The people who have this type of mindset are the ones who don't usually post about stuff like that on here, so I thought I would re-post this alternative take on the merits of swimming by my husband Mike Nash seeing as some of the people who might find it interesting may never have seen it under the 'lost paddle' thread. Here it is.

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So I read these threads occasionally and I would like to add a different point of view. My comments are not directed at anyone in particular but are for all to consider. Before I do I would like to say that everyone should make there own decisions based on their abilities, personality type etc, etc. So my point of view is that regardless of how slowly you step it up and how competent you are, eventually you will swim. something unexpected/unplanned will happen. If you are a good strong competent swimmer it wont be a bad swim. and assuming you have a good team you wont lose your gear. its always a risk, and factors such as pool drop versus continuous, and the presence of gear eating sieves, and your tolerance to losing gear should be assessed. As long as people aren't crying about losing gear, commenters shouldn't assume that they are. Trying to retrieve lost gear is not crying about it. Having your name on gear sure helps. I write my contact details on a piece of paper then glue and over coat it with epoxy resin. it never wears off. Hanging on to your paddle when you swim also helps. I also think that challenging yourself when you are a class 2/3/4 boater, to the point that you assess a rapid, your abilities/team etc, etc. then running it even though there may be an 80 percent chance that you will mess it up and possibly swim. With safety set, and a game plan set if you do swim this becomes a learning experience in a moderate white water environment with little chance for injury or gear loss and huge potential to improve recovery, survival, rescue and swimming skills. Do this enough times, practice swimming in holes, in current at the takeout etc, and all these skills will become natural and instinctual. I paddled moderate class 4 for 2 years and swam virtually every weekend, I was also lucky in that I boated with a team that were a lot better than me, encouraging, totally non judgmental and happy to see me get my ass kicked and pick up the pieces. I am now a good swimmer with good recovery/survival skills. If swimming scares you it makes kayaking scary.   Boating class 5 is another story. A swim is potentially more consequential and obviously we make decisions accordingly. But if things do go wrong having those instinctual survival, and swimming skills become even more important. Don't let anyone make you feel bad because you capsized or swam. Don't be hard on yourself because you had a bad day. Kayaking is an awesome pursuit and its FUN!! Lets keep it that way.

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From me: I totally understand that sometimes it's a bad decision to get on certain rivers where you might swim, especially dangerous/continuous ones. I've done my share of swimming class V (pretty much all in one event, now known as 'The Mother of All Swims') and I will be the first person to say it sucks. However, on the other extreme is the mentality that you've failed somehow if you flip or swim or can't 'crush' a run. It might be the right attitude for the people who believe that, but it's worth considering that it's not the right attitude for everyone, and if the others are not weeping about losing gear or taking their lumps, and are not putting others in danger, then maybe just let them be. Consider that fun kayaking for them might be having their attitude, not the 'must crush this or I shouldn't be on here' attitude. Personally I wish I had swum more as a beginner boater (the downside of having a good roll? Who knew there was one...) and maybe my later swims would not have been as long and dismal. Now I practice swimming nearly every time we get to the take-out. More importantly, it's just fun-sucking to be made to feel like flipping on certain runs is failure. I really believe that's not the right attitude for everyone, and the people who think more like Mike does - I'm talking about highly competent, not-trying-to-kill-themselves-or-anyone-else boaters - are way more fun to boat with. Not because they think 'anything goes', which they do not, but because of their overall attitude. Just like the other people might be more fun to boat with for people who think differently. Basically, there's more than one 'right' attitude here, is my bold suggestion.

A friend of mine says rolls are for people afraid to swim! some what tongue and cheek.. some what true. I frankly wasn't comfortable taking my son out until I saw how he swam in a rapid.
It happens. Hell, I get a bit nervous because all my swims have been short and sweet. I haven't been "worked," but I know it's coming. :) There is a definite skill involved in swimming.

Well said ... last night Judah got to practice some swimming in the rio on the SF Sky from Skykomish down to Money. He wasn't too pumped on the experience but managed to get back in and keep going. We got to work on that roll for sure, but swimming was a real positive as he learned much from that humbling experience. I always like to think that if no gear is lost and no injury is incurred than the swim was a good swim no matter how ego bruising it may have been.

Hey Mike,

How many juice boxes did you make Judah drink out of his bootie? -Brad

Good post!


How to swim rapids as as important a skill as how to paddle them. You can ferry, catch eddies, use the angle of your body similar to how you would use your boat's hull to make moves. There's times to be feet downstream on your back and there's times to roll over and swim like mad. Keep your paddle! Even out of your boat, it's still a tool. You can use it in the face-up, feet downstream position to steer and back-ferry. And you can roll over and use it to do the crawl stroke with. Swimming the crawl stroke using a paddle has saved my ass more than once and got me to eddies I would not have attained otherwise.

I've boated since about 2008 without a real swim. Finally, about a month ago I had my first decent flip, head to rock grind, to hole beating, to swim combo on the Lester River in MN. That was a HUGE relief for me. In the end, it was stupid to swim. Pulled the cord and stood up and walked out of the hole-but it made me realize that it happens and is a great learning experience.

A week later I took a bad line on a pretty high water run of another local river here and had a vicious hole beating. I got sucked out of my thigh braces and was leaning forward to look for the handle on my sprayskirt when I thought, "Motherfu*ker you will not swim. You pulled that sh*t last time now sack up and ride it out." No sooner had I thought that and I found myself almost upright and flushing from the hole.

I can say almost with certainty that had I not swam a week before I would have ended up pulling the skirt during the hole beating a week later. It would have sucked, I promise. Not life threatening kind of sucked, but not pleasant.

Moral of the story for me was that swimming is OK if you learn from it. I always here that.. "Learn from your swim", but I didn't really know what that meant. Maybe it means something different in each circumstance but for me in that instance it meant, "Don't swim here."

A good swim is like having a good cry. It relieves a lot of tension.