Many paddlers consider surfing to be just a play boat maneuver, nothing could be further from the truth. We often surf waves on front ferries to save energy when ferrying across fast current. A front surf is nothing more than balancing gravity on the front of a wave against the downstream current. Notice I am not balancing against my forward paddle stroke. I let gravity do the work for me. Side surfing is done in holes. Here you are balancing the current moving downstream from above against the upstream current caused by the recirculation below. You will need you low brace to establish balance when side surfing and excellent edge control.

This is an excellent video on hole surfing technique by Jeremy Laucks: Basic Hole Surfing Technique.

This isn't an instructional video but it does a decent job of demonstrating front wave surfing. Notice how he leans back to keep the front of his boat from diving under water. Also notice how he uses stern draw and rudder strokes to keep the boat facing upstream.  Front Surf - Virginia Chute.

This one is from the Potomac Whitewater Festival Wave Surfing competition. You will notice quite a difference skill levels between the contestants. Potomac Whitewater Festival Wave Surfing.

 

Introduction

Now that you have a good handle on the basic strokes, eddy turns, and ferries - we will begin to put these skills together. The best way to run rapids is eddy hopping. Eddies provides convenient rest stops and allow you to calmly look down the rapid for your next rest stop. Two common maneuvers are the C-Turn and the S-Turn.

C-Turns

The C-Turn is used to peelout and turn downstream sharply from an eddy. Often, we simply want to catch the next eddy right below our present eddy. Since this is a very sharp turn in fast water, we need to compensate by leaning our boat with more angle. A bow draw is used to reach over the eddy line and snap our boat downstream. A common stroke to use for this maneuver is the Duffek Stroke.

S-Turns

The S-Turn move is used to move from an eddy on one side of the river to an eddy on the other side. Key to making this work is a wide peelout and your standard eddy turn. Your boat follows a simple S line. Here is a nice video on the move from a canoeist's perspective: S-Turns. This short video shows a kayaker performing a simple S turn: Kayak S Turn.

This is the part everyone in the class looks forward to, whitewater practice. Just like downhill skiing, control is absolutely crucial to avoid serious carnage. Boaters use eddy's and holes to slow theor rate of descent for the most part. Ferries help us move from one side of the river to the other when it makes sense. A geat habit to get into is breaking down complex rapids by catching lots of eddies. A favorite rapid of mine is Eddy Turn on the Lower Yough. You can catch close to 60 or more eddies in this rapid by combining lots of ferries, C turns and S turns. This is a great example of technical boating, my favorite past time.

The peelout enables you to leave a fast moving eddy and quickly get your boat out into the current.  Don't forget to lean downstream and charge out of the eddy.  We have two basic strategies for peelouts.  The most common approach is blasting out of the eddy to get in the middle of the stream or current.  This is known as a wide peelout.  We also use this approach to set-up for a ferry.  Key to making this work are proper boat angle and paddling on both sides.  The other approach is a very tight turn where we are simply interested in passing through the eddy fence and immediately heading down stream.  This is known as a shallow peelout.  The shallow peelout relies on a static bow draw that eaches to the other side of the eddy fence.  This approach requires a sharper boat lean downstream to keep from flipping.

Here is a great example from Janet Cowie of Zoar Outdoors: Wide Peelout.  Here is a shallow peelout demonstration: Shallow Peelout.