Whitewater paddling

The roar of the river only partly masks the pounding of your heart and the rush of blood in your ears. You check the straps on your helmet and your PFD, and the ones that hold you in the canoe. Then push off, and feel the elemental force of flowing water claw at craft. Suddenly, you're sucked into Mother Nature's amusement park. A roller coaster ride without the grab handles, bumper cars with teeth, a pinball machine with you riding and guiding the bouncing ball.

Like alpine skiing or downhill mountain biking, whitewater canoeing offers an addictive adrenaline rush that comes from pushing to the edge of your abilities.

Earlier, you plotted and memorized a line through this boulder-strewn minefield. Now your mind tries to grasp the details as tightly as your white-knuckled hands grip the paddle shaft.

"Right around this first boulder, aim for that slot between the bank eddy and the haystack. Now left, Left, LEFT! into that big eddy. Lean, draw hard! Okay, now you can breathe again. Ferry across to avoid the sweeper. Breathe again. Peel out...lean, you fool, or you're going over! Okay, we're safe, let's have some fun in that standing wave."

Whether you're just learning to avoid the only rock in a long riffle, or tackling Class IV whitewater in an open canoe, the essential challenge of whitewater canoeing is sharpening skills on the whetstone of the flowing water.

But don't take my word for it. Try it yourself.

Where to go to learn

Experience is not the best teacher. Jumping into any old canoe and pushing off into whitewater is a recipe for disaster.

First, make sure you have the right equipment. That includes:

• a PFD (personal flotation device)
• a protective wet or dry suit if the water is cold (and at this time of year, it is . . .)
• a helmet (river rocks are hard), and
• a canoe or kayak designed for whitewater (most aren't).

Then make sure you know what you are getting into.

The Appalachian Mountain Club publishes a superb series of river guides. They'll tell you if you're getting into Class I whitewater (the easiest, no real obstructions), Class VI (essentially unrunnable and extremely dangerous) or something in between. They'll also tell you the best flow rates for each river.

You can't really learn whitewater paddling from a magazine, book, or video, especially if you don't have much experience with flatwater canoeing or kayaking. You've got to get on the water, with the right equipment, preferably with a trained and certified instructor.

In addition to the AMC, these clubs, schools and outfitters are all located on or near some of the best whitewater rivers around. You can also check with any local canoe or kayak seller. They usually either have instruction programs or can steer you in the right direction.

• Adventure Outfitters, Hadley, Massachussetts
• New England Outdoor Center, Millinocket, Maine
• Saco Bound/Northern Waters Canoe and Kayak, Center Conway, New Hampshire
• Zoar Outdoor, Charlemont, Massachusetts

Go with the flow

Whitewater canoeing and kayaking are entirely dependent on water flow. That's why the spring of the year usually offers the best and greatest variety of opportunities. To know when and where to go, you need to know how much water is flowing.

Fortunately, the United States Geological Survey maintains up-to-date river flow charts with data gathered from monitoring stations at various points along every major river in the US.

You can access all of this information for free. Just click on the state, and then the river in which you are interested.

In the beginning

The sport of whitewater canoeing probably began when a Native American first decided to run a stretch of whitewater rapids in his birchbark canoe or skin kayak, rather than going to the bother of unloading it and carrying his boat and all that gear around the rough water. Wwhat would you care to bet that this person was young and male? It's also possible of course, that the first whitewater run was made to outdistance pursuers with less-than-friendly intent.

As with many active outdoor sports, the history of whitewater canoeing is the marriage of desire with advancing technology. Prior to World War II, canoes were made of canvas-covered wood. Beautiful and lightweight, they were relatively fragile. These canoes were either portaged around rapids or taken through slowly and carefully with a "setting pole." Contact with a rock could easily put a canoe out of commission. So paddling whitewater was a deliberate decision with implied risks and consequences.

The first breakthrough came with the Grumman aluminum canoe, built with leftovers from wartime airplane production. The aluminum canoe could take a beating, and most damage could be fixed with automotive body-working tools. If you're of a certain age, you've probably seen an aluminum canoe wrapped around a rock in some rapids somewhere. I have.

In the mid 1950's fiberglass made its appearance. It was strong, rigid, lightweight and easily-repaired. For the first time sophisticated hull shapes which added both maneuverability and stability were possible. Today's whitewater canoes float high in the water, turn instantly, and are (relatively) hard to tip over.

Around 1960, Royalex, a material developed for the automotive and trucking industry, made its appearance in canoes. Incredibly rugged and resilient, Royalex could shrug off abuse which would destroy other canoes. Suddenly, it became possible to "play" in previously unrunnable rapids. Whitewater canoeing grew in popularity.

Today, inexpensive, almost indestructible canoes and kayaks are molded of polyethylene. Cutting edge canoe designs are often executed in incredibly lightweight, bulletproof (literally) Kevlar.