The Importance of Scouting

Scouting in kayaking does not involve merit badges and soap carving. 

The act of looking at and examining a rapid from every possible angle is an important learning tool. If you'r ever paddling with someone who is running a rapid for the first time and they say "Let's just bomb through it," you might want to reconsider who your paddling partners are.

Even if you've run a rapid numerous times, there's great value in getting our of your boat, walking the shore to the drop and analyzing the water as it pours over and around the rocks of the river bed. Choose the line you'll aim for once you get back in. Listen to other paddlers talk about their lines. Watch them try to stick it. See how closely they come to running their lines and watch which parts of the river make them either blow it or run it flawlessly.

The river can be like an open book. But you have to be willing to accept the knowledge it gives you.

Scouting a rapid helps you learn to read water. It can teach you to decipher the difference between a hole and a wave.

What's causing the feature? Is it a ledge or a boulder?

How strong is the hydraulic created by the feature? Is the hole a strong recirculator, or will it flush you if you fall into it?

Will I need to boof over it, or can I punch straight through it?

These are all important questions, and if you can learn to answer them, then the language of the river will start to look a lot more like English than Mandarin or French.

The more important question is, will you do your home work and learn to speak the language?