Reactionary Waves

are those that are angled
from the shore out towards the middle of the river and downstream.
They are like little (or big) deflectors that work hard at
keeping you away from shore and try to steer you right down
the middle of the river. When you want to get to an eddy or
to shore, you need to know how to deal with these features.
Here’s what you do:

Here are some techniques
for dealing with reactionary waves and holes to overcome their
desire to hold you away from shore.

1. The Direct Hit- A
   Simple and Effective Technique to Master First- Aim your
   boat directly at the wave or hole for a perpendicular
   hit when you want to get over and past them. If the wave
   was to come off the shore at a 45 degree angle, then you
   hit it angled downstream and towards the shore with a
   45 degree angle. If you aim the bow downstream with any
   more angle the wave or hole will deflect the bow downstream
   and send you packing on down the river.

2. The Boof- Getting on top of a Reactionary or Diagonal
   Hole by boofing it- A more advanced way to get past the
   hole or wave without worrying about getting perpendicular.
   Since you may just want to get over the hole or wave and
   then continue downstream on the other side of it you will
   want to learn to get over the hole or wave “dry”
   if possible.

• The key to boofing
  a diagonal hole is to learn which edge must be up when
  you hit the hole so you don’t dig an edge in and
  get stuffed back into the pit and railroaded out into
  the middle of the river. Most people are tempted to
  lean into the hole and brace as if they were surfing
  it. When boofing a hole, think of the hole as an eddy
  instead. This way you are just jumping past the pit
  of the hole quickly and getting your boat on top of
  the foam pile. When you hit the foam pile you lean into
  your turn and pull on the draw stroke just like you
  were catching an eddy. (see Strokes and Concepts for
  detailed description) The stroke will be in between
  your boat and the pit of the hole, not on the outside
  of the boat where our brace would go.
• How to keep
  the boat “Dry”- Like all boofs, the key
  is the last stroke timing. The last stroke must lift
  your bow onto the foam pile and still be pulling as
  your butt climbs on the foam pile too. Once your butt
  is on the foam you are likely clear and the momentum
  you have should do the rest. Certainly, all holes are
  different. Some are too big to boof onto and you just
  have to punch into them.

  

  • The
    photo here is the move at Rapid Number 9 called
    “The Diagonal.” It is a classic. If
    you don’t get on the diagonal high enough
    you get railroaded to the right into that big pit
    looking thing which is a 12 deep, scary, high volume,
    pourover that could rip you to pieces. On the other
    side of the diagonal is a lane about 8 feet wide
    that looks like a bowling alley. If you were to
    go over the diagonal and take a stroke or two too
    far you would go into a pit of a hole that isn’t
    a pourover, but instead it is the kind that the
    foam pile is 12 feet high and super retentive, while
    the one corner is backed up by the wall and the
    other corner has a wrap around feeder wave that
    would not want to let you out, and below is a shelf
    of a rock that the water hits in a way that it would
    rake you over or just slam you in. OK, so you get
    the picture. The move is simply, boof onto the diagonal,
    then make a quick turn downstream and stay in your
    lane. Just stay out of the bumpers and you live
    to see the bottom hole. This move is what inspired
    me to write this particular technique article. This
    particular diagonal is so spectacular that it is
    the number one move of the Zambezi for a number
    of reasons. The view coming in is incredible. There
    you are lining up out in the middle of the river
    in smooth calm water floating into a horizon line
    looking for the Diagonal. Then you see it, but it
    is 50 feet long, so you have to pick the place to
    get on it that looks the most predictable. In this
    case we looked for the smallest place. Then you
    do a broad overview of the move and see the big
    hole on the left, the big hole on the right, and
    the end of the alley which is a mess of exploding
    water. Then you refocus on your one key move. Angle
    perpendicular to the diagonal; how much speed do
    I need? Two hard strokes, get a little spin momentum
    to the right before hitting, lift the bow on top,
    pull in one more stroke to get on the flat section,
    turn downstream quick and get to the end of the
    alley without drifting either way. Then slam, not
    unlike the feeling a bowling ball must have when
    it hits the pins. It takes a second to refocus and
    see where you are at, then the bottom hole awaits.
    What is it? Another diagonal, this time you go under
    it instead of over it.

  

  It started out
  as a 10 foot exploding hole and as the water rose,
  it became a 15 foot exploding hole. It tries to surf
  you into the right bank who is littered with rocks
  that jut out into the fast current. It has broken
  necks, compressed vertebrae, knocked people out, broken
  arms, etc. So the key here is to… Very good-
  Hit it perpendicular as far from the shore as possible.
  The technique for going under is to tuck hard into
  your boat to prevent the foam pile from stopping you
  before you get your entire boat and body deep into
  the hole where it will spit you out the bottom. It
  doesn’t always have predictable results though.
  Ask Clay (pictured here) who broke his paddle on one
  run here and his nose on the next.

3. Using a diagonal
   to get to the middle of the river- Sometimes you just
   want to stay in the middle of the river. A perfect example
   of a rapid that the diagonals keep you online is Normans
   on the Ottawa River. It is just a long series of reactionary
   waves into a boily pool at the bottom. Just relax and
   brace into the waves as they come at you and you will
   get pinballed down the rapid from wave to wave, but always
   stay right in the middle. No maneuvering needed.

EJ