| Backrest |
A strap that supports your back when you’re sitting in a kayak. |
| Backsurf |
Surfing backwards, when your stern’s pointing down the wave. |
| BCU |
British Canoe Union – the national governing body for canoeing in the UK. |
| Break |
A spot which forms ocean surf waves to form. |
| Buoyancy aid |
Usually a vest or jacket, a buoyancy aid is made from foam and helps you float so you can rescue yourself more easily. It differs from a lifejacket in that it will not keep your head above water if you’re unconscious. |
| CANI |
Canoe Association of Northern Ireland. |
| Canoe |
A generic term for boats without rudders propelled by paddles. A more specific meaning is a boat that is knelt in and propelled by a single bladed paddle. |
| Capsize |
When a canoe turns completely upside down. |
| Carbon fibre |
Often used to make paddles, helmets and competition boats, carbon is light and stiff, but also quite expensive and can be fragile. |
| Cartwheel |
A playboating move where the boat spins round the paddler in the vertical plane. |
| Carve |
One of the best ways to move around a wave is to use a boat’s rails to carve around. |
| Coach |
A canoeing instructor. |
| Cockpit |
The hole through which you get into your canoe. |
| Creekboat |
A round, blunt boat that’s designed to make steep and difficult drops safer. |
| Creeking |
River paddling which involves steep technical rivers. |
| Earplugs |
Often worn by paddlers to keep water out of their ears and so prevent any hearing loss that may occur from repeated flushes of cold water. |
| Eskimo roll |
A means of righting a boat after a capsize using a paddle and a strong hip flick |
| Feather |
The angle at which kayak paddles are opposed to each other |
| Fins |
Used on surf kayak and making their way onto playboats, fins help paddlers to carve hard when they’re surfing. |
| Flat spin |
A basic freestyle move that can be performed in a wave or hole. |
| Flat water |
A body of water with no rapids in it – lakes or slow moving rivers. |
| Flood |
Flood conditions can make a normally easy river very dangerous. |
| Freestyle |
The competitive discipline of playboating. |
| Gate |
Two poles hung over a river during a slalom competition. The course will pass through all the gates. |
| Grade |
A system for categorising the difficulties of a rapid. |
| Hasler |
The divisional system used for UK marathon racing. Division 9 is the slowest category while Div 1 is the fastest. |
| Hatch |
A waterproof way of accessing storage areas in sea or touring kayaks. |
| Haystack |
A very steep wave. |
| Helmet |
Worn to protect your head from rocks, paddles and other bad things. It’s essential that you helmet fits well and covers your forehead. |
| High Performance |
A class of surf boat in competitions that’s shorter and rewards more varied moves than international class. |
| Hole |
A water feature where water moving downstream is countered by water rushing back upstream to meet it. |
| Hotdogging |
Another word for freestyle. |
| Hypaion |
The rubber that a raft’s made from. |
| International class |
A long, fast surf boat class that’s recognised in competitions. |
| Kayak |
A type of canoe which is sat in and propelled with a double bladed paddle. |
| Kevlar |
A hard wearing material that is very strong and light. Often used in competition boats and helmets. |
| Leptospirosis |
A rare but serious illness that can be picked up from rat’s urine in river and lake water. |
| Lightning |
Pyranha’s plastic marathon/sprint boat for children and small paddlers. |
| Loop/air loop |
A freestyle move where a paddler pulls a forwards somersault in a hole. |
| Noseclips |
Often worn by playboaters to keep water out of their noses. |
| Overfall |
See ‘tidal race’. |
| Park and huck |
Destination creek boating. This involves parking in one place and paddling one waterfall or rapid without travelling too far downriver. |
| Park and play |
Destination playboating. This involves parking on one place and playboating on specific feature without travelling downstream. |
| Pin |
When a boat is stuck against something in a river. Pinning against rocks or trees can be dangerous if you’re underwater at the time. |
| Playboating |
Using river features to pull off acrobatic tricks in a boat. |
| Playspot |
A location that’s particularly suitable for playboating, usually a wave or hole. |
| Polo |
Canoe polo is a team game where five paddlers on each team have to score goals by throwing the ball through the opposing team’s net. |
| Portage |
Either the act of carrying your boat around a rapid or obstruction or something that you choose to portage. |
| Raft |
An inflatable boat which can be taken down whitewater rivers. |
| Rapid |
Caused when a river flows downhill, the steeper the gradient the more difficult the rapid. |
| Rudder |
Usually fitted to the back of a marathon or sprint boat and controlled by a foot pedal or foot operated steering bar. |
| SCA |
Scottish Canoeing Associations. |
| Skiffle |
Disturbance caused by water flowing over shallow shingle beds on a riverbed. |
| Slalom |
A discipline of canoeing that involves competitions racing through a series of gates hung over a river. |
| Spate |
A river which has been brought up to flood levels by heavy rain. |
| Spray deck |
A neoprene flap that paddlers wear round their waists and fit into their boat’s cockpit. |
| Squirt |
a) A move where a boat is stood vertically on its stern
b) A type of paddling that involves paddling a very low volume boat that’s designed to use river currents to sink the entire boat and its paddler below the water’s surface – the Mystery Move. |
| Star test |
The personal skills certifications awarded by the BCU. 1* is introductory whereas 5* certifies advanced leadership. |
| Stopper |
A more severe hole. Stoppers can hold canoes or swimmers in them if they’re particularly bad. |
| Surf |
a) Riding the face of a wave in a kayak. The force of gravity pulling the kayak down the wave is countered by the speed of the wave pushing it up the wave.
b) A discipline of kayaking that concentrates on riding ocean waves. |
| Tandem |
A canoe paddled by two people |
| T-grip |
The end of a canoe paddle that isn’t a blade. |
| Throwline |
A bag full of floating line that cab be thrown to a paddler or swimmer in difficulty. |
| Tidal race |
A type of rapid caused when tides force water through a gap or over shallows, causing turbulence. |
| Vertical moves |
Playboating moves which involve standing the kayak on one end. |
| Waterfall |
Formed when water flows over a vertical drop. An integral part of creeking. |
| Wave |
Found on a river or in the sea, waves are often surfable in a boat. |
| Waveski |
A surfboard that you sit on top of and use a paddle to control. |
| WCA |
Welsh Canoeing Association. |
| Well’s disease |
An advanced case of Leptospirosis. |
| Weir |
A man made structure that backs water into a pool above it. Can often form a dangerous stopper below it. |
| Wetsuit |
More popular with rafters than with canoeists, wetsuits are made from neoprene rubber and keep the wearer warm even when they’re wet. |
| Whitewater |
The features that form on steep rivers, including rapids and waterfalls. |
| Wings |
Flatwater and Wild Water racing paddles with a a pronounced lip along the top of the paddles to stop water spilling. |
