Kayak the Backwaters of Kerala

Suitable for those who have no prior experience with Whitewater or Kayaking. In this intensive 5-day course your determination will be put to the test and you shall emerge stronger, hungrier and a well rounded white-water paddler. This course will be held in the pristine river sections of Iruvanjhipuza and Chalipuzha in Calicut district of Kerala. 

DAY 1 (6 HOURS)

The first day of the course is meant to get you familiar with the basics of the sport. You will be taught and made to practice the following skills in a section of a river that is fairly still . 

• River safety protocol

• Swimming in the river

• Gear familiarity and boat control

• Basic paddling strokes, forward, backward, side and turn strokes

• Self rescue and eskimo rescue technique

DAY 2 (6 HOURS)

In this session you will be taught to negotiate currents and we will introduce you to handling your kayak in moving water. You will be taught the different white water kayaking skills that are essential to maneuver the kayak down the river. 

The last 3 hours of this session we will guide you down a class II river section where will you have  an opportunity to test your newly acquired paddling skills. While kayaking down this section you will experience the true beauty of a wild jungle river, breathtaking views of the gorge along with the taste of adrenalin rush that is part and parcel of white water kayaking. 

DAY 3 (6 HOURS)

The focus today will to learn how to roll and to improve basic skills with boat control and paddle strokes as well as to introduce the Eskimo roll. Your time on the water will be equally divided between working on the roll and your core paddling technique. Special attention is given to the development of comfort while upside down and under the water - one of the essential factors of success in a roll. Different variations of the roll will be demonstrated to you throughout the course. In between the dunking underwater sessions you will be made to practise the moving water skills that you  would have learnt on day 2.  This would include ferrying/ eddying and mastering edge control.

DAY 4 (6 HOURS)

Running a river is an awesome experience. In order to do that we require a large amount of different skills , from the moment we start planning a trip at home, till the time we tie up the boats on the car after a great day on the river. This course was meant to provide you with all those skills, building a solid preparation to kayak rivers.

Focus for the day is River Reading and Rescue. Learning these techniques will help you make better decisions on the river and also become confident of facing bigger rapids. 

DAY 5 (6 HOURS)

Everything that you have learnt in the last 4 days will be put to the test.  You will be running two different sections on two different rivers, i.e. the Chalipuzha and Iruvanjhipuza and you will be facing some of the classic rapids of the Malabar. we will focus on how to cross obstacles like waves and holes, how to make sure we can follow our line, and how to change our line when things do not go according to our plan.

DAY 6 & 7 (6 HOURS per day)

These two days we will be working on fine tuning your river running skills. We will be paddling on the sections that you have covered on day 5 but instead of just simply coming down those sections our focus will be on trying to actually make the lines correctly. Depending your progression and also the water levels we may also attempt the class 3-4 sections on the Chalipuzha that includes some technical rapids like the 3-eyed raven, tropical paradise and jungle pinball.