Here at Keeners you will have the opportunity to run some very big rapids and push your limits because the river is as the instructors say, “freakishly safe”. I highly recommend taking advantage of this. This is one of few rivers where you can try literally anything you want and 99.9% of the time be perfectly safe. However, while the river is safe some of the rapids can be more than 3 times the size of the ones on your home run. This is a factor that can mess with our heads very easily. Staring at Phils or Coliseum for the first time can be quite an intimidating sight as some of the waves are the size of large suvs and school buses crashing with tons of force. Things like this make kayaking just as much a mental battle as it is a skill battle. It's important when running rapids to have 101% confidence in your abilities and always have at least 2 backup plans. I would also say that it is even more important to know your limits. There's nothing to prove. Most people value seeing a person who really enjoys being on the water rather than someone running stuff to build ego. My last bit of advice is on how to run these rapids.First keep calm and focus on the fun then, find the biggest hole, tee up boof and tuck, kiss your but goodbye, and finally roll up and spread the stoke. There is no such thing as failure, just success in not doing what was intended. There is not much better feeling than achieving what was thought to be impossible and that's what I love about kayaking.
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