Isn't the point of video so I don't have to read stuff?

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

This may be the worst attempt at a hate comment that I have ever seen -Jer

Great video. One of the most important thing to learn is how to read the water. This skill set takes a lot of time on the water and running a bunch of different rivers. Seen too many people jump onto rivers where their skill set are marginal for that river. One thing goes wrong and they lose it. We can all have bad days, but it is critical to be confident in ones skills and know that one can recover. Anyway, thx again for the video.

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Yes! Totally agree! Reading water is a difficult skill, but makes a huge difference! And I think people often forget that they have to have the skill for a river not just when things are going right, but also for when things are going wrong! Thanks so much for watching and for your insight! -Jer

@jdday1757

Жыл бұрын

Agreed. Confidence in this sport, most sports and just life in general is hugely important. I can remember my first time getting into bigger surf waves I didn't think I could handle. I watched others I observed closely I talked to them about angles and positioning and then I got into them. Sometimes I got into the wave and got kicked off but didn't flip. Ok small victories. Other times id get into a wave and surf it decently but couldn't stay on. Slightly bigger victory. Other times id get onto it and id own that wave. That confidence would them make me feel like alright I got this and surf the absolute hell outta it. The point I'm trying to make is that once I got that feeling of "I got this" confidence gave me more confidence and got onto other surfs that same day and crushed them too.

Great video Jer. Honestly when I came up paddling 30+ years ago the mastery you described at the end is how all the old timers I learned from viewed progression. You didn’t move on to something harder until you’d mastered the first thing. I think the checklist mentality is something that has been happening pretty prevalently in recent years. People want instant gratification and don’t want to learn like they should, they just want it now which is the problem. -Rob Wallin

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Rob! I think a lot of it may have to do with social media as well, since people see their friends getting on bigger runs and it builds this mentality. Anyways, thanks for watching! :) -Jer

Great lesson. When I started white water 30 yrs ago my partners and I ran the same class 2+ river twice a week for the whole summer. Through varying water levels until we had mastered different and increasingly difficult techniques in every feature. Eventually this expanded to different craft using the same approach. Solo and tandem canoe, kayak, raft etc. Last summer I oared a remote 10 day day 4 and felt the groove of smooth boat control. Minimum effort applied to every feature with spot on clean lines. Felt so good to have that base through measured progression.

@JerKayaks

4 ай бұрын

Totally agree! Having solid fundamentals is huge! Thanks so much for watching! :)

As someone in their first year of paddling who has absolutely not adhered to a checklist mentality, I really appreciate this video. I made a huge jump in river difficulty this summer going from cartecay to ocoee, but I did so after 20+ laps on the cartecay and could run every line clean, working from eddy to eddy in each rapid, and while the step up in river difficulty was pretty big, I had for sure developed the skills to be out on the bigger water, regardless of the rivers I had run. Because I did not stick to (or even realize it existed) the standard step up to ocoee checklist, I had no mental barriers to being out there when my skills proved sufficient enough to the instructors I had worked with. My first Ocoee light PFD was a dry hair day, and I loved it. I did another 4 Ocoee trips this year, and while I loved every one of them, always felt like I was boating at my limits, and a late season swim at powerhouse reminded me of that. When the monday releases stopped and I was looking for a new place to paddle (i work weekends) I landed on the nanty, because it was pretty, clean, had enough paddlers around to find buddies, and unlike ANYTHING in GA this year, has water flowing in it. This "step down" in river difficulty has made it super easy to work on techniques, without any fear or intimidation of the water, which has made me a way better paddler than I was just two months ago - even though at that point I was paddling bigger water. I would feel safer running something bigger now than I did when I was boating ocoee every week, because I have focused more on progressing my skills than the difficulty of rivers I paddle. Without a consistent training run, all we are ever doing is chasing bigger and bigger water, and that really only ends one way as an intermediate paddler.

@JerKayaks

7 ай бұрын

Totally agree! Thanks for sharing your experience! Having a practice river to really hone skills on day in and day out allows us to dial things in before pushing on to bigger and crazier stuff. At the end of the day, its super important that we dont end up pushing faster than we can handle, as that is a lot of the reason why people get hurt or quit the sport. Anyways, thanks for watching! -Jer

Great perspective and wisdom. Awesome video for the community. 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much buddy! Thanks for watching! -Jer

This is a great video! Love the checklist vs exam performance mentality!

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Heather! Thanks for watching :) - Jer

The checklist mentality is a huge red flag for me. Glad this is out there. This video was about what not to do, but I think there were many skills not referenced that are essential moving onward that go beyond boat control. Recovery, mental strength and clarity, river reading, scouting/portaging in technical terrain, group dynamics, rescues etc etc.

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching! Totally agree, there are many skills not referenced in this video that are equally important! In the interest of keeping things concise I didn't touch on them, but I'll make sure to make that more clear next time! Thanks again! -Jer

This video totally changed my perspective in a very good way! Thanks!🤘🏼

@JerKayaks

8 ай бұрын

Glad to hear it! Thanks for watching! :) -Jer

This is a great one Jerry!

Thank you for this video Jer. I definitely have been looking at rivers in this way. Thank you for changing my way of thinking. I really understand though the practice, practice, practice aspect of paddling as well. I wish I could find the time to practice more than I do. I just can’t paddle everyday and unfortunately not willing to sacrifice certain aspects of my life to be such a great paddler. It sucks that I can’t. I sure was glad to meet you at Wilson though because I have learned so much from you so thank you for your sacrifices that help me be a better paddler by learning from you! Thanks for the great videos!!!!😊

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching! Was awesome meeting you too! :) -Jer

Another great video! Thank you!

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! Thanks for watching :) -Jer

The animated stick figures are almost as entertaining as the variety of spelling (no spell-check in drawing app!), although the stick figures appear to have lost their paddles. I like the ending parts about practicing. As a relative beginner, I’ve had to re-align my objectives and expectations to focus more on fundamentals, stroke practice, bracing, rolling (combat, off-side, hand roll), slalom, etc. Together with downriver maneuvers, thinking less about a list of river PFDs to accomplish in the near term. Another topic I rarely see in the hundreds of WW instructionals I’ve watched since I started 2 years ago is… fitness training. Lack of flexibility, fatigue and injury go hand-in-hand. Recovery and rehab is at the least, a huge inconvenience, at the most… the end of a paddling career.

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the input and thanks for watching! Spelling is hard for me haha, and the drawing app for sure makes it obvious! Will see if we can make some fitness training vids in the future! :) -Jer

Super job on this. So important.

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thanks! Thanks for watching :) -Jer

Very real assessment! Good job..

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thanks! Thanks for watching! :) -Jer

It can be hard to differentiate between goal setting and itemizing rivers so this is a nice reminder, tks!

@JerKayaks

4 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching! :)

Awesome video jerry! Important message

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thanks buddy! Thanks for watching! :) -Jer

Thank you for the video. I love your analysis. A bomb proof roll doesn't mean you're ready for the next river. If one is constantly having to use their roll because they have poor boat control, then they're putting themselves at risk. Surviving a river doesn't mean you're ready for the next one. Most of the older, experienced kayakers in our community focus on practicing harder moves on easier rivers. Some of the more gung ho newer paddlers feel that they're ready after they check off a river. Unfortunately that mentality can end in fatality. Practice class 5 moves on a class 2 river. Because a class 2 feature can turn into a class 5 swim. BTW, it was nice meeting you last July at the middle Ocoee put in during the CCC's week of rivers event.

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

We here at the Portage Posse 100% agree with the “Practice Hard Moves, on easy water” philosophy. The rivers aren’t going anywhere so there shouldn’t be a rush to check a river off your bucket list. Additionally I’ll make sure to pass on your kind words to Jer! Hopefully you’ll see us again this year at WOR- Tony

Thanks for this information!! I've been checking these rivers off too!!

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Happens to the best of us, it’s a pretty easy trap to fall into. -Tony

Great video and edit my friend !

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Matt! Thanks for watching and was awesome hanging out this weekend! :) -Jer

Love the video. Ties in with my mindset for my growth this year. The last time we spoke I told you that this year for me is not about running rivers but is all about using any time I have honing skills. I'll work that Middle Haw stretch at Bynum, pull out, walk the path to the top, and run it again. Plus, a lot of flat-water time at Jordan Lake; honing skills then stepping up in water volume or intensity as I progress. The analogy I use comes from my training as a firefighter. You can stick any idiot in bunker gear, give him a hose, and send him into a burning structure. He may get lucky and survive but that doesn't make him a firefighter. At some point he will go where luck won't cut it and be a danger to himself and others. I think the same truth applies to ww kayaking. Thanks for the inspirational videos!

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much for watching! Can’t wait to see you on the water, hopefully soon! -Jer

Good and helpful info, thanks

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

That’s always the goal!

great video...your points can and should be applied to other aspects of life as well...I always throughly enjoy the animations!

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much! Thanks for watching :) -Jer

Thank you Jer for the very important review. My trips to waters I was not ready for set me back a lot. Now I'm more afraid and I don't enjoy it like before. I am 51 years old and I am often on the water with much younger and more experienced kayakers. Come on, you can do it. is a perfect recipe for disaster. Beautiful nature and good company were my first choice. After all, I've only been kayaking for 3 years.

@JerKayaks

7 ай бұрын

Thanks so much for watching! I hope you have better experiences going forward! - Jer

You redescovered Peters princible. The Peter principle is a concept in management developed by Laurence J. Peter which observes that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to "a level of respective incompetence": employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another.

@JerKayaks

2 ай бұрын

Wow! Thanks for the info! I'll look into that for sure, it sounds super interesting! Thanks for watching! :)

Awesome video

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thanks!! And thanks for watching :) -Jer

This was a great and important contribution to the paddling community. My only wish for clarification is that *checklists* are incredibly useful, especially in risk management. A 'checklist mentality' is how SAR pros do what they do as safely as possible. I would have liked this to be explicitly 'progression checklist' or some other way to capture that the point isn't that *lists* are bad. A subtle point, but looking for perfection, the A+, as outlined in the video!

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for your kind words! We can definitely see where you’re coming from in reference to SAR checklists. I think the issue for us here at the Portage Posse was that this would be the best way to frame the conversation without muddying the waters too much. Fortunately that’s where the benefit of this video comes into play, it allows us to at least facilitate the conversation in a productive way. -Tony

I totally agree with everything in this video, but one thing I think you missed out on is safety/rescue skills. It is defiantly possible to have the paddling skills to run a hard river, but have very little rescue experience. This can be very dangerous.

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Yes! That's a great point! Rescue experience is often forgotten because its not as "exciting"! Thanks for watching and thanks for the input! :) -Jer

needed this

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching :) -Jer

good lesson for anyone out there looking for that fast progression curve!

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching buddy! :) -Jer

great video thank you

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!! Thanks for watching! -Jer

Did I see you at the Whitewater Centre in Charlotte on Friday? I thought I recognised you! Watched this video and shared it with my club at home in Scotland the week before! 😆 Goodness, it IS small kayaking world!

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Haha very possible! I was out there! Which makes me wonder......were you on that raft that i got pinned under on the competition side?? Anyways, thanks for watching, and wow is it a small world haha! :) -Jer

@caramcguigan6648

Жыл бұрын

YES!! I have it on video! 🤣😂 I was just scrolling through to see if I could zoom in on your face! 😆 That is so funny! Video is great, btw - really good perspective 😊

@caramcguigan6648

Жыл бұрын

(Your video above I mean. Not the video of you going under the raft 😄)

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

@@caramcguigan6648 haha yup, I would love if you could send that video to me on facebook or google drive whenever you get a chance! If you see me out there again definitely come say hi! :) -Jer

Well said

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! Thanks for watching! :) -Jer

Best advice I ever had while a young kayaker many years ago was this: When you can go to a class 2 rapid and run all the lines, catch every eddy, make every ferry, surf every wave, and do most of that backwards, you're ready to try class 3. Same for class 3 to class 4. You can take a familiar class 3 run, and find those "hidden" class 5 moves all over the place..... without the class 5 consequences. Or paddle slalom; I love taking really seasoned boaters with years of class 5 experience and watching a class 2 rapid kick their ass 🙂 Great video.

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching and thanks for your input! I 100% agree! -Jer

@Mikeyboofboof

Жыл бұрын

Great comment and I couldn’t agree more. One piece of advice that stuck throughout my paddling is to make easy rivers as hard as possible (through line choice!). That way, you improve your skills even on rivers you could paddle blindfolded.

@xxxxxx-zy9lu

Жыл бұрын

This is nonsense. Why would you need to be able to do all the g5 lines on a g2 to be able to do a g3?

Well done lad.

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! Thanks for watching :)

@jeryang… 1) can believe I only found you are on the KZread channel 2) Great vid…. Thanks

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Haha thanks! Thanks for watching! :) -Jer

@merlinmess3793

Жыл бұрын

@@JerKayaks actually quite prescient too. I did my first UK grade 3 :)

❤❤❤Love this #facts

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!! Thanks for watching :) -Jer

Thanks!! Do you know the book, Mastery, by George Leonard?

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

I do not, but I'll look into it! Thanks for the suggestions and thanks for watching! -Jer

Hi Jer- I just ran the lower nantahala, do you think I should give the cascades a go?

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Hi Sandy - just checked your profile and looks like youre a young kid! I'd recommend asking your parents to see if they can sign you up for a youth kayak camp during your summer break, they have some at the whitewater center in charlotte that I think would be a perfect fit! Thanks for watching :)

@sandyskardon770

Жыл бұрын

@@JerKayaks but jer, I hear the instructors send their kids down Huey Lewis on day 2 of kayak camp. That sounds dangerous! If I sign up can you promise I won’t leave the top pond for the first 8 weeks?

🔥

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching :) -Jer

I want to change subject for a second, did you like the aim point when you were in the military, thanks ira3’s dad

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Hi! I actually never used an aimpoint, we had acogs which i did very much like! -Jer

@irafowlerjr.7492

Жыл бұрын

@@JerKayaks I knew you like the acog, thanks 😊 that acog is first class, thank you

2:29. Spell check-list. 😜

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Whoops haha! Thanks for watching :) -Jer

@justin_other_kayaker

Жыл бұрын

@@JerKayaks all good man just giving you a hard time. Thanks for putting yourself out there man and sparking discussion. A post I saw recently also made me curious. What does it mean to be ready? It’s so subjective.

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

@@justin_other_kayaker it is so subjective! and often times, hindsight is 20/20! If its the same post that I'm thinking of, then thats something we're planning to address in a later video!

Theres always a limit. 99% of paddlers will never progress past a certain level. Thats okay, V and V+ is not for most people, especially when people progress rapidly.

@JerKayaks

4 ай бұрын

Absolutely agree! Thanks so much for watching! :)

Do people actually do this? Call me clueless, but wouldn't you to run a river multiple times, at multiple levels before you step up your game. That's a big jump from Wilson's to the narrows in a few paddles. - From the guy that said "You're Jer , I like your videos" at the wwc the other day

@JerKayaks

Жыл бұрын

Short answer....yes. The example used in the video was a little bit exaggerated and shortened, but this is legitimately something I have noticed a lot of! Anyways, thanks for watching! :) -Jer