I’m just back from an annual pilgrimage to Slovenia and the Soča River. It’s somewhere I’ve paddled many times (over the past 2 decades – gulp!), and have had the privilege of coaching many paddlers over the years.
First, the destination. Clear water. Easy logistics. Multiple sections giving plenty of options from easy floats to stiff grades. Soft rocks (by this I mean old, water-worn, smooth boulders, rather than sharp rocks or rocks that crumble as you touch them). Narrow canyons. Wide open sections. Playwaves. Powerful eddy lines. Beautiful mountains surrounding the river. Historical interest. Friendly locals. It is the destination that has it all and can give a mixed-ability group the most inclusive whitewater trip ever. Every time I’m fortunate to paddle there, I’m blown away by the quality and beauty of the valley and river. If you ever get the chance to go there, you should!
Secondly, the boat choice. It’s a slicy boat for me. Back in 2022, I wrote on this blog about the perfect union being an Ozone and the Soča. Since then, I’ve managed to curate a small fleet of Ripper 2s to allow students to paddle whilst on the Soča, and I’m here to highlight some of the real advantages of using a slicy boat in these environments. Whilst I’ll focus on the Soča, there is no reason why your local runs wouldn’t offer the same opportunities in a playful boat.
On trips to the Soča, I’ve worked with a wide range of paddling abilities, from people starting to explore and develop skills in the grade 2 environment, all the way through to those looking to become coaches and leaders on higher grades of water. We ask everyone to bring a creek-style boat, and have a fleet of Ripper 2s on hand to mix and match depending on what people are working on each day. On each trip over the past few years, everyone has spent a couple of days in a half slice, and the smiles (and skill development) from their time in these boats are justification enough for having access to them. Heading to a section you’ve paddled a couple of times? Take a different boat and set different challenges for members of the team. Looking to work on edge control and sharpen up reactions? Jump in a Ripper. Want to really explore trim and how it affects your boat? Jump in a Ripper. Want to make a simple eddyline a huge amount of fun? Jump in a Ripper. Maximise the fun available on a grade 2 section? Jump in a Ripper. Move into a more challenging grade of whitewater? Jump in a creeker!
The slicey boat family and their resurgence have also brought the Pyranha motto, ‘Play the River’, back to the fore. Paddling is so much fun, and playing in whitewater is one of the things that makes it so much fun. In the UK, one of the most paddled rivers is the Afon Dyfrdwy (frequently known as the River Dee). This river is the home run of paddlers who have been all over the globe in search of the finest whitewater runs. They still head out on this grade 2/3 section and use half slices to make the most of every eddyline and surf wave to develop their skills. If it works for them, it’ll work for all paddlers across the globe!
Rationale for adding a half-slice to your quiver (that isn’t just N+1 being the right number of boats) if you’ve not read enough above. If you don’t know me (and there is no reason why you should!), I’m a professional whitewater kayak coach and outdoor instructor. I now work not only as a coach but also as a trainer, teaching other coaches to deliver leadership and coaching courses and assessing across the full suite of PaddleUK awards. I also have a large number of awards, credentials, and qualifications that allow me to do this. I’m letting you know this, in case you need to justify to a significant other (parent, partner or best friend!) why you need a slicey boat. ‘I read it on a blog’ has less credence than ‘a fully qualified coach said this was the best way to develop my paddling and make the most of environments that I may have previously discounted as fun to paddle’.
We have a well-worn saying as whitewater coaches. We can make easy whitewater hard, but can’t make hard whitewater easy. This translates to ‘it’s far better to make easy whitewater hard to develop skills in, than expose people to hard whitewater before they’re fully ready for it’. Using a slicy boat really allows you to do this, rather than floating down a river and then making your next challenge the next grade of whitewater.
A note on safety – slicey boats are more likely to pin and more challenging to hit lines with in whitewater that is a higher grade than you are used to – in these instances I’d always reach for a bigger boat to allow me to stack the deck in my favour!