I began real white water kayaking in 1969 on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, the Selway river in Idaho and the Gallitan River in Wyoming.   Back then, there were no commercial white water kayaks in North America,  Everyone joined a club and made their own fiberglass boat in one weekend.  There were no dry suits for cold water, I made a wet suit from a kit and glued it all together.     I paddled every club trip that spring in southern Ontario to get the skills for that trip.  Our trip organizer there was the legendary Walter Blackadar, look him up.    I am still doing white water now and I will be 80 years old in a few months,  We did some rivers last spring and the average age of the participants was 81 years old, and the oldest was 89.   He still alpine skis,     I have many very fond memories of those trips.     I always felt free to portage when I was not up to something big,   safety first.      Click on my picture on the left to see a few old videos.

Safety notice: if you have no experience and a guide tells you they're taking you kayaking on a WW4 river they're either not the guide you want, lying/joking or, as in this case, thinking about some very specific rapids that they know. This video may give some people the impression that you can just go on any WW4 but maybe it would be nice to have somebody with you to fish you back out, and as much as I love whitewater kayaking, that's not an impression you want to have.

...This advice may not apply whenyou go on a guided rafting tour, as long as the guide keeps the raft straight they'll usually slog through anything.

Simons been a staple in the kayak industry for as long as anyone can remember. Great to see you showing his company and work.

Simon is the coolest, most chilled instructor. Fantastic man.

you did great! love the nervousness and excitement that comes with starting out in whitewater, its a sport that I've fallen in love with! super thrilled that you got to experience whitewater and thanks for sharing the stoke and bringing attention to the sport! :)

I have been a commercial whitewater guide for 30 years.  My first year i got into a friends kayak, super tight skirt, did not have a roll, went about a mile caught a small eddy line and flipped over and couldn’t not wet exit or roll.  My friend saved me.  Never tried again.  Trust me if you want to kayak, go to a pool with an instructor and get your onside and offside roll down pat, get your wet exit down pat.  Never get into any river without practicing those things.  I have funyaked all sorts of rivers, canoed, worked class V and taught people guiding.  Some good tips in this video.  Feet up always, ferrying, everything is angles, all true.  I would add when scouting look for certain river formations: downstrean V’s, upstream V’s, horizontal lines, pour overs, rooster tails, holes, reactionary waves, keeper eddys, eddy lines, diagonal waves, and wavetrains.  Always look for possible strainers. Portage if you have to.  Have the proper gear. Learn river signals. Don’t paddle alone.  Carry a first aid kit and cell phone.  A satellite phone if there is no cell service.  This guy did pretty good.  I don’t know the river they were on, pretty basic whitewater.  But it takes some balls to jump in and give it a go.  Ignorance is bliss.😂. But even the best paddlers will have there day.  When asked by a customer had a swam before?  I would always say, we are all in-between swims.  You never know when it might be your day. Most importantly have fun.  Enjoy it.  If its for you, you will be hooked for life.  If not, well you gave it a shot.

Definitely crazy.  For a complete noob, the best advice, well besides not doing this, is when you get to the whitewater, paddle like hell.  Often the reason people flip is that they have their paddle in the water and the rapids grab the paddle and the boat causing it to flip.  As a complete noob, just paddle as fast as you can.  Now as experience increases, you will learn to read the water and know how to brace and lean the boat.  But till then, paddle.

Where I live in Chilliwack British Columbia 🇨🇦, we have courses for white water kayaking. You are taught the basics of kayaking by highly skilled professionals in a swimming pool before you go to the river (Chilliwack/Vetter River) Don’t be a fool, go to the pool! Get trained by a professional! Your life depends on it. Those rivers are unforgiving, and extremely dangerous. Cheers everyone, and have fun, from British Columbia 🇨🇦👍😎

how the hell was this not suggested to me even though I'm subscribed? Was just thinking "man he hasn't posted in a while", looked at your channel and saw you did upload!
You deserve so many more views, honestly!!

I've been kayaking lakes and canals for years, just never been able to do whitewater. I'm going to spend winter getting fitter and get the correct gear. Ready to go on my Kayaker white water course in spring.

Honestly super brave guy and props to the guide to have the nuts to get him into that, but also shows how amazing packrafts are.

I’m so glad this sport is getting some recognition!

I've been kayaking for 18 years (since I was 8). Both in white water and on the sea.
It's great that this great sport is getting attention.

Really cool to see someone excited to learn kayaking. You should get into a hardshell now

So hyped to see you try this! I’ve recently gotten into whitewater paddling and I’ve only been out on a River 7 times (the Ottawa river which is another great spot to learn although it’s over in Canada). I can totally relate to all the feelings you described here… your throat dries up and you start to question what am I doing as you drift into the rapid. But then it’s all so surreal and amazing. If you get the chance you’ve got to try it in a kayak with a sprayskirt. Work on a bombproof roll then that’s when the real fun begins!!!

I am quite a lazy get, and kayaking is a high maintenance sport, but wanted to give it a go after enyoing some rafting. Been part-time kayaking for about 4 years now, and am still pretty rubbish, swimming far too often. But, despite all the above, there is just something so addictive about it!!

Just stumbled across this video. Happy to see you give Whitewater Kayaking a try. I never thought I would ever get into it but now I paddle pretty regularly. It’s super fun and addicting and I’ve completely fallen in love with the sport. I started in early 2020 and now paddle Class IV/V on a regular basis. I would love to see you continue with it and paddle the Grand Canyon one day. I also went ahead and subscribed. Keep it up as well with the great content :).

Dude, first, you have great balls for going head-on at this, awesome. I must say I laughed myself almost to death for a while there. Great job riding out those rapids, and for staring this straight in the face and going right at it, kudos to you. You have my respect and admiration. You are the man!!

Definitely, a situation where the calm confidence of your coach pushes you to do things you wouldn't think of trying.

LOL love it. everyone that gets on a powerful river for the first time says exactly what you say at 5:45. "What have I signed up for?" You did great and should keep at it. It is a beautiful sport.