Originally posted by irenen
If dinsdalw wrote a book I would buy it. :)
FACT!!
Megan - Boat whatever get's you stoked!
Options:
-The Green can be very tough to hitchhike a shuttle, but that is a great river to work on skill building with low consequence. Definitely worth the effort when it's in.
-The Amigos section on Tumwater. Huge pools in case something happens and very easy to hitchhike. Awesome place to play and practice moves, build skills.
-The sky. No-brainer here. Everything is walkable, shuttle is all but guaranteed.
-Lower and Upper Icicle. Lower is obviously better for hitchhiking/shuttle but the upper is busy in the summer so it's not too bad.
Matt - I gotta disagree with you whole-heartedly. I didn't have a combat roll for the first two or maybe even three seasons I paddled. I just tried to never flip! I had a pool roll, I just couldn't shake "the fear" when I was upside down. My brother and sister both learned to roll in a pool (and very well) before they got in a hard shell on the river. Neither paddle today. One had a "bad experience" and the other just never contracted the stoke.
I say do whatever you want. If you are uncomfortable paddling with people that do not have a roll, don't paddle with them, just be upfront about it. I think it's awesome when people get out and push their boundaries while they are learning. Obviously, safety talks need to be had and a strategy/buddy system implemented and some caution is due. Our sport is so small and there are so few kayakers; we need to get everyone that has even the slightest interest in kayaking on the water so they can come over to the dark side.
my 2-cents.
Edited by tiziak - 25 Feb 2016 at 4:19pm