How to mentally prepare for a challenging rapid 

  By Sam Sharp 

        Challenging rapids don’t always have to be class five. It can be anything that the  person paddling the rapid is not used to or is just intimidating. The really hard thing on challenging rapids is to mentally prepare your self so that you are 100% confident because if you are not you most probably shouldn’t run the rapid. It is  ok to be scared of a rapid but if you can not imagine yourself running a perfect line on the rapid you are not mentally prepared. Everyone has that one rapid that they find very challenging and just to be blunt,  terrifying.  It is sometimes hard to know when you are ready to run a rapid like this. People  always say what rapids should I run before this to get ready and the truth is if you feel like this rapid is in your skill range the only thing you need to get ready is your brain. You need to get ready to go up to rapid and imagine yourself doing it perfectly if you can do that you are ready to run the rapid.