The Proper Footwear for Whitewater Kayaking

Video Transcript

"Deciding what to wear on the river is pretty important you want to make sure you have good footwear. Something like a low shoe like this or even something with a little higher ankle support. If it was really cold I would probably go with a little bit more coverage. Sometimes you like the little small one's depending on what you need. There are many different sizes and shapes of footwear the big thing that has good traction fits in your boat and it is comfortable when wet. So that is footwear. The other thing you want to keep in mind is you want to stay away from cotton, cotton when it gets wet gets keeps you chilled so you want to go synthetic or wool. One of the synthetic that I like to use a lot is something like this hydro skin it is a synthetic material this is a thin skin that has both thin and thick skin out there depending on what level of warmth you need. So that is for the top the next thing I would do is fro the bottoms I would probably wear something near premed or something like this which is a material to keep your warm just in case you get wet. Wet suit materials are a fine way to do as well. So you need a top and a bottom and inner layer. Then I would put something on like a paddling jacket, this jacket has got stretching neoprene around the wrist and the neck to help keep the water out. There are different layers or types of materials this is one is amid up range expensive there are some that are a little bit cheaper if you just want to keep the splash off. If you are just going on a paddle on the flat lake pond you might not need all this cold weather gear but if it gets cold out and starts raining it may be appropriate to have this. So the big thing is to find materials that would keep your warm when wet, also to help protect you from the sun and also give you good traction when you are walking on the rocky shoreline."