The Global Paddling Community

Life After Kayak School – A whitewater beginner's guide to starting out on your own!

About the Author

Billy Harris grew up on a farm in rural Canada and during his time has risen to become one of the world’s best kayakers. He has been on the Canadian Freestyle team since 2000 and his greatest freestyle achievement was a silver medal at the 2005 World Freestyle Championships. Billy has three passions in life; his wife, his paddling and teaching people how to paddle. Having had the privilege of meeting and paddling with Billy I can say that he is truly an inspirational athlete and there are many more facets to the man than first meets the eye. As he states in his book, “Please, if you see Billy Harris on the river, stop and say hello I would love to meet you, shake your hand, and hear your story.”

Content

Life After Kayak School has one major aim, to keep people in the sport. Many people feel that too many people try it out once and then leave because of a lack of information. So Billy wrote this book and designed it in such a way as to fill the reader with as much knowledge as possible. The knowledge then obtained leads to a greater awareness and a feeling of security, all essential ingredients in growing the sport we all love so much.

The book is divided into eight chapters and these cover everything a new paddler in the sport needs to know about kayaking. Note that this book does not teach you how to kayak, your kayak school should do that! What it does do, is fill in all the blanks. From the first steps and what to expect, to choosing the right gear and the right boat the first time round, this book has it all. There is also information on roof racks and how to secure your boat, running a shuttle, outfitting your kayak, river signals and a stack of advice that would otherwise not be acquired very easily from this superb book.

Billy’s writing style is very casual and this makes for very lighthearted and easy reading. It will appeal to a very wide range of people though and if you’re the more conservative type, don’t discount it immediately.

There is also a very useful glossary and three different appendixes that outline loads of different manufacturers and all the items a kayaker needs, as well as some handy websites.

Conclusion
This is a book aimed at keeping people in the sport, designed to fill in any grey areas that were left after kayak school. It does exactly that and is a must read for anyone new to or even only interested in the sport. Even more seasoned boaters will learn a few new things here and there.

The Physical Book
The book itself comes in a soft cover format and is A5 size. There are almost 100 pages and the pages themselves are all printed in black and white. The print is large and makes for easy reading.

Websites
Order your copy right now and go to http://www.jacksonkayak.com/store/product.cfm?product=kayak- school

For Playak,
Adrian Tregoning