Reading Water (Basic Level) | Ep. 151

[@eberlrayleen1]

Great job explaining the basics of reading water. I appreciate the visual on the whiteboard but then loved how you used video to show live what you were explaining on the whiteboard! I wouldn’t change a thing! Thanks for teaching us the art of reading water!

[@stephencifka4629]

Zack, this is a fantastic series. Just like a good Art teacher, you give lots of examples to help folks strengthen the underlying concepts. Thanks!

[@GearGarageTV]

Thanks!

[@Outdoor-gw3og]

Thank you! Been rafting for 6 years, done the middle fork and main and I still learn things from you. I really appreciate it.

[@GearGarageTV]

Outdoor365247 I’m stoked to hear that

[@johnjones850]

This is becoming one of my favorite channels. Thanks for the fine details. I’m brand new to rafting. Excellent advice and information

[@GearGarageTV]

Glad you like it!

[@The53Wingnut]

Zack this is EXACTLY what I needed! Watched all the episodes and have a better knowledge because of your videos. I’d love to have you do more videos for novices where you have the play by play (and pause it) to talk about hazards/lines. Love your videos amigo!

[@GearGarageTV]

I'm glad you're enjoying the show! Check out our friday live show at 2 PM for more play by play videos.

[@robertmantell1700]

Hi!! I'm a retired USCG Surfman and just bought my first drift boat. Clicked on your vid to start my internet education before starting down the "gaining experience" road. Very easy to understand, I really like the visuals, white board followed by real vids keep it from being the boring "death by powerpoint" type of things I remember my military days. I'm getting excited about trying this out on a Class I minus lol......

[@adrianrafaelmagana804]

The nostalgia I feel talking about reading rivers is so strong, great video!

[@GuthrieStraw]

Love this series - super helpful, and gives actionable advice and scenarios that help people make safer decisions. Thanks!

[@kristinmerritt3396]

Excellent video. Natural teacher. Easy to understand. Thank you!

[@Akokinos]

Thanks so much for taking the time and energy to do these videos. As a beginner I find these videos immensely helpful. I have been watching your gear garage videos consistently since my friends got me hooked a few months ago. Thanks for sharing all your knowledge with us!

[@GearGarageTV]

I'm stoked to hear you find the videos useful

[@SUPfmPodcast]

Great information here on the art of reading water. Explained really clearly which is another art!

[@scottanderson1366]

I really appreciate these mate, thank you.

[@tonyhunter6397]

Great job, explaining basic reading, maybe to boring for some, but for newbies who need this , just what the dr ordered. 👍

[@mikekuczynski1552]

Great job explaining the basics of reading a river . Thanks for sharing

[@iproject1850]

Excellent video! The examples really helped tie things together! Thanks for your time in putting this all together, I’ll be sharing with my friends that are newer to white water!

[@GearGarageTV]

I'm sure glad it helps. The intermediate video is coming soon too.

[@reneeavery2193]

Zach! Thank you soooo much! I am a total novice. I've tuned into so many videos and the info is way above my head almost immediately. I'm not a physics person - my mind just doesn't work that way. But after I watched your beginner video, I actually understood some of the basics of reading water and feel I could put them to use. Dude! You're awesome!

[@GearGarageTV]

Thanks for the nice comment!

[@takodagallagher9406]

Thanks so much for breaking all this down. I’ve been on a ton of canoe trips and I’ve been through my fair share of smaller rapids but it’s nice to know the why behind what I’m doing instead of just what to do.

[@GearGarageTV]

Great to hear it was helpful!

[@troycone]

Great series, very helpful thank you!

[@joelmcfadden547]

Great video! Thanks buddy.

[@GarrettMarkScott]

Super helpful and thank you

[@natedellinger2919]

Excellent job and thanks so much!

[@kristinessTX]

Exactly what I was looking for...thank you for posting

[@GearGarageTV]

I'm sure glad it is helpful.

[@alexhenriquez5567]

Good breakdown

[@righteousriverfishinginoregon7]

Subscribed because of this video for this beginner. Thanks.

[@GearGarageTV]

Welcome aboard!

[@isaacmont3623]

Great video

[@jasonday5091]

With experience you see and do these things without thinking about it. It's fun to put into words everything that we look for. I hadn't thought about the higher number of strainers on the outside of the "C" but it's true. I read in an article about how to raft about "V"s: if they point downstream they point the way to go, if they point upstream go around (the point at submerged rocks). It also talked about the reverse ferry and the mechanics of rowing backwards versus the weaker forward rowing. A buddy taught me how to use the momentum of the raft while entering rapids straight on but drifting right or left as needed to avoid rocks by getting the mass of the boat moving before entering the rapid. That's probably already covered in your advanced video. Another thing: I like to be actively rowing, keeping the boat moving. Punching through the waves keeps you out of holes and gives you greater control. Kayakers are always paddling to maintain balance. I think rafters could learn a lot from this. Great videos, thanks!

[@GearGarageTV]

Vs can also lead right into holes, rocks, and walls. The more difficult Grand Canyon rapids are Vs that go right into holes. Learning how to escape the Vs is a Class IV rowing skill.

[@patrick4494]

Thank you so much for this helpful video. One suggestion I have would be to highlight in someway where your looking and seeing the eddies. Finding the”V”s like you said is easy enough, but I had a harder time seeing the eddies.

[@kristinessTX]

The Eddies are always behind rocks on the sides of the V after the rapid. .In the video at 5.13 you can see the Eddie flowing up strewn. When you're The actual river it's a lot easier to see the water flowing upstream And usually there's a pretty clear line between the 2. Eric Johnson has a video about crossing eddy's And in that video you can clearly see the Eddie line

[@kristinessTX]

Actually it might be closer to 5:15 or 5:16

[@GearGarageTV]

Yep I'm trying to learn how I can draw on the screen

[@tunkamoose1981]

Hey Zach, I guided back in the 90’s with French Broad Rafting Company, Ron West and Jake taught us; your videos are excellent! Getting back on the water after a while; thank you for your help. Maybe I could get out to your river someday; it looks fun!

[@GearGarageTV]

I am so happy to hear you enjoy the videos. Thank you so much for the nice comment!

[@andrewbrown6522]

So i did 25km today (yesterday now actually). Half upstream and then drifted back. I found that rowing through the inside corners helped sometimes but not always and then it occurred to me that various shapes s/z/y/c of river stretches must produce different water pressures. Ultimately the wind did me in but i was wondering if you have much to say about rowing upstream? Seems like the inside corners are often too shallow to get a good stroke in.

[@MrTenkara]

What's your opinion on new boaters using a pontoon style or raft style boat? I would be afraid that I would catch a rock right between the pontoons. Trying to figure out kind of boat i need. Here in Virginia the rivers are little different and have more slow pool sections. Thank you for the great video!

[@cheryladelmeyer8172]

Good video thank you. Any information about standing waves?

[@rickydrawhorn7682]

Love your youtube shows, my classroom so to speak. On #151 “Reading Water”, wind river film clip, what’s your cat frame width? And what’s your oar length? I have two frames (tripping 66” and 60” daytrip) for my cat (14’ Wave Destroyer). I was thinking of cutting my day frame (narrower) by 6” for 54” frame for tighter rivers like the wind.

[@GearGarageTV]

The distance between the cat tubes on that frame is 36". I usually use my 10' oars but it was really low water so I used 9' oars that day.

[@brendanmcquillan974]

Great show! Sorry I have to ask, why in the cat video at end where you are rowing do you have pins and clips on one side and spinnies on the other?

[@GearGarageTV]

So I can better understand the difference between pins and clips and spinnies

[@stacykiely961]

Hey Zach, I'm not fully caught up on your videos yet, so maybe you've done this already, but I was thinking about your series on Class II, III, IV, and V boaters. You start with basic skill sets and leadership qualities, and then add and expand on them as the boating level rises. I think it would be nice to have a chart that begins with a Class V trip leader; all the skills, management, safety, and organization you need to take people down the gnarliest stuff. Then ask people to really consider what they want out of their boating. Will you ever run class V or even class IV? Do you ever have interest in being a trip leader? Are you floating with your family? Are you out there to appreciate nature and solitude and navigating rapids are a necessary skill to get there, or are you out there to run rapids and get wet? Then assess which of those Class V skills translate into what you need and want/need out of yourself. If I'm going to be TL for my group, and people are going to look to me for advise and leadership, but we are never going to run anything above class III, I need to make a list which cherry picks all the gear knowledge, organization, and safety of a Class V boater maybe without some of the technical skills of running rapids. Maybe I'm just in it for the fun run and don't want any part of being TL or giving advice. What do I need to be in Class V trips? I make a list for myself of the technical, river running, and safety skills I need but leave out some of the more organizational. Do I need to be proficient in creating a boat order, or do I just need to be proficient in keeping the proper spacing in an order the TL created. Maybe your not a class V boater, but you're Class V river runner? Maybe you've got no interest in running Class IVs, but you want to start a river group with your neighbors and their families and you want to have the necessary knowledge and skills to run weekend river camping trips on Class II water. How does one go about making their own list for where they want to be? I don't know if that's something you'd be interested in talking about, but it's something I'd be interested in watching and could be beneficial to a lot of recreational boaters.

[@GearGarageTV]

That's certainly a great idea but hard to cover in my informal Gear Garage format. We've created an online rowing course that covers some of this and we talk about some of this in our 4 day Class IV Schools.

[@beautofRwanda.]

Nice

[@davidroberts5577]

Great video , what cat are you rowing? Don't see you on a cat often.

[@GearGarageTV]

That's the Wing 11' cat

[@davidroberts5577]

Thanks for letting me know, it's one awesome cat!

[@nolabarnes7126]

Why are you using an oar lock on the left oar and pins and clips on the right oar? Interesting. Edit: just saw your reply to a similar comment - never mind. Great videos.

[@GearGarageTV]

To help me better understand the difference between them

[@tonyhunter6397]

Are these named after Eddie Haskell ??? 🤔

[@bearsharkp3901]

Ok I didn't know cutting the C was a thing. Just leveled up

[@bearsharkp3901]

I was gonna leave but I have the same shirt.

[@adventurefeel...3737]

👍

[@coreyhenricksen151]

You’d lose your par less if you used oar locks instead of pins and clips

[@avertingdisaster916]

As obvious as it is that this dude is an authority on whitewater boating hydrology, I am in a different camp: dont overthink it, go with the flow, dont wrap a boat around a boulder and dont bother showing off because nobody really cares until the showboater drowns POINT BLANK