The Kayaker's Playbook! Paperback – January 1, 1998

The Kayakers Playbook is a must read for anyone interested in learning white water river kayaking. It is full of learning techniques along with great illustrations.

On the cover of this book there's a picture of what appears to be a gnome with an atomic grin sitting in a kayak. The picture is the clue to both the book's underlying philosophy and its explicit message: kayaking on white water is fun. And the best way to have the most fun is to get the basics right. The book is unique in that it consists of nothing more than a series of well illustrated drills which are aimed at developing good boat control, and good paddle technique, so the next time you get on a white water river you can do whatever you want to do better. It's not aimed at wanna be rodeo stars. Text is kept to a minimum and the book is remarkably uncluttered and direct. Unless you're a champion slalom paddler there's lots here that is useful to help you refine and improve your technique and you don't have to wait til your next white water trip to get on with it. If you want to improve your paddling, buy this book. The authors offer a money back guarantee that it will improve your skills. If you've got a frend who's just started paddling, buy them this book. (And read it yerself!) If you're an instructor, especially a new one, buy this book. It's a ready made repetoire of drills and activities you can use to help your students improve facets of their paddling. For instructors it's also good on the little differences between the way racers and recreational boaters do things. Which given the authors' backgrounds is hardly suprising. (You might want to deduct half a star from the rating if you don't like yo-dude-speak)

I've been kayaking whitewater for about 5 years, seriously the past 2 seasons. I stumbled on this while on a visit back to the States last summer. It is clear and concise and builds on a series of simple paddling and 'awareness' excercises - as if a gifted 'professor' collected his/her lecture notes. No kayaker should be without this book, even if you're a pro, there's bound to be some thought-provoking new material here for you or a new spin on how to pass on techniques to newbies. Nealy's book ('Kayak') opens your eyes about 'reading' water and routefinding, this book opens your eyes about boat control. It's a gift, worth 3X the price...