Some advice I’ve seen given when you’re about to hit an obstruction in the water sideways is to lean towards rather than away from the obstruction and present the hull bottom to the oncoming current, while hanging onto the obstruction. Examples I’ve seen involved the paddler leaning towards and holding onto a large boulder, then slowly wiggling 90 degrees around the boulder until the boat was once again aligned with the current and the journey could continue.
What about strainers, though? I once couldn’t clear a strainer fast enough, instinctively leaned away from it and capsized. I was fine, but are you supposed to lean towards strainers?
yep, lean into strainers as well if you can’t avoid them, if possible climb out on top of them, generally the higher the better when it comes to strainers, avoid what is below the waterline
the exception to the lean downstream is if you’re going to get pinned between the obstruction and the boat, for instance don’t step out on the downstream gunnel of a canoe while stepping or climbing onto a boulder, as you unweight the boat it might come just free enough to allow you to slide between the boulder and the boat
all of this is pretty counter intuitive- our natural reflexes are to shy away from approaching objects- so the whole lean downstream thing has to be learned, in a kayak you’re often getting your weight forward or backward as you get spun around on rocks- as the downstream orientation changes with the spin, unweighting the pin or hang up spot helps as well in all manner of craft
in rafting the “lean downstream” is called a “high side”
Yup - the general rule is to lean downstream into the obstruction - “hug the rock” is what my first whitewater instructor would say. Leaning upstream can quickly result in a boat that looks like this
<a data-flickr-embed=“true” data-footer=“true” href=“https://www.flickr.com/photos/eckilson/9450948330/in/photolist-PEm2A6-fp9zF1” title=“The pinned boat on “Joe’s Rock””><img src=“https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3802/9450948330_3f02314816.jpg” width=“500” height=“333” alt=“The pinned boat on “Joe’s Rock””>
While less likely, it is possible to get pinned in a wrapped boat during a downstream lean. It happened to a member of my club long before I started paddling on Esopus Creek in NY (I know folks on this board have paddled there). He got pinned when the boat wrapped downstream around a bridge abutment.
As tdaniel said the process is the same with strainers - lean downstream and try to stay on top of the strainer. I think strainers are more difficult. They tend to be long, so it is not as easy to use the current to shimmy off, and the current will tend to suck the boat down under the branches pulling you with it. I had a friend in a kayak get pulled under a strainer upside-down. Fortunately, he flushed out the other side, but it was scary.
Lean toward works for rivers. But in the ocean where the current is caused by a wave, you do the opposite - lean away and let the bottom of the boat take the hit.
interesting about ocean waves, conventional wisdom on running large waves on the river is to brace (or lean) by getting your weight into them, if you start shying away then a flip is likely. Different environment, different set of rules I guess.
@Peter-CA said:
Lean toward works for rivers. But in the ocean where the current is caused by a wave, you do the opposite - lean away and let the bottom of the boat take the hit.
If you are in the ocean and get approached and hit by a breaking wave, you need to brace and lean into the breaking wave to keep from being flipped over. If the breaking wave pushes you into a rock or other obstruction while you are bracing into the wave, the bottom of your kayak will be to some degree facing the rock.
I was confused by Peter’s statement until I thought about a Great Lakes wave carrying a big hunk of debris coming my way. I’d go into warp speed to get out of the way, but if that didn’t work, rather my hull take the hit than my head. Never having experienced such an event, I’m not sure if that would be the right thing to do but it looks reasonable on paper…
The last thing I’d want to do is hug a barnacle encrusted piling or oyster bar (cut, cut, bacteria) . Leaning away from a beam on wave instead of bracing into it will put you head first in the water between the obstruction the boat and the wave. On the beach that is where people get legs broken by going out between beach and boat when capsized or broaching boat is charging the beach.
This is where a “rock garden” paddler needs to add two cents worth of wisdom. They’re crazy in the eyes of many of us but they sure know about obstructions.
@Rookie said:
I was confused by Peter’s statement until I thought about a Great Lakes wave carrying a big hunk of debris coming my way. I’d go into warp speed to get out of the way, but if that didn’t work, rather my hull take the hit than my head. Never having experienced such an event, I’m not sure if that would be the right thing to do but it looks reasonable on paper…
We are talking about two different things. I was talking about a breaking wave heading for shore which catches your kayak and pushes you towards a rock or other obstruction. In that case, you brace into the wave to stay upright, and try to get over the top of the wave before it heaves you into the rock. If you don’t manage to get over the top of the wave, the bottom or side of your kayak will hit the rock. You were talking about a breaking wave heading towards shore which catches a chunk of debris and pushes it towards you. In that case, you try to get out of the way of the debris, and then brace into the breaking wave. If you lean away from the breaking wave and the debris, the breaking wave will certainly flip you.
Here is a video which explains how to brace into a breaking surf wave in the ocean or a big lake. This kind of wave can push your kayak into a rock. It can also push debris towards shore.
Here is a video which explains that if you get pinned or broached against a rock in a river, you need to lean towards the rock and then work your way off it. I couldn’t find a video with any actual action shots of somebody getting broached on a rock and leaning towards the rock to avoid getting flipped upstream by the current.
@Overstreet said:
The last thing I’d want to do is hug a barnacle encrusted piling or oyster bar (cut, cut, bacteria) . Leaning away from a beam on wave instead of bracing into it will put you head first in the water between the obstruction the boat and the wave. On the beach that is where people get legs broken by going out between beach and boat when capsized or broaching boat is charging the beach.
This is where a “rock garden” paddler needs to add two cents worth of wisdom. They’re crazy in the eyes of many of us but they sure know about obstructions.
Peter is a member of Neptune’s Rangers so perhaps he’ll comment on his comment later today.
@Rookie said:
I was confused by Peter’s statement until I thought about a Great Lakes wave carrying a big hunk of debris coming my way. I’d go into warp speed to get out of the way, but if that didn’t work, rather my hull take the hit than my head. Never having experienced such an event, I’m not sure if that would be the right thing to do but it looks reasonable on paper…
We are talking about two different things. I was talking about a breaking wave heading for shore which catches your kayak and pushes you towards a rock or other obstruction. In that case, you brace into the wave to stay upright, and try to get over the top of the wave before it heaves you into the rock. If you don’t manage to get over the top of the wave, the bottom or side of your kayak will hit the rock. You were talking about a breaking wave heading towards shore which catches a chunk of debris and pushes it towards you. In that case, you try to get out of the way of the debris, and then brace into the breaking wave. If you lean away from the breaking wave and the debris, the breaking wave will certainly flip you.
pmmpete is correct. This is talking about a wave taking you toward an object, not taking an object toward you.
Not a white water expert here, so could be wrong. But to me the main difference is a wave’s energy is for a finite time, where a river’s energy is continuous. So you brace into the wave (leaning away from obstacle) to support yourself, which only needs to be done for as long as the wave is moving water. Once you hit the rock, you will stop and wave will flow past you. No more flow and you are left upright upright and paddle away.
A river flow is continuous, so bracing into the river flow (butt toward rock) would mean continuously bracing to stay upright. The water flow never stops.
Also some part of this in that most river rocks I’ve seen are worn smooth (mentioned this before, and had my butt handed to me - so understand that this is not always the case) and most ocean rocks are covered with sharp critters like barnacles and muscles, which would be painful to hit. Let the boat take the hit, not your body. One reason we prefer plastic boats over composite.
Side note - the Greenland skill called “walrus pull” is similar to a leaning into the river flow situation. Historically it was based around a hunter harpooning a sea mammal and then being pulled sideways by it, so the hunter needs to stay upright. You stopped against a rock sideways with water flowing past you and water stopped but you being pulled past water - these are the same effect. Walrus pull, though, is a case where you lean into the continuous flow (unlike white water) and is supposed to be quite hard to master. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoXgCbdhYCs
On a river the waves are stationary (for the most part) and the current flows over and past them. Ocean waves move and are not sustained in a given location. If one thinks of the direction of wave propagation as the current, one has to lean (heel) “upstream” to stay upright on an ocean wave. With a standing wave on a river, one has to lean (heel) downstream to remain upright. I have seen ocean paddlers get tripped up on rivers, and river paddlers get tripped up on the ocean because of this, But either way, you have to through yourself into the wave to keep from getting knocked over.
Here is a video of two kayaks getting pinned together on a rock. The first kayaker, in a green kayak, did a good job of hugging the rock, keeping his upstream edge out of the water, and presenting the bottom of his kayak to the current. It didn’t work out so well for the second kayaker.