How to Choose a Freestyle Kayak

Series Summary

When you face the Bus Eater and that monster wave tries to swallow your kayak, you just remember what ol' Jack Burton does in a time like that...he just looks that overgrown toilet bowl right in the face and says "give me your best shot." But make certain you've brought your rodeo kayaking A game before mouthin' off. If you haven't yet been schooled in the art of rodeo kayaking, Bus Eater isn't where you need to be, but thankfully you've come to the right place for some preliminary kayaking lessons. Our freestyle kayaking expert and certified advanced whitewater instructor James Sullivan can give you some free kayaking tips to help you learn freestyle moves on your kayak.

In this free kayaking how-to video series, learn freestyle kayaking techniques from rodeo kayaking expert James Sullivan. James will teach you how to choose a rodeo kayak, how to choose the right rock to do freestyle moves on, and how to edge on the outside of a turn. He will also teach and demonstrate how to do a back deck roll, how to redirect your buoyancy in a kayak, how to lead with your torso in a kayak, how to do a stern squirt, how to do a bow pivot, how to do a stern pivot, how to roll in a hole, how to do flat water spins, how to link spins, and plowing ender. So before you head off to the Yarlung Tsangpo gorge check out this free kayaking lesson and others like it from James and other expert kayakers in the Expert Village.

Video Transcript

"A look at different types of kayaks for free styling. Our first kayak here is a little bit longer. It has pretty slicey ends on the sides. The slicey ends allow it to cartwheel smoothly through the water. It's a little slower cartwheeling boat. The extra length allows it to cart fast on a wave. It really zips down across the face of a wave nicely. The other boat on this side here is going to be a bit of a shorter kayak. It has more volume in the knee area, the sides of the boat here. That more volume allows you to get a higher lift when you're cartwheeling in a hole. You'll get more air with a shorter kayak with more volume. Also, the cartwheels can speed up if the ends are still real slicey. If you have a narrow top and bottom to the boat, you're going to be doing fast cartwheels, which are a little hard to control. "