Reading the river – a beginner’s guide
PADDLING
BY REBECCA BARTON-DAVIS
Spring is downstream paddling season in my neck of the woods. The longer days, high water and a summer full of big events make the early months of open water the best time to get out and learn the skills of reading the river before diving into the busy summer racing season.
Paddling upstream is logistically the easiest way to get hours in the boat, but since most events and canoe trips run downstream, it is valuable to spend time honing our river reading skills. Practicing river reading will not only make us faster, but it also increases safety, while at the same time, making paddling easier. By studying the river, we can use the current to get the boat where it needs to go, instead of making corrective strokes.
The first thing to assess when paddling downstream is what type of river you are paddling.
Rivers come in various shapes and flows, but there are two basic profiles: “troughs,” and “crowned roads.” These aren’t technical terms – merely what I use to describe the bottoms of the river because they create good visuals.
Trough-style rivers are shallower on the sides and deeper in the center. Staying towards the center of the river usually keeps you in the best flow and deeper parts of the river channel.
Crowned-road rivers are just the opposite, where the center is raised, sometimes with sand or gravel bars during low water, and the water seems to be deepest near either river bank.
These rivers require paddlers to cross the river multiple times and to stay close to shore in order to avoid getting beached. If you can’t tell which type of river you are on, some basic trial and error will help you to determine it rather quickly.
Visually, look for islands, sand bars or debris that may be washed into the middle of the river, which shows that there is a shallow spot that needs to be avoided.
Most of the time, river current moves along the outside of the corners. The inside of the corner will usually have an eddy where the current is actually flowing upstream. You want to position yourself to use the eddy on the inside of the corner to turn the boat, so you don’t have to take additional steering strokes to make the corner. This is called “cutting” the corner, as you leave the current on the outside of the corner to make the turn. The speed of the current and the water depth will determine how far into the eddyline a paddler can cut before they spin out from the force of the eddy. As a general rule, corners can be cut more aggressively in higher water and less at lower water levels.
A common mistake in making turns going downstream is to set up for the turn too early, and then having to reposition, so when you actually hit the apex of the turn, the bow of the boat is facing the bank opposite of the turn. This means a sharp turn now needs to be even sharper, and more steering strokes will need to be taken to make the turn, scrubbing off speed. In order to avoid this mistake, the stern needs to pivot toward the outside of the corner, while the bow makes sure to “hold off” the turn if necessary by doing a slight push on the inside – this may not be needed all of the time, but it will help to keep the boat heading the proper direction without overturning.
Once a corner has been made, make sure to “catch” the stern of the boat. Catching the stern is to stop the boat from overturning, and keep it traveling straight down the river. This is executed by calling a switch once the turn is complete, so the stern paddler is now paddling on the “inside” of the corner, subtly pushing the boat towards the outside of the next straightaway. By stopping the swing, you are able to control the set up for the next corner and reduce the need for additional steering strokes.
A final tip for reading a river is to examine each shoreline, staying toward the shore with the steeper bank. This is a good indicator of how steep the drop off of the river bottom is – a gentle slope on the shoreline usually translates into shallow river depths below the surface.
This tip can even be used when deciding which corners can be cut most aggressively. The corners with steep banks on both sides probably have deep water all the way across.
River reading is one of those skills that can be practiced on every paddle. Don’t be complacent even on your home course, as things can surprisingly change within a season due to water levels, trees falling in the river or the growth of weeds in the river bed.
It doesn’t take any special equipment, and it offers a new challenge for each outing, as no river is the same twice. The skill needed to master a river is something that keeps me coming back to my boat – I can’t wait to see what challenge the water will throw at me next.