Saw this posted on Boatertalk.com and it is a really well thought out article on the state of kayaking and the art of "stepping it up".

I think he's pretty spot on, his parts about making easy rapids harder are something that jP and I have been talking about for awhile (and many more I'm sure).

I can already tell there is going to be a sh*t storm on boatertalk about it, but that is to be expected.

Is it eliteism to expect people to style lines or just good judgment?

Pushing it; article by Louis Geltman

Awesome article !! coming from a teaching backround my favorite saying is repetition is the mother of learning. I was just talking to a martial artist the other day about the 10,000 hour rule. for anything you do to be a “somewhat master” you must put in at least 10,000 hours to have thoughtless muscle memory … do the math.. thats like 6 years unless your on the water every day..I would say you have to be a master to run class V… I like the philosophy, 10,000 hours of hard moves on easy to moderate whitewater...

I always thought it should be like pool where you "call your shot no slop". Not saying you always execute but at least your not intending to just slop your way through.

On your usual run try a "+ = - " system for scoring your run through each rapid. If you execute per usual it's an = if you style it it's a + if you flip or brace unintentionally it's a - . Gives you another way of looking at how you're making it down.

this post touches on to many things ....but  i think slick hits it on the head when he said there is a media driven push to run the gnarl

people (espisicaly non-boaters) would rather see media clips of people running huge falls or getting hammered in a hole , rather then someone doing 5 perfect wave wheels down a class 3 wave train

The best part about the "hard moves on easy rapids" mantra is in addition to making progression safer and more enjoyable (and making a life-altering swim that makes it more likely that you'll abandon the sport altogether less likely) is that it makes easier runs that you've logged dozens of laps on way more interesting, challenging, and fun than they'd be otherwise.

One of the cool parts about the dam-release runs on the east coast was that there was a widely known "menu" of hard moves on easy rapids that you could use to calibrate your progress as a boater. It was basically the kayaking equivalent of a book of bouldering problems, and it was a great way to self-asses and build confidence in a safe environment. I know I've got a quite a few that I like to work through on the Middle Middle, and there are a couple that I've been trying pull off for years and haven't pulled off yet.

It's tough to pass along kayaking boulder-problems without being out on the river, but I can't help but wonder if it would be possible to put-together a sort of playbook for, say, Boulder Drop using satellite imagery from Google maps, personal photos from the river, or images like the ones in the link below and add them to the river-beta page for the Sky (along with personal difficulty ratings).
http://www.riverexpeditions.com/boulder2.htm

This thread has gone in a really interesting direction. Nice points you've all raised.

The "playbook" you mention, though, already exists in the Collective Mind's Eye. And, depending how creative and imaginative a paddler is, the more pieces or "pages" to the playbook a paddler has.

We each have a variety of distinctive pieces to this puzzle. There are so many dimensions to this sport, as each of your comments represent. Access to the "playbook", to continue using your metaphor, Jay, depends on us sharing our individual pieces with each other, just as it depends on each of us going to "the library" (to expand the playbook further) to study each others talents and thereby learn something new.

Following other boaters' lines, for example.
Seeing other boaters paddle or peform a rescue so we can continually learn what (and what not) to emulate in one another.

I agree though, it is most benificial to the average paddler to patiently cultivate the skills and experience before playing too close to the Edge Of Danger. It is a dynamic and blurry line, and paddlers need experience to recognize the bounderies as well as skills to wrestle oneself back from the edge once thrust beyond it.

This is exactly what people need to be talking about.

In surfing, I met many people who caught and generally successfully rode many waves of varying heights, and saw fit to go bigger/more hollow, only to realize it is a different ball of wax. Just catching a wave and riding it is ok, fun, and whatever, but it isn't learning beyond just the basics (powerful bottom turns, pumping for speed, noserides, cutbacks and top turns, roundhouses, tube riding-all parts of getting the most out of a wave and most importantly: playing the pocket, the power zone of the wave). This was usually longboarders who couldn't/didn't learn how to shortboard, which takes a greater degree of skill to even just catch a wave, but offers loads more potential in turning/dynamic play.

In boating I've seen many people develop with me (not talking about people with way more experience or already established performance preferences/abilities regarding river selection), who say silly things like, "I'm a creeker, not a playboater." when they can't (or at least don't and don't try to) play the river at class IV and below. Making it down BD, which I've done a few times, never a swim but a few rolls, in no way makes me think I'm ready for more that that. I've done some minor creeking (10 footer, 8 footer, and a few other tricky rock moves/turbulent and twisty little creek rapids, but that was a creek in New England, not FITW), but sheer ownership of class IV moves I have not. Most of these people have play oriented boats, but don't play on the river. I always wonder why. To each their own, for sure, and injuries/health are always reasons to just enjoy being there vs. the effort of playing. Why paddle a craft capable of dynamics if not to be dynamic? Not exactly my place to say, but everyone is entitled to opinions.

We need to discuss self honesty, and recognition of reality. Sure we can blame the media, but nobody makes anyone watch any of it, especially YouTube. People don't want to read user manuals for their gizmos, either. We're lazy about learning, and impatient about understanding.

The vast majority of the surfers who wanted to ride bigger waves before they owned smaller waves(still talking ten foot and under for small surf)? I heard of near drownings, lost/broken boards, and other people making them leave/friends not taking them out to those breaks again.

The boating realm is proving similar. I've heard of some pretty bad swims, a number of good whacks to the noggin, lost/broken equipment, and I suspect a little polite eschewing from harder runs.

I personally think everyone should start in a POS used old boat, get their roll down, upgrade to a freerunning boat (probably buy one, sell, buy, sell, buy, etc. Ownership at this point does much more than a demo for learning to feel the boat), work on all that the OP link mentioned, and decide where to go from there. This should take a couple of years minimum, as fit young paddlers have the bodies to rebound and adapt alittle faster than others. Basically, learn to feel a boat, a number of boats. When the boat does the work for you (think paddling a creeker like a Jefe on the MM below 1500), well, what are they LEARNING? In that scenario, someone would be learning to trust the boat to take care of them. Especially if they deceive themselves about their ability by only running the easy lines. That's where the overstepped progression happens.

I'm all for cheering on novices and newbies for executing a good (even if a little shaky, but mostly good) eddy turn/peel out, or even a roll where they lift their head but don't flip back over. Truth is, eventually, they either need to learn how to own those moments, or those shaky moments will bite back, hopefully when danger is not just down stream.

I'm no expert, and I know that. I never claim to be. I've been paddling and in the water since I was 8, and I'd consider myself well rounded, and progressing slowly, but with solidity. I never tell people what to do, but always ask if they'd like some advice (mainly because I hate it when others tell me what to do, especially if I know what I did wrong, but also because unless someone asks for help or accepts help offered to them, they're less inclined to listen, FME).

Agreed- the kinds of things that Lisa offered are very helpful- even if I was out of town and couldn't participate. Big props to her. 

i duno much about go-pros  or drawing lines on satilite photos ...  but i got a playbook of moves, lines, waves, holes and "saftey" spots about 5 miles long on the Tilton river

you wana turn a class 3, 4  run into a full day of surfing and skill building ,  grab a PLAYBOAT and hit me up for a Tilton run

untill i can ride a bowstall through every rapid , or get the perfect set of wave wheels in surf city every time, or hit that elusive catch on the fly wave in the heart of a rapid,  ill never be done learning on that river ... i mean sure i can run the Tilton in an hour and hardly get my paddle wet if i want ,  but just like anything it is what you make of it ... it can be as hard or as easy as you want ...i can just make any rapid harder by adding some style (bowstall, cartwheel, ext ext)

People in the NE discussing this, too. Thought I'd drop a link because it isn't BT, and a number of the guys posting are legit, just like here. Just other thoughts, opinions, and perspectives. Peruse at your own will, posted purely to see how people outside the PNW circle are responding.

http://www.npmb.com/cms2/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?199576