Let’s Talk Whitewater Kayaking, with McKenley Newman
10-minute read
Aqua Bound Ambassador McKenley Newman is an American who’s lived in Germany for the past ten years. His whitewater kayaking adventures have taken him around the globe, so he’s the right person to talk with about this niche paddling sport.
(Photo: Seth Ezekiel West)
McKenley also has professional guiding and instructing experience, and works with many companies in the industry, and is a passionate advocate for the paddling community the world over.
Not long ago, we sat down with him to glean some insight about the specific challenges and rewards of whitewater kayaking, as well as about the paddles that work best for all skill levels.
We know you’ll enjoy this interview…
AQUA BOUND: What about whitewater kayaking demands the high learning curve?
McKENLEY: Whitewater kayaking is probably tied with sea kayaking on the ocean in terms of demanding the biggest learning curve. With sea kayaking, you have to learn to read tides and tidal plains, and it inherently has a lot of navigation in preplanning that you have to feel confident about to cross the ocean.
A river just goes in one direction, so you really don’t have to navigate—you just go down. That being said, there is quite a large learning curve. The biggest challenge that separates it from other paddlesports is the ability to read the river.
As far as paddle fundamentals go—stability, strokes, technique, edging and all that—you have that with sea kayaking, rec boating and touring. What makes whitewater different is that you have to hone in your ability to read what the river is telling you. And that’s not something that happens overnight.
AQUA BOUND: Tell us more about that.
MCKENLEY: Every river is different, and you need to experience as many different rivers as possible to be able to read quickly and know what the river's going to do to you when you go down it.
All of the fundamental skills you learn sea kayaking or rec boating can be transferred to whitewater, to some degree. What stands alone is having the ability to go to any river, look at any rapid, and say, “Okay, this is what it’s going to do to me.”
And this is vital because in order to become a proficient whitewater paddler, you need to be proactive rather than reactive. You need to know what the river's going to do to you before you enter that rapid. Otherwise, you're going to be reacting to what the river's doing, and you're not in control.
When you're proactive, you're in control. When you’re reactive, the river's in control, and you never want the river to be in control. So I would say reading the water is the biggest learning curve that whitewater has to offer.
This just takes experience. It takes getting out on the river, and it takes learning what the current is telling you to do.
You can go to a canal and you can learn so much from just a canal alone. But then you go to the Zambezi or Nepal, and it's a completely different style of river. You've never seen crashing waves like this because the canal doesn't have that volume, or you go to somewhere like North Carolina and see microcreeking, where there's almost no water. It's 90% rock you're trying to get down.
Every river is different (photo: Seth Ezekiel West)
This is slightly under-appreciated because most people get in their boat and say, “Okay, I'm going to practice the paddle strokes. I'm going to practice the roll. I'm going to practice edging. I'm going to practice my peel-outs.” But the reality is that if you can't read water, it doesn't really matter how good your control is, because you're just going to get tossed around. So that's the difficulty.
And the other part of the learning curve that's more difficult than, say, sea kayaking or rec boating, is finding a river that you can progress on at a healthy level.
If you're sea kayaking, you can find an area that has very predictable weather, very predictable swells, and calm sections to paddle. Rec boating, you can find calm sections to paddle.
To find a river that you can go down and push yourself in a healthy way—but also not push yourself into danger—is difficult. And if you don't have access close by to these rivers, this makes the learning curve more difficult because you have to travel somewhere to be in a healthy environment to progress.
AQUA BOUND: What are the biggest rewards of whitewater kayaking?
MCKENLEY: I would say there’s a 2-part answer. There’s a specific reward that comes in your first few years as you start as a beginner and get more towards intermediate. Then there's a different reward from intermediate to quite advanced.
When you’re just beginning, you see the river as this massive beast. You’re trying to survive. Your goal is to get down the river successfully, and you have a mentality that “I want to conquer this river.” For a lot of people, that means going into these rapids with kind of a battle mentality.
(photo: Oliver Dressel)
At the end of the river, my reward is this achievement that I conquered this beast. You have gone against one of Mother Nature's greatest, strongest environments. People can’t fathom how strong even small Class 1, Class 2 rivers are. The current alone is such a beast that you come off that river feeling like a gladiator who just survived.
This is very particular to whitewater. When you talk about other sports like mountain biking or skiing, you are still relatively in control. You can stop yourself at any time and decide whether you want to keep going. With whitewater, when you're in that rapid, the only thing you can do is get through that rapid. And so it's a very immersive reward to beat the beast.
As you progress and your skills get to a certain level, this reward changes. And I think it changes for the better. You’re no longer fighting the beast, but you're working with that beast. You realize going down the rapids isn’t meant to be a battle, it's meant to be a dance.
You dance with the current. You work with the features. And you get down it together rather than against it. You say, “I'm gonna get down this river and make it smooth. Make it clean. The current is going to be working with me
When you accomplish this, when you go down a rapid and it is extremely clean—you hit the eddie you want, you have the perfect peel out, you get that final boost stroke in and land—there’s nothing quite like that feeling of having thousands of cubic feet per second under you working with you.
And so, as an advanced paddler, that reward is learning to dance with Mother Nature. You just feel so in sync and that reward is almost more of an art than a battle. These are the two rewards that all paddlers feel: First, the battle and then the dance, and it's something very unique to whitewater.
AQUA BOUND: Why do you like the Shred for novice kayakers?
MCKENLEY: The Shred has been the go-to paddle for kayak schools over the years. There are three reasons for that.
First, they are relatively unbreakable. When you’re learning, you’re going to abuse that paddle. Whether it’s you swimming and that paddle is floating down a rocky river. Whether it’s you beating out of the boat really fast and throwing your paddle on the shore, because you don’t realize that it damages paddles. Whether it’s you not realizing how deep to go with the paddle stroke and hit the bottom of the river.
All these things are wear and tear on a paddle. When you’re just learning, it’s good to have a paddle that’s bomb-proof. The Shred has always been that way. It’s one of the key features. It’s a little bit heavier, but with that weight, you know it can take some roughness while you’re learning and advancing.
Aqua Bound’s Shred whitewater paddle (photo: Oliver Dressel)
The second thing is the cost when you’re learning, and even until you’re extremely confident with your roll and you know how to hold onto your paddle. The cost of a paddle makes a big difference. If you buy an expensive paddle and go out there and swim and lose it, that’s a pretty big hit.
With a less expensive paddle like the Shred, you’re willing to push yourself and try, to take a ferry that looks scary, or to have your first surf. If you flip and lose something, it’s not as devastating. You know it’s not going to break. With a very expensive paddle, you might not push yourself because you’re worried about losing your paddle.
The last thing is that the Shred is a universal paddle, which means if you learn on the Shred, you can transfer that knowledge when you get better and want something a bit more performance-heavy. You can transfer and anything else is going to feel relatively comfortable. So it’s a great foundation for you to grow if you get more advanced paddles down the road.
AQUA BOUND: What kind of whitewater paddler would benefit from a high-end paddle?
MCKENLEY: You don't want to upgrade until you feel you have a bomb-proof roll, you aren’t swimming very often, and you feel you can benefit from having a better paddle.
When you progress as a paddler, you'll get to a point where you will personally know when you start considering a new paddle. And it shouldn't be until you know you're not going to lose or break that paddle. It’s one of those things that you need to progress slowly. Once you feel that you notice a difference between the paddles, then you can start thinking about it.
If you’re an advanced pack rafter and you want to shed some grams/pounds because you're hiking two days into the river, the Aerial is unbeatable, right? If you’re doing races and you want something that has stronger output and performance, then it's time to upgrade. You’ll notice a speed difference when upgrading to a carbon. It's stiffer.
Aqua Bound’s Aerial whitewater paddle (photo: Kate Wright)
When you start running higher-level rapids, you’ll notice you want a little bit more performance. You want a little bit more out of it with each stroke. At that point, it's time to find a fiberglass or carbon model, something at that level.
The other things that you might want to consider are if your wrists, shoulders or elbows are hurting. Different paddles make a difference with that. Different diameter shafts, different diameter blades, different materials—all of these things can affect pain while paddling.
If you’re using something that's a little bit heavier, like the Shred, a little bit stiffer when you're hitting holes and waves and whatnot, it's not absorbing as much shock, then it might be time to try a different material or a different size blade. That can dramatically affect how your body feels at the end of possession.
I know people who change paddles from summer to winter because in winter, they’re a lot colder, and have issues with their shoulders or elbows. They’ll go to maybe a smaller blade, or a lighter paddle, or a paddle that’s less stiff to simply have less wear and tear on their body. Your paddle does make that effect.
(Photo: Mat Willder)
Our thanks to McKenley Newman for his time with us! You can follow him on YouTube and Instagram for lots of whitewater media.
What paddling questions can our friendly Customer Service team help you with? Contact us at 715-755-3405 or sales@aquabound.com, or choose our online chat option.
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