Whitewater Kayaking
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Outdoor Pursuits – C.W. Perry 1 Whitewater kayaking Whitewater kayaking is the sport of paddling a kayak on a moving body of water, typically a whitewater river. Whitewater kayaking can range from simple, carefree gently moving water, to demanding, dangerous whitewater. River rapids are graded like ski runs according to the difficulty, danger or severity of the rapid. Whitewater grades (or classes) range from I or 1 (the easiest) to VI or 6 (the most difficult/dangerous). Grade/Class I can be described as slightly moving water with ripples. Grade/Class VI can be described as severe or almost unrunnable whitewater (classic example: Niagara Falls). Design Sea Kayak Modern Play Boat The kayak (or just 'boat') used in casual whitewater kayaking is different from those used in Sea Kayaking. Traditionally, kayaks were made of animal skins stretched over wooden frames. Early whitewater boats were fiberglass or kevlar, and this is still preferred for racing due to the light weight, but most modern whitewater boats are typically rotomoulded from a tough plastic that is slightly flexible and very durable, if easily scratched. Boats can range in size from barely long enough to hold the paddler (around 5 ft long), up to 12 ft or longer. History Paddling on rivers, lakes and oceans is as old as the stone age. The raft, the catamaran, the canoe and the kayak evolved depending on the needs and environment of the indigeneous people in different parts of the world. The modern day kayak most likely originated about 8000 years ago along the Siberian coast line by the Yukips and then transformed from the open canoe, via the Aleuts and Inuits, into an enclosed kayak. Simplified, all the ethnic groups of the entire polar region are called Eskimos and their various boat versions Eskimo kayaks/canoes. The Greek, Herodutes, 484-425BC, wrote in his travel diaries about boats with which merchandise was brought from Armenia to Babylon. The boats were made of a wooden framework that was covered with animal skins. Mules hauled the precious skins back to Armenia. The German, Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff, reported from his trip around the world (1803-07) on the ease and elegance of paddling Eskimo kayaks/canoes. The Scott, Mac Gregor, came back from his American trip full of excitement about the kayak/canoe and in 1860 started building 6 boats that closely resembled Eskimo canoes/kayaks, weighing app. 80lbs. In 1866 he published the book "A Thousand Miles in the Roy Rob Canoe". The timing was right. The book became a resounding success. With the Leisure Time Revolution in the middle of the 19th century, people in Europe started to enjoy floating down rivers in all kinds of contraptions taking in nature previously only available to a selected few. • 1905 Alfred Heurich, an architect student from Leipzig, Germany, invented the “Faltboot”, a folding Kayak called Folboat in the US. Heurich went on to paddle over 100,000 KM on rivers. Outdoor Pursuits – C.W. Perry 2 • 1907 Alfred Klepper, a master seamster from Rosenheim, bought the patent, improved the rigidity with a lever system and started production. Born was the Western Civilization's invention of a paddle craft that for the first time in human history allowed hardy enthusiasts to see wild river sections and canyons never before seen by the human eye. The design made it not only suitable for whitewater (WW) but also easy to travel with and affordable. World War I stopped any progress. Off to an adventure with boat, gear, clothes and food to last for weeks • 1920s boating on WW with Folboats developed. Boaters flocked to rivers and lakes by train or bus. During that time, the Austrian, Hans Edi Pawlata reinvented the Eskimo-roll. • 1927 Franz von Alber, and then, Klaus and Arndt von Rautenfeld, claimed to have independently developed a roll with their sea kayaks. • Early 1930s, Walter Frentz, Herbert Rittlinger and a handful of others became pioneers and advocates of WW Kayaking with documentaries and books. • 1933 Hitler started to dissolve Kayak Clubs. They did not serve his plan. The impact on the sport was devastating. World War II brought the paddle sport to a total halt. On the way to the put-in with 2 Folboats by train, bus and finally a Rent-a-Mule. Photo by: Veit Schomber • 1946/48 Depending on the region, the Allies gradually lifted the ban on river travel in Germany. Paddle Clubs were again allowed to form. • 1952 Walter Frentz, published an inspiring book “In den Schluchten Europas” (In the Canyons of Europe) that gained popularity. The book was based on his river trips prior to WW II. Publications in those days told great stories with awesome pictures of first descents but with little information regarding river conditions. The tough times of the post war era had come to an end and people traveled abroad again looking for adventures with Folboats and Canoes. • 1955 Herbert Baschin in Stuttgart built the first Polyester/Fiber Kayak. Despite the much improved maneuverability and material, Baschin’s hard shell was received with skepticism by paddle sport enthusiasts who were in love with their folboats and depended on public transportation. The ice broke when owning an automobile became affordable. The hard shell Kayak was easily hauled to rivers and remote put-ins that were not accessible before. In the late 60's the WW sport started from Europe to spread around the world and transformed from adventure trips into a hardcore sport. With it came safety consciousness and protective gear. To see how the sport changed within a few years from 1957 to 1963 click this link: http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=kEy0HoEZ9M4 • 1973 Tom Johnson, a racer and trainer from Kerndale CA designs and markets the `Hollowform' : the first roto-molded polyethylene boat. It was mass-produced by a garbage can manufacturing company. These `virtually indestructible ' boats revolutionized the sport, and quickly took off in California. Paddlers no longer had to constantly repair their boats during and after trips. They Outdoor Pursuits – C.W. Perry 3 began to be able to use rocks as part of the strategy of negotiating difficult rapids. Hard runs became more accessible to less-skilled paddlers. • 1980 Prijon in Rosenheim introduced Polyethylene to Europe which made WW boating virtually maintenance and repair free in giant contrast to the “Faltboot” which had started it all. • 1980 Holger Machatschek, together with ESKIMO in Landsberg, developed the first 2,20m playboat called Topolino which galvanized kayaking into many new and exciting forms of extreme sports. Types of Kayaking River Running This can be thought of as a tour down a river, to enjoy the scenery as well as experiencing challenging whitewater. River running includes short day trips as well as longer multi-day trips. Multi-day kayak trips often entail the use of gear-toting rafts to allow a more comfortable experience without a heavily-laden kayak. Whitewater Racing is the competitive aspect of this sub- category, racing canoes or kayaks down a river as fast as possible. Creeking Creeking is perhaps best thought of as a subcategory of River Running, involving very technical and difficult rapids, typically in the Grade/Class IV to VI range. While people will differ on the definition, creeking generally involves higher gradient (approaching or in excess of 100 feet per mile), and is likely to include running ledges, slides, and waterfalls on relatively small and tight rivers, though some will allow for very large and big volume rivers in their definition. Kayaks used for creeking usually have higher volume (more gallons or liters of displacement) and more rounded bow and stern, as these features provide an extra margin of safety against the likelihood of pinning, and will resurface more quickly and controllably when coming off larger drops. Creek boats usually have increased "rocker," or rise, on the bow to go up and over obstacles and obstructions within the river. Extreme racing is a competitive form of this aspect of whitewater kayaking, in which kayakers race down steep sections and or generally dangerous sections of whitewater. Slalom A technical competitive form of kayaking, and the only whitewater event to appear in the Olympics. Racers attempt to make their way from the top to the bottom of a designated section of river as fast as possible, while correctly negotiating gates. There are usually 18-25 gates in a race which must be navigated in sequential order. Playboating Outdoor Pursuits – C.W. Perry 4 Also known as Freestyle or Rodeo, is a more gymnastic and artistic kind of kayaking. While the other varieties of kayaking generally involve going from Point A to Point B, playboaters often stay in one spot in the river (usually in a hole, pourover or on a wave) where they work with and against the dynamic forces of the river to perform a variety of maneuvers. These can include surfing, spinning, and various vertical moves (cartwheels, loops, blunts, pistol and donkey flips, and many others), spinning the boat on all possible axes of rotation. More recently, aerial moves have become accessible, where paddlers perform tricks having gained air from using the speed and bounce of the wave. Kayaks used for playboating generally have relatively low volume in the bow and stern, allowing the paddler to submerge the ends of the kayak with relative ease. Competitions for playboating or freestyle are sometimes called whitewater rodeo in the US, but more frequently just referred to as freestyle events in UK and Europe. Techniques Paddle Strokes A variety of different paddle strokes are used to guide, propel and turn the boat in various ways.