Clean: describes a route free of major hazards
Cockpit: entry hole in the deck of a whitewater kayak
Confluence: the point where two rivers meet
Correction Stroke: any paddle stroke used to correct one's course in a rapid
Downriver Racing: a timed, top-to-bottom speed event (like downhill skiing) with no gates on an expert-level whitewater course
Drop: a steep, sudden change in the riverbed grade
Dry Suit: a one-piece, cold-water garment of specially coated nylonlike fabric that uses rubber gaskets at the neck, wrists, and ankles to seal out water
Eddy: comparative calm spots found on the downstream sides of rocks
Eddy Fence: a high water condition in which the eddy becomes dramatically elevated or depressed in comparison to the main current. The turbulent zone where the opposing currents collide is extremely hazardous.
Entrapment: getting stuck (either boat or swimmer) on an obstacle in moving water
Eskimo Roll or Roll: the technique used to right the boat after a flip
Expedition Paddling: a multi-day, self-supported wilderness trip
Exposure: proximity to hazard
Falls: a major drop where the river plunges steeply over rocks or broken riverbed
Ferry: a paddling technique used to propel a kayak back and forth laterally across the river
First Descent: boating a whitewater river that has never been boated before
Float Bags: air-inflated bags placed within the interior of a whitewater boat to aid buoyancy and prevent sinking if swamped
Flush Drowning: a boater who is caught in a series of terminal holes and is unable to swim to safety
Forward Stroke: a powerful, speed-generating stroke
Grab Loops: deck-mounted handles at the bow and stern that are used for rescues and transport
Gradient: the steepness of a river bottom. Low-gradient rivers drop less than twenty feet per mile. High-gradient rivers drop in excess of one hundred feet per mile.
Haystack: a big, unstable standing wave
High-Volume Boat: refers to the amount of water that will fill an empty boat to the top; an exceptionally stable, well-tracking design typically preferred by downriver and expedition paddlers
Hole: also known as a hydraulic or a reversal, usually forming on the downstream side of good-sized rock. Fast water passing around the obstacle and headed downstream is pulled back to fill the vacuum behind the rock. Generally the bigger the drop and faster the current, the more violent the "infilling" action.
Horizon Line: the point atop a drop in which the river visually disappears
Keeper: an extremely deep, violent hole that can keep and hold a boat or swimmer for a dangerously long period of time
Line: a preselected path through a rapid
Low-Volume Boat: high-performance whitewater boat preferred by slalom racers and advanced "play" boaters who specialize in performing acrobatic stunts in river holes
Pfd: personal flotation device-a vestlike, zip-up nylon-covered garment lined with slender foam slats for buoyancy
Pogies: cold-water, paddling-specific gloves
Portage: to haul on land a kayak around a rapid
Pourover: the current pouring over the top of a boulder and then dropping vertically, often into a treacherous hole-particularly dangerous because they appear from upstream as benign, modestly humped waves
Probe: a team's lead paddler in heavy whitewater
Rapid: a section of the river with increased gradient, fast water, waves, holes, and other obstacles
River-Left: the left side of the river as you look downriver
River-Right: the right side of the river as you look downriver
Rodeo: an extreme whitewater discipline where the "arena" is a powerful hydraulic (in which boaters perform an array of boat-spinning tricks)
Roller: a large, curling wave that falls back upstream on itself
Scouting: stopping to preview the possible routes through a whitewater rapid before running it
Scrapey: describes shallow, rocky rapids
Sieve: a "strainer" created by a pile of rocks in which a boat is easily entrapped
Slalom Racing: paddlers navigating through a twenty-five-gate course suspended over hazardous stretches of whitewater rapids. Time penalties accrue for touching or missing gates.
Sneak Route (also Cheat Route): easiest path through a rapid
Spray Skirt: a stretchy girdlelike garment around the boater's waist and fastened to the cockpit's rim to seal out water
Standing Wave: a stationary river wave
Stopper: a powerful breaking wave or hole that kills forward momentum
Strainer: any obstacle on the river that allows water to pass through but not boats and people. Most common obstacles are downed trees, logjams, and boulder piles.
Surf: to ride a wave on its upstream face or to get stuck in a hole
Sweep Stroke: the primary turning stroke. The paddle is extended perpendicular to the cockpit with the blade sweeping arclike to the stern.
Terminal Hole: a lethal hydraulic
Throw Bag: a rescue rope coiled within an open-ended, easy-to-toss sack
Tongue: a smooth V-shaped runway of water that usually offers the cleanest, most deep-water line through a rapid
Undercut: an overhanging rock with water flowing underneath it; often the cause of fatal pinning accidents.
Vertical Pin: one of the most serious hazards of running a big drop. The boat's bow gets snagged between rocks or other river debris.
Waterfall: a big vertical drop, usually six feet or higher
Wave: a hump in the river's flowing water
Wave Train: consecutive standing waves
