Going river running

OldmanMondeo

I am looking to get into river running, I am paddling nearly 30 years, the last 25 I have been involved in Salmon and Canoe polo. I have injuries catch up with me and I am looking just to enjoy the sport and run some rivers I have heard about from fellow paddlers etc.

Anyway I know nothing about the boats, Creekers etc. I do know that I don't want a playboat. What are the differences? I am currently selling all my polo gear and will be looking at getting the right boat to allow me enjoy running good rivers and shooting some good rough stuff.

yomchi

OldmanMondeo wrote: »

I am looking to get into river running, I am paddling nearly 30 years, the last 25 I have been involved in Salmon and Canoe polo. I have injuries catch up with me and I am looking just to enjoy the sport and run some rivers I have heard about from fellow paddlers etc.

Anyway I know nothing about the boats, Creekers etc. I do know that I don't want a playboat. What are the differences? I am currently selling all my polo gear and will be looking at getting the right boat to allow me enjoy running good rivers and shooting some good rough stuff.

Hi there, you'll know the differences between a playboat or a freestyle boat and a creeker or a river runner by looking at them. The freestyle boat are small and stumpy, usually low volume and small in length by a good two feet in comparison to a river runner or a creeker.

In relation to getting into a club with a network of river runners, try Wild Water or Rock Hoppers.

Best bet is to try a few boats and see what suits you best. I would suggest boats like the Pyrhana Karnali, the Dagger Mamba, fluid solo etc, all can be used on higher grade water and are great river runners too.

Enjoy getting back into it, and try keep the polo bad habits away from the river

OldmanMondeo

yomchi wrote: »

Hi there, you'll know the differences between a playboat or a freestyle boat and a creeker or a river runner by looking at them. The freestyle boat are small and stumpy, usually low volume and small in length by a good two feet in comparison to a river runner or a creeker.

In relation to getting into a club with a network of river runners, try Wild Water or Rock Hoppers.

Best bet is to try a few boats and see what suits you best. I would suggest boats like the Pyrhana Karnali, the Dagger Mamba, fluid solo etc, all can be used on higher grade water and are great river runners too.

Enjoy getting back into it, and try keep the polo bad habits away from the river

Cheers, I know the difference between playboat and riverrunners, it was the creekers and river runners that was confusing me. As for the club, I was thinking of re-joining WWKC, been gone 15 years from them now.

yomchi

OldmanMondeo wrote: »

Cheers, I know the difference between playboat and riverrunners, it was the creekers and river runners that was confusing me. As for the club, I was thinking of re-joining WWKC, been gone 15 years from them now.

Apologies I read your post wrong there.
Creekers tend to be made of harder plastic, have outfittings that aid a pinning situation, have more volume front and back and have rails (or none) that accommodate big white water.

Depending on what rivers you want to start running will dictate what boat you would want to get. In theory I repeat in theory, a Burn may not be the ideal boat to get you down the Roughty or the Dargle in big water (I know plenty have done and do) but in theory it's a sharp railed river runner. On the other hand a Nomad with a fully displaced hull would be better suited to creek rivers. The river runners and creek boats are normally separated in categories on shop websites, no harm having a gander.

KenHy

I think the distinction between a "creek" boat and a "river runner" is a bit of a myth, most current production boats are good and can be used on any type of river - but there are certain features on whitewater boats which make them more or less suited to particular types of rivers.

Some consider the likes of the Dagger Nomad, Pyranha Shiva or LL Jeffe as "creekers" because they have a displacement (rounded) hull and soft rails- which makes them more suited to low volume steeper rivers. However they tend to be harder to control and get pushed about a bit on higher volume water.

What's often considered a river runner would be something like a Dagger Mamba, Pyranha Burn/Everest/Karnali. These boats have planing (flat) hulls and more aggressive rails - which allow more control on bigger volume, but a bit less on slides/drops

Many people paddle both types of the above boats on many different types of rivers. It's more down to personal preference on what you prefer then one type of boat been required for a particular type of river.

In my opinion all of the above are suited to harder rivers. If your primarily going to be paddling Boyne/Liffey/Inny/Avonmore only. I'd look at something more like a Dagger Axiom or Jackson Zen/Fun Runner as boats with a bit more play in them (and all are very capable of running harder rivers)

If you do decide to go for a larger boat just for a more comfortable paddle (sacrificing a bit of play) A lot of paddlers used to paddling polo/slalom bots are liking the Zet Raptor as a creak river boat.

MadYaker

Yeah I wouldn't be too bothered about the difference between a river runner and a creeker. Id say just try as many different boats as possible on moving water and go with whichever one you like the most. I don't know if you're on facebook but if you are there is a great group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/318472144863317/ where people buy and sell second hand gear if you don't want to buy new.