Elemental energy, Gravity expressed in moving Water, gathers into the Blade travels up the Shaft into the Hands spiraling through Bone, Tendon, Muscle, Heart - a vortex of elemental and life forces - releasing through the Feet into the Board and back to Water ... then back the other way in a pulsing, alternating current of energy.
Being able to spot and catch an eddy in the midst of a whitewater rapid not only opens up a world of play, it also increases the safety of you and your paddling companions. Armed with this skill you can choose to stop nearly anywhere in a rapid to rest, prepare for a rescue, or just scout your next move. Performing that eddy turn with a tail pivot gives you access to smaller and more dynamic eddies. It also feels and looks way more awesome.
Before experimenting with pivot turning into whitewater eddies start with mastering pivot turns on flat water. Watch your posture - keep your body aligned more vertically than is common for flatwater SUP with you hips tucked forward and head up. Also work on smoothly moving your feet into position - if you have a longer board check out my post on Cross Stepping. Remember to have your paddle in the water and loaded to maintain control whenever you move a foot.
Not all eddies are appropriate for a TAIL pivot turn. If the eddy is especially shallow and rocky beware damaging your board or fins. A flat turn or the more challenging NOSE pivot turn may be a better choice for shallow eddies.
The following video tutorial demonstrates a "toe-side" eddy turn on a 7'6" inflatable board. Enjoy - and let me know if this is helpful.
Need more direct instruction, coaching, feedback? Book me through Mountain River Guides on the Nolichucky and French Broad Rivers near Asheville, NC.
Check out the video at the bottom of this article,
Riding a Wheelie on Whitewater
Inviting the energy of a river current onto the tail of the board is one of my favorite things to do. Once I dial-in the balance and control points for a particular board there is an amazing sensation. A delicate weightlessness as the board joins with the flow. All you have to do is maintain posture and balance and work with the currents.
The most brilliant thing about whitewater SUP is the freedom of movement. With all other whitewater craft - canoes, kayaks, rafts - paddlers generally brace or strap themselves into a stationary position. The paddler "wears" the boat for maximum control. But leaning the boat's hull forward, backward, left and right can only happen with great effort. Unattached and standing on a paddleboard we can focus our weight anywhere on the board at any moment to carve on a rail, pivot into an eddy, accelerate down a wave, and perform other maneuvers. This "unattached" freedom completely changes your paddle's effective range of motion as well as your control of the board.
Last year on a perfect summer Sunday afternoon I accepted an invitation to a small pond party near Stuart, VA. "And bring a paddleboard or two if you can!"
And so I did bringing two heavy but incredibly stable Jackson Kayak SUPs designed for navigating rivers... which I don't think I actually paddled at all because both my friends and their kids kept them occupied almost constantly on the 2 acre spring-fed pond. Instead, I got to paddle a couple beautiful and lightweight but less stable boards brought by other guests. While my middle-aged peers had been paddling with cautious, rigid bodies taking great care to remain upright and dry I was dancing around and falling off the more nimble boards more than anyone other than the kids. The kids got it. And eventually a couple of my older friends got it too. The effect of all this falling in the water? More relaxed paddlers experimenting with movement when on their feet and both risking and accepting falls into the cool safety of the deep pond water ... all without any "instruction" other than a little playful modeling from me.
Only those who have patience to do simple things perfectly ever acquire the skill to do difficult things easily. ~James J. Corbett
Long ago - when I was still on my knees in a canoe - I discovered the Ferry Ledge. Just a simple little riffle on a flat bit of the Dan River next to the Dan River Company where I work and hang out. Often on quiet evenings after work - when there weren't other demands on my time - I could pull a boat I kept stashed under the building and spend half an hour quietly gliding, carving, and just "being" with the river.
Two recent articles in national media (CNN and SUPtheMag.com) have described whitewater SUP as awkward and clumsy ... but impressive. The fact is that there are actually plenty of awesome paddlers out there - not just the pros - who are consistently demonstrating the sublime beauty of Dancing on Whitewater Rivers.
This little video is my first contribution to a growing body of knowledge on stand-up paddling moving water not just with safety and basic competence - but with STYLE. The venue for this demonstration is a little class 2 section of the Mayo River on the North Carolina/Virginia border - a wonderful place to work on fundamentals that you can take to class 3 and harder water.
One of the principals that all whitewater canoe paddlers - those on their knees with single-bladed paddles - must learn is the value of keeping the paddle blade in the water as much as possible. With each plateau in a paddler's development - as water difficulty intensifies and boat stability decreases - it seems like the "blade down" principle must be learned again and again.
As I've explored whitewater SUP this principal has been slow to take hold in my habits. Too often I catch myself "air-bracing" or using the paddle as a balance pole. I can confidently report that air bracing and paddle waving in general are ineffective on dynamic currents, waves and hydraulics. At best the "air brace" offers a dramatic flourish to your ensuing plunge.
Learning to navigate a standup paddleboard on a river will eventually involve losing your balance and falling from time to time. Unfortunately your landing zone in the river bed will most likely be full of rocks.
Falling on rocks hurts.
Duh.
As with skiing, mountain biking and other adventure sports the more you challenge yourself the more you are exposed to potential injury. If you're not prepared to accept this risk, stick to the "Bunny Slopes" on lakes and flat, barely moving rivers. This article part of the series, Project Ww'SUP.
One of the most important skills I practice for WWSUP is foot work. Not just where to put them and when, but the more fundamental skill of moving around the board intuitively. For instance, the brain decides that we're going to carve around the shoulder of a hydraulic and head off to the right to avoid a bigger hole just downstream. Ideally the body automatically responds by switching from an offset stance to right-aligned stance. In that moment you are also paying attention to blade placement, the board's edges, and where your body weight is and where it needs to shift next. That's a LOT to deal with in the moment.
