Why You Should Playboat if You're Not a Playboater - Andrew Palim

                 Creeking is my favorite part of kayaking, running tight, technical rivers and doing so on the most difficult whitewater I can manage. So, I was a little skeptical of playboating when I arrived at keeners. But beyond the insane fun of bouncing around on big water and throwing (or at least attempting, in my case) massive tricks along the way is not only a great pastime, it's  also extremely helpful for all other kinds of paddling, making gains in three important aspects of kayaking, the mental, the physical, and the technical.

                 Freestyle kayaking is great for a boater's mental game, consistently forcing them to stay calm, cool and collected while getting beat down in huge features like Phil's or surfing a powerful wave like Garb. This skill is essential for any budding creek boater, whose life, limbs, gear, or ego might one day depend on him surfing out of a ledge he failed to boof or simply correcting a bad line instead of losing his nerves or swimming.

                 A kayakers physical fitness can also be improved upon through freestyle, whether it be a frantic paddle back to the corner wave eddy in painfully slow boats or recklessly throwing the boat around on flatwater trying to perfect a cartwheel or loop, playboating is exhausting and works muscles not used much in other disciplines, correcting imbalances that could otherwise lead to injuries like a shoulder dislocation. Improved physical fitness can help you no matter what you are doing on the river, whether making a difficult ferry on a Class V river, racing on easy water, or simply wanting to enjoy longer days on the river.

                A paddler's technical prowess is what determines whether you beater or style a run. A solid boof, airtight edge control and paddle dexterity can turn your kayaking from surviving on the brink of an accident to making moves and being in control on the river. Playboating gives you immediate feedback on all three, accelerating your learning curve as well as bombproofing your roll. If you can keep your edges under control in a massive hole,  you can anywhere else, and if you can't, you immediately windowshade, making your inadequacies painfully (and embarrassingly) obvious to you and your friends. Same thing goes for floppy strokes and a clumsy paddle, less noticeable on rivers, but obvious when you can't catch a wave or catch your paddle on the green water, instantly causing you to flip and flush off the feature. Have you ever tried boofing in a playboat? All the forgiveness of a creek boat is not present, and unless your technique is perfect and your weight is forward, you'll become much better acquainted with the hole than you probably ever wanted to be.

                 In conclusion, going outside your comfort zone in easy water by surfing huge features or river running in a small boat is a great way not only to have fun, but to train to be a better kayaker no matter what discipline you pursue.