By Ray Goodwin

Venture Canoes, NRS for pfd and gear and of course Freebird Paddles: Maya is using the WW Dipper and myself the WW Big Dipper

Ray Goodwin’s website:
www.RayGoodwin.com

Ray’s YouTube Channel is:
www.youtube.com/c/
RayGoodwinCanoe

Ray Goodwin’s surfing river waves in a canoe

It’s fun, it ups the skill level and allows you to move across the river more efficiently. Many of the skills transfer directly to running down a lake in a strong tail wind.

It is hard learning the skills on anything but the smallest wave. On bigger stuff it will feel so quick, so hectic to the novice learner, that it is difficult to apply technique. As an alternative we can use any solid flow and get a friend to hold the canoe in place on a rope: therefore we don’t need a wave. Here we can begin to master the necessary paddle strokes.

The canoeist is at a disadvantage over the kayaker. The kayak can quickly and efficiently switch sides, so for the most part only uses the ‘push away’ part of the stern rudder. On a fast wave the canoeist will only steer on one side of the boat and must use the ‘push away’ and ‘draw’ elements of the stern rudder. It can even be practised standing in the water.

On the wave

Here the water is hitting the outside face of the blade and the stern of the canoe is being pushed to the left, which turns the bow to the right. In some situations, I will rest my wrist or the shaft of the paddle on the gunwale to get generate more power. On a wave, it may be necessary to lean towards or away from the stroke according to the move, so it is worth practising on the rope.

The water is hitting the inside face (the face nearest the canoe) and so drawing the stern of the canoe towards the paddle and turning the bow away to the left. This is a lot less powerful than using the outside face but can be used quickly unlike a, often, forlorn attempt to switch sides. To achieve any power in this, it needs a lot of rotation in the chest, to the paddling side, as well as protecting the shoulder joints from hyperextension. This is such an important stroke, it is often referred to as a stern hanging draw.

Safety note: If there is excess rope up at the person standing in the water, it should not be wrapped around the hand. Instead it is lapped across the palm and not around it. Easily ditched if it all goes wrong.

The hand positions for the inside and outside (stern hanging draw) versions of the stern rudder differ. In the push away version the forward hand is quite low and more importantly, the rear arm is not extended but flexed to remain strong. In the stern hanging draw, the chest is rotated more and the forward hand is brought up and pushed outside of the canoe, the rear arm remains flexed to maintain a strong position.

Getting on the wave

Generally, entry onto a wave will be directly from an eddy. It is important to be on the wave before getting out into the full power of the current.

Entry point 1

Here there is a patch of slower water just a little way out from the eddy and that is my target. Entering the wave further left, in this case, in not useful as the wave is too small for the length of canoe. Speed is built up in the eddy but has to be carefully managed as the boat slides over onto the face of the wave and this is where the expert takes the power off. It needs enough speed to get on the wave but no more. Too much speed and the canoe goes through the trough and starts climbing the oncoming water: in that case it then accelerates backwards and over and off the wave.

Entry point 2

Here the wave and the point we can surf (marked) is much further out. Speed is built up in the eddy and a fast ferry glide is used to get out to the useful wave.

Strong diagonal

Now on the wave the canoe is running on a strong diagonal. The water is not flowing directly at the bow but rather strongly onto the canoes right side. To counter that, the canoe must be leant away to the left so that the flow goes under the hull rather than building and capsizing the canoe to the right. Any steering at this stage must be done carefully whilst maintaining that leftward lean. Often only part of the blade is used in steering, so the canoe is not tripped with the blade being pushed under the hull.

Standing

Some waves have a sweet spot allowing for a bit of showmanship from bow or stern. Paddles helicoptered above the head or one or other standing are favourites.

Dropping onto the wave

Dropping onto the wave. Here the canoe has left the eddy, nearest the camera, slid across the pile of the white wave and is now dropping onto the face. No speed is needed anymore and if anything a braking stroke may be needed if the canoe is dropping on too quickly.

Edging away

Here the canoe is running diagonally across the face of a steep, fast wave. It has to be leant strongly away to its left or the current will whip the hull away into a capsize. Any touch with the paddle would quicken the capsize. It takes a lot of balance and confidence to lean away in this situation and inherently it feels unstable.

Crossing the river

We don’t just use waves because they are fun but because they can become an integral part of our river running skills. We can use waves to cross from eddy to eddy.

Crossing a wave

Here a strong lean to the right, of the canoe, is coupled with a low brace at the stern for stability.

Into a ferry

Here we have a well placed wave at the top of a eddy. The wave is used to ride out and across the river. As the wave ends then the move with a ferry glide is used to finish the crossing.