Glossary of Terms

Our sport has many unfamiliar terms that you may not know the meaning of, or what we're referring to- We put together a list and their meanings to help.

• Ferry gliding: Crossing the river from one side to the other, keeping your bow up (like changing lanes in a car) (sometimes confused as "fairy gliding")

• Eddie: A section of river where the water is not flowing as it is being blocked by something (e.g. a rock). Up-gates are commonly placed here. Water can "re-circulate" back up an eddie (move the opposite way to the main flow) (see diagram below)

• Eddie line: The line between flowing water in a river and the still water of an eddie. Depending on the river/current etc, eddie lines can be "sharp" (turns you quickly on entry) or not. (see diagram below)

• Bow: The front section of your boat

• Nose: The very front of your boat

• Stern/Tail: The back of your boat

• Kayak: Paddler is seated with legs out in front of them, paddle has two blades.

• Canoe: Paddler is kneeling in the boat, with a one-bladed paddle.

• K1: Refers to the paddler competing in a kayak (K) and there is one of them (1)

• C1: Refers to the paddler competing in a canoe (C) and there is one of them (1)

• C2: Refers to the paddler competing in a canoe (C) and there are two of them (2) working together in the same boat to make their way down the course.

• Class: The group you compete in based on gender (M, male/W, women) and boat (Kayak/Canoe)

• Division: The group of people in your division (and same class) are who you are competing against. You start in division 4, once you gain enough points (based on how highly you rank after a race) you are "promoted" to division 3, then 2, 1, and finally Premier division.

• Premier/"Prem" division: The top division reached, after being promoted out of division 1.

• Run: Your "run" down the course on the river (e.g. "How was your run?" is asking how it went, e.g. any gate touches/misses, did it feel quick etc.)

• Clean run: You didn't hit/touch or miss any gates on your run.

• Cross bow: A paddle stroke in C1 where the blade is placed in the water on the other side of the boat than their usual side and using a stroke (e.g. forward paddling)

• T-piece: The bar at the top of a C1 paddle that a C1 paddler has one hand gripped on.

• Switching: When a paddler in C1 switches which hand is on the T-piece of their paddle.

• Bow draw: A paddle stroke, where the blade is away from the boat (but parallel to it) and is brought toward the boat, to move sideways (not usually used in races)

• Sweep stroke: The blade of the paddle is pushed through the water in an arc/semi-circle/rainbow shape from the front of the boat to in line with your hips, used to turn the boat (while keeping forward momentum)

• S-gate: An "up" gate where the paddler enters goes through the gate in an S-shape (see diagram below)

• Line: The imaginary line your boat takes between gates (e.g. going "direct" is going in a fairly straight line between gates, "opening up the lines" is going in more curved arcs between gates)

• J-stroke: A forward paddling stroke in C1, where when paddling, the blade is turned outward making an imaginary "J" away from the boat (used to course-correct the line of the boat)

• Stagger/offset: A series of down gates on a course that are not in a straight line creating a technical move- staggers can be tight (gates are close together in distance) or more open (gates are further apart) and of varying levels of difficulty.

• Penalty: The time added to a paddler's race time due to touching a gate pole (2 seconds) or missing a gate (50 seconds)

• Half-head: When the paddler receives a penalty of a missed gate because they didn't get the whole of their head around a gate pole (commonly seen on up-gates and stagger gates) (see diagram below)