Running the River

Req 9 — Choose Your Line

9.
Demonstrate your ability to read a Class II section of river approved by your counselor. Describe the most desirable paths or lines of travel as well as alternative routes and options. Point out how to use the existing water features to your advantage, and explain how to best avoid the hazards present.

This requirement is where your earlier skills come together. You are reading surface clues, judging difficulty, spotting hazards, and deciding how the boat should move through the rapid—not after you are in trouble, but before you commit.

Find the main line first

Start by locating the tongue of current that looks deepest and cleanest. That is often the backbone of the run. Then look for the moves required along that line. Does the boat need to start center and move left? Enter an eddy before the next drop? Avoid a downstream V hiding a rock? A good line is more than a destination. It is a sequence.

Identify alternative lines

Class II water often offers more than one reasonable route. That does not mean all routes are equally smart for your group. One line may be faster but narrower. Another may be wider and calmer but require a ferry move earlier. Talking through alternatives shows your counselor that you are not staring at the river as if there is only one answer.

Use river features to your advantage

Eddies can give you a place to stop or reset. A clean tongue can carry you into the rapid’s easiest path. A standing wave may help lift the bow if you hit it straight, while a rock shoulder may help define where not to go. Reading a river well means seeing helpers, not just hazards.

Avoiding the bad spots

Look carefully for strainers near shore, rocks that create downstream Vs, holes below ledges, and places where a missed move would send the boat broadside. The goal is not just “avoid danger” in a vague sense. It is to know exactly where the danger is and how your line stays away from it.

How to explain a Class II line

A simple structure for your counselor discussion
  • Main line: State the preferred route through the rapid.
  • Key moves: Describe where you need to turn, ferry, or hold angle.
  • Backup options: Name at least one alternate route or recovery eddy.
  • Hazards: Identify what you are avoiding and why.
  • Feature use: Explain which current tongues, eddies, or waves help the run.

The next requirement asks you to perform the core moving-water maneuvers that make those line choices possible in the first place.