It is never too early (or too late) to start a new hobby.
So why not begin your journey now to becoming a whitewater kayaker? Whitewater kayaking is a sport that gives you unparalleled access to some truly stunning landscapes and areas and the opportunity to make new friends. It’s also a chance to push and challenge yourself, both physically and mentally.
Wet Planet might be the perfect place to begin (and continue) your whitewater kayaking adventure as we offer so many different avenues of learning. From our 3-day beginner whitewater kayak course to get you started, to follow up classes which are designed to help you to continue learning, practising, and have fun on the river with the help of our instructors, equipment, and shuttles. You can also schedule pool sessions which will help you hone your rolling skills and a private day of instruction that gives you the opportunity to have one-on-one support from our incredibly skilled and fun kayak instructors.
Like any new sport or hobby, your progression from beginner to expert level takes time. Luckily, Wet Planet has created the perfect progression to help you grow and conquer your kayak goals, however modest or grand they may be.
Below is an outline of what you can expect:
Level 1 – Beginner Whitewater Kayak Course
Have no fear if you are coming into the world of whitewater kayaking as a complete beginner. The fact is, every expert starts out as a beginner. We all have to start somewhere, and that means taking the first step.
If whitewater kayaking is new to you, then you should probably consider either our 3-Day Beginner Whitewater Course or our 2-Day Rapid Progression Beginner Kayak Course.
3-Day Beginner Whitewater Kayak Course:
This multi-day course is designed to introduce beginner paddlers to the sport of whitewater kayaking. The main goal is to provide beginner kayakers with a solid foundation of basic kayaking skills necessary for both Class I and II whitewater.
From this course you can expect to have a solid understanding of essential kayaking skills such as wet exits, T-rescues, paddle strokes, edging, reading rivers, and basic safety precautions.
This is a group course that often takes place on the beautiful Klickitat River (located just east of our HQ near White Salmon, WA). While you will be with other students, we maintain a teacher-to-student ratio of 1:4 or less to allow for plenty of individualized attention on and off the river.
2-Day Rapid Progression Whitewater Kayak Course
This kayak course is the first two days of our 3-day beginner kayak course and is therefore designed for the beginning kayaker who does not have time to commit to three consecutive days and feels comfortable moving at a more accelerated pace.
Similar to the 3-day beginner kayak course, this 2-day option will also teach new paddlers important whitewater kayak skills, such as how to outfit a kayak, bracing techniques, eddy turns and peel-outs, and how to paddle through Class I/II whitewater.
1-Day Beginner Kayak Refresher
If you’ve just jumped off a 3-day beginner course, this is a great one to keep working on your skills to gain confidence and really master those essential boating maneuvers on class II whitewater. You may also be someone who took a break from kayaking for a while and wants a refresher (hence the name).
This single-day course is meant for people who have been in a kayak before and either want more time to build confidence or simply to remember what it’s like to be on the water.
Level 2 – Taking Your Essential Kayak Skills to More Challenging Whitewater
1-Day Novice Course
Now that the foundation is laid and time has been spent practicing those skills, it’s time to continue to hone them and make sure to reinforce good habits and mechanics. This course allows you to test your kayaking basics. We start with harder maneuvers on easier whitewater and then take our skills to more challenging sections. We can’t stress enough how valuable it is to have instruction at this level. Many people deem their skills “good enough”, but if you are truly trying to advance your skills, having experienced instructors fine-tune your paddle techniques, and boating maneuvers will help you develop the muscle memory to really get better and more confident on the river.
Once you have laid the foundation of your whitewater kayak skills it is time to begin growing your skills and getting more comfortable on slightly more challenging whitewater. We suggest spending some time mastering paddling fundamentals (like edging, wet exits, peel-outs, and ferries) and then booking a pool session to begin working on the very important skill of rolling (righting yourself if you flip over).
Intermediate Whitewater Kayak Instruction
Committing to a full day of intermediate instruction will allow you to push yourself and work on your skills with instructors who can give you the specific, detailed feedback you need to progress. This is the perfect opportunity to hone some of your skills or just focus on gaining more confidence on advanced rivers (like the White Salmon).
This course is also an awesome way to network and grow your kayaking community as well as talk to our highly knowledgeable instructors about a certain goal or problem you may have.
Pool Session – Accelerated Skills Repetition
Our one-on-one pool sessions are a great way to hone in some very necessary kayaking skills, i.e. rolling (the act of going from being upside down to right side up in your kayak). Pool sessions are also a great way to work on specific stroke techniques, as well as gain more confidence in your kayak before heading out on the river. With the hands-on instruction and attention to technique it’s a great way to get repetition of some core skills so they become muscle memory when you’re moving through whitewater on the river.
Each of our pool sessions is 2 hours long and occurs at our in-house outdoor pool.
Mastering the fundamentals of whitewater kayaking (strokes, rolls, reading water, and river safety) is key to building a strong foundation. Without any of those, there is a high chance of you struggling on the river as you begin taking your kayaking to the next level. And that just isn’t fun (isn’t fun the overall goal).
So before you take your kayaking progression to the next level, spend the time honing your skills. At Wet Planet, we can help make that happen with our beginner refresher courses or private one-on-one instruction.
Level 3 – Multi-Day Kayak Trips and More Advanced Whitewater
This is when you really begin to understand why people love whitewater kayaking so much. The payoff of all of your hard work can often lead you to some pretty epic places and experiences. Be it kayaking the stunning White Salmon River or heading out on a multi-day kayak adventure on the Main Salmon River in Idaho.
Once you reach this level, we recommend spending a bit more time with our highly knowledgeable team of instructors, either in an intermediate kayak group course or in a private course.
Private Kayak Instruction
Whether you are a novice kayaker interested in improving your combat roll, or an advanced kayaker looking to master the latest freestyle move, private instruction is the best way for our talented instructors to help you achieve your kayaking goals.
The individual attention available in our private instruction is the perfect way to improve your technique or master new moves.
Best of all, the day is about your progression and development as a whitewater kayaker. Meaning, we can alter and create the very best kayak experience to fit your goals. Be it getting more comfortable in Class III rapids to being ready to take on the iconic Husum Falls.
Whitewater kayaking is a fantastic way to explore hard-to-reach areas (think the bottom of the Grand Canyon or the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Area – home of the Main Salmon River), join and build a community of adventurous people, and push yourself both physically and mentally.
And like any hobby or sport, it is important to build upon skills and follow a clear progression. At Wet Planet, we have outlined exactly that. Explore our whitewater kayak progression and sign up for your first course today!
Explore all of our kayak courses.
