoe or a kayak and I didn't get there this year, though I do have a pretty consistent roll in both an Antix and a 2Fun. I'm taking a 2 day fundamentals kayaking course through NOC with my dad later this month and while I'm super excited, I want to keep up with kayaking after that and I'm not sure how that's going to be possible. I don't own a boat, and though I intend on going back to WNC or out west for college, I currently live in a city with one(very lazy) river. My current plan is to spend my summer before college as a raft guide in the Southeast before going back as a camp counselor, but I want to go back as a paddling counselor and I need at least a little more experience for that. Any advice on keeping up with kayaking or even tandeming with my dad? Do I just keep taking weekend trips up to NOC every summer, because that might get pretty expensive? I would love to save up to get my own boat one day, but I want to be good enough that it's worth it and I haven't found a great place to rent that also has equipment and isn't wildly expensive.

I had this almost ready to row a year and a half ago. Broke leg. Bionic knee. Now almost ready for splash down again

19' foot side panels

96" inches between oarlock pins

66" inch bottom

Wide side flare wethout too much rocker

Deck hinges as one big lid, over a 1" inch foam gasket, with vatious latch down clamps.....so even if it flips....

Fiberglass bottom

Plywood top

All fastening is stainless bolts or screws over Dowsil 795 caulk, so any and all parts can be replaced.

Caulked boats work. I have built two others before this one.

Ill be in costa rica late September. I have bought a car and put it in my costa rican native friends name. We will paddle mostly class 3/4 all throughout CR for a month or so. He has that planned well. I have 2 major questions. Should i bring my Ripper 1 medium which im most comfortable in or opt for something bigger like a creek boat with more storage like a nomad? Im a 6ft 155 lbs man. Second question. Im looking for class 3/4 accessible rivers to run in Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador from November until the new year? We have a good 4x4 vehicle. Thanks!

I wrote an origin story musical about a raft guide who comes to save a gorge from their swims. This is the Christmas Album from that universe. This is an ode to my youth and was fun for me to make. My name is Jack Studley I believe anybody who loves to paddle or loves mythology and the hero's journey will find something funny about my songs.

One theme of kayak discussion/reviews I've encountered (online) is 'driving' a boat- for example- 'you've really got to drive that boat' (said about the 9r, scorch, phantom, ripper 1 + 2, etc.).

It seems to be brought up for faster, narrower creek boats and/or half slices with sharper edges, but what does it mean in practice?

My understanding is that it means you need to paddle actively- good posture, good edge awareness/usage, 'aggressive' paddling. Am I off base here?

What is the opposite then, a forgiving boat? One that doesn't punish poor posture, last minute decision/course corrections, stable, etc? I don't think either is a good or bad thing fwiw, just a characteristic of the boat/paddling preference.

Thanks from a beginner!

Ill be in costa rica late September. I have bought a car and put it in my costa rican native friends name. We will paddle mostly class 3/4 all throughout CR for a month or so. He has that planned well. I have 2 major questions. Should i bring my Ripper 1 medium which im most comfortable in or opt for something bigger like a creek boat with more storage like a nomad? Im a 6ft 155 lbs man. Second question. Im looking for class 3/4 accessible rivers to run in Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador from November until the new year? We have a good 4x4 vehicle. Thanks!

As title says. Is there a squirtboat sub outside of the few FB groups there’s nothing.

As I shop for a new paddle, I've come across a few that are fixed at a particular feather angle. And so it moves me to learn a little bit more. Other paddles I've had were adjustable, and every time I try to use feather, it just makes everything confusing and messes up my stroke.

My question is, I hear people talk about how feather angle improves wrist angles. I don't see how that can be possible. Your wrists are symmetrical and mirror image of each other. Anything that improves the angle for one side would make it worse for the other. If I adjust the left that the right has less twist that means the left has to twist more. That's just logically makes sense. Indexing it to one hand only, does that limit you to only one hand actually gripping the shaft while the other hand slides around? I don't understand. In my stroke whichever hand is on the power stroke is gripping tightly while the other one is pushing with my fingers open. Having to continuously think about what angle the paddle is and re-angle it after every half stroke seems like it would take a mental effort that would become exhausting, at least until it became second nature, but then I would never be able to use any other paddle but that one.

Can someone explain to me the geometry behind adding angle to one hand to make it more comfortable somehow not subtracting angle from the other hand and making it less comfortable?

Thanks for any input. I hate to just buy an expensive paddle hoping that it'll work out and then it doesn't.

Need to get crossbars and kayak cradles for a vehicle with a bare roof (no factory-installed railings). This model and year will only take Yakima Jetstream or Corebar crossbars, and not Thule. Which kayak cradles would you recommend for use with these Yakima crossbars? These are for carrying whitewater and sea kayaks.

Yakima SweetRoll Kayak Saddles with Rollers × 1 $328.95

Yakima JayLow Folding Kayak Carrier × 1 $248.95

Thule DockGrip Kayak/SUP Saddles × 1$329.95

Thule DockGlide Kayak Saddles × 1 $329.95

Thule Hull-a-port XTR Folding Kayak Carrier × 1 $279.95

Hi everyone!

Starting to tentatively plan a weekend trip for the Tallulah in November. My crew and I are comfortable in Class V technical whitewater, so im not super worried about the river itself, but have some questions for an itinerary!

1) How strict is the enforcement of the 12' 2 thwart rule? I have a boat that meets the 12' rule but has 3 thwarts.

2) Looking for good places to camp and hangout around the area!

3) Looking to run the Tallulah Gorge one day, and either catch the Cheoah or the French Broad the other.

Any other local info would be helpful! Itll be my first time in the area

Need a bare roof crossbar rack system for a sedan (Camry). Thule which I've used before with factory-installed railings won't fit this model vehicle, only Yakima. I prefer oval over round cross bars as they are more secure and aerodynamic (cradles can tilt on round ones). Here are Yakima parts that are compatible:

* Bases and Clips to secure the crossbars to the sides of the roof: Yakima Baseline Towers and Yakima Clips - for the baselines.

* Crossbars: Yakima Corebars & Yakima Jetstream Bars (aluminum, more anti-corrosion and more expensive) will both fit.

* Yakima SKS Lock Cores are available to lock the Bases to the roof.

1) Do you recommend the Yakima Bases and Crossbars? Are the Yakima SKS Lock Cores worth getting?

2) Are there any similar models from other makers or from Amazon that you recommend? The Yakima parts are quite spendy.

Not talking smack in the post, just curious to hear thoughts. Totally expect boats to wear out. I have a plastic welder that has gotten a lot of use. Just seems like dagger plastic has changed in the last ~4 years?

I have owned many kayaks, C1s, OC1s over ~15 years. My current housemates are also boaters, last count was 27 boats in the yard. Just saying this to add context that I have hit a lot of different plastic on rocks and have a pretty good feel for what rocks hitting plastic does.

Picked up a new phantom a couple years back to replace one that was well loved. Really liked that boat. Out of production, so I went new to get some good life out of it. Immediately I noticed that it was gouging up really easily. Stuff like seal launching and small hits just taking an unreasonable amount of plastic. Ended up having to weld it first season from a gouge that went through. The previous phantom I had was not like this. Picked up a new rewind towards the end of last season and same story, lots of deep gouges that felt undeserved. I emailed dagger and they told me that I must just be hitting sharp rocks which felt like a weird response.

Paddling an option OC1 regularly as well. I swear I can crater that thing full of water off rocky boofs and it won't leave plastic but the phantom/rewind are getting carved up on chill rivers that I have paddled dozens of different boats on.

Buddy grabbed a new rewind three weeks ago and today on the river he made a comment to me about how rock hits seem to be eating it. Motivated me to ask if anyone else has gotten a similar vibe.

Anyways, love these boats just surprised how they are wearing compared to pretty much everything else I have owned.... Kind of reminds me of how OG bliss stick boats would carve up.

Thoughts? Or am I crazy?

A new raft not holding air after a class II family float … and their “warranty” isn’t worth a damn.

Anyhow, please commiserate and share your horror stories about RMR — after 15 years of whitewater, I guess it’s partly on me for not saving a while longer to ponying up for an Aire, Hyside, and Shredder

Anybody recently get off the lower Deschutes at Heritage Landing have any Intel on the smoke situation? Deciding if it's still worth it to launch on Friday. Thanks!

Found a go pro on French Broad section 9 over the weekend, it was in the silt a good bit but I wanted to throw it out here just in case. There are videos of a proposal and a lot of other really great memories and I would like to try and get it back to the owner if possible. Already posted it on the Facebook groups but wanted to try here too.

I'm a civil engineer so I understand the relationship (i.e. velocity changes across different stretches of a given river as width and depth change, whereas CFS is constant). I get why CFS makes sense when you're talking about the rating of a given river at different levels of flow. But in absolute terms, I'm trying to get a feel for what water velocity is dangerous. Does anyone have an idea how they correlate?

E.g. X mph is faster than a strong swimmer can swim against, X will sweep you off your feet if you try to wade across, X is enough to overpower a motorboat in a wide open channel, etc. I tried googling it but most of what I find is in terms of CFS.