RE: [Paddlewise] First Overnight; Paddling Advice Please

Shawn,

Well, I wouldn't exactly say white water kayakers avoid eddies.  They are
places of relative calm where you can rest on the river.   If you need to
scout a rapid and pick your line, you use an eddy.  When the group spreads
out too much and you need to regroup, you jump in an eddy.

In fact, the whole process of running a river is essentailly heading from
one eddy to another. 

Just as a good efficient forward stroke is the essence of enjoying sea
kayaking, comfort entering and exiting eddies is the essence of white water
kayaking.  When learning the sport, you spend many hours circling across
eddylines --- until the way it feels and how you need to lean the boat
becomes second nature.

This, by the way, is one of the benefits to a sea kayaker of learning at
least the basics of white water paddling.  After you get that gut feeling
for how to deal with eddies, tide rips and other  powerful current gradients
in the ocean stop being scarey and become just another feature of our
playground to respect and enjoy.

--Tim

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Shawn W. Baker [SMTP:baker_at_montana.com]
> Sent:	Tuesday, June 15, 1999 12:54 PM
> To:	Su Penn; PaddleWise_at_lists.intelenet.net
> Subject:	Re: [Paddlewise] First Overnight; Paddling Advice Please
> 
> Hi Su,
> 
> I'm a relatively inexperienced with whitewater kayaking, but I know that
> whitewater kayakers try to avoid eddylines unless doing tricks in them. 
> Eddylines can flip or tip a less stable whitewater boat, so WW paddlers
> generally try to cross them as quickly as possible.  On the other hand,
> this decreased stability area makes all sorts of tricks possible, so
> there is a whole other "school" of boaters that hangs out there, and in
> holes, waves, etc.
> 
> In my 17' sea kayak, running across the eddyline will rock you pretty
> good, but not dump me.  If you stay right next to it, you can usually
> move along at a pretty good clip.
> 
> Unfortunately, I've had to learn about paddling rivers with eddylines at
> the expense of not having a big lake or ocean nearby to play on.
> Shawn
> 
> Su Penn wrote:
> > This sounds about exactly right. Another list member suggested that I
> learn
> > to recognize the "eddy line" and stay on or outside it. Now I'm itching
> to
> > get back up to that river and give it another try! Around where I live,
> the
> > rivers are too slow to cause these kinds of problems.
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > 
> > Su
> 
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