Beginner kayak school
Price of 5 days:
300 €
Short description
Ok, to be honest, let's start from the beginning! What do you get, when you will sit in the kayak for first time? The kayak is not totally stable and you can't go even 4 m straight, because can't control the direction! And you are closed in the kayak with your sprayskirt... But after a small practice, you will manage and after a couple of days you will kayak!
Our whitewater kayak lessons are structured into two parts of a progressive lesson.
- First we learn the basic skills of whitewater kayaking on a flat part of the Soca river.
- After we transit the new technics to the river, so we do some whitewater kayaking on easy whitewater.
On the whitewater kayak lessons we are focusing to have the basic boat handling skills, safe practice and a lot of fun, regarding for equipment and the natural environment.
Quick infos
What you learn
Some basic knowledge you have to know before running any whitewater rapids:
- How to lift and carry your kayak
- How to launch the river
- Learn basic strokes
- Practice the basic turning strokes
- Get the proper posture
- How to keep your the balance with bracing
- How to keep your balance with edging the kayak
- Basic safety features: such as capsizing and swimming and self rescue
- How to make your kayak empty
Let's take your flat water skills to the whitewater on the second part of the whitewater kayak lessons. Small obstacles like waves will be encountered. For practicing we choose easy whitewater section of the Soca.
- How to paddle down in the current
- How to cross the river downstream
- How to cross the river upstream
- Practice the basic turning strokes
- Get the proper posture
- How to keep your the balance with bracing
- How to keep your balance with edging the kayak
- How to make eddy turns
- How to make your kayak empty
Safety on whitewater kayak course
We give an overview of river features and hazards and offer practice swimming in whitewater. Safety is one of the most important thing during the whitewater kayak courses. It is never enough to talk about.
We think, a gradual development is the statute of whitewater kayaking education. Although people are different, there is always a chance to get scared in a rapid, if it is too big for our technical knowledge, preparedness. It is a big mistake to take away the incentive of an enthusiastic kayaker.
So, one of the statutes of our whitewater kayak education is to give you gradually more and more difficult exercises and paddle more and more difficulty rapids. It does not matter if you are advanced, or a beginner, the system is the same.
Number of participants
We do not like to mix the beginner and the advanced kayakers on our whitewater kayak course. We start the beginner whitewater kayak coaching with 2-5 people. This is the group size, which is safe and can be controlled by the kayak instructor.
Difficulty on kayak school
We always practice the basic technics with beginner kayakers on flat water, after we practice more on easy whitewater (Class 2). With advanced kayakers we first practice on easy water, after we can run Class 2-4 rapids.
Swimming in rapids
To swim and flip sometimes is part of the game. Everybody is swimming or flipping sometimes. You do not have to be afraid of it, it is possible to swim safely between to rocks of the rivers. It is possible to learn and after a while it is necessary to learn, of course. It is possible to turn back upside up, with a flipped kayak as well, and it is not super difficult, everybody can learn. To learn it easily it is better to learn some stokes and stroke combinations.
Details of Easy kayak tour
Where to meet
Let's meet at the Soca Rider Office which you can find 10 m-s from the main square of Bovec, to begin your Easy white water kayak tour on Soca River.After arranging the paper work and the payment, your guide staff will equip everyone with the necessary equipment:
- helmet,
- buoyancy aid,
- neoprene suit,
- neoprene shoes,
- splashing or neoprene jacket, or both, or none (depending on the weather).
After we take a quick, 10 minutes drive to the put-in with the Soca Rider's van. We change next to Soca river, and after the safety talk nothing left, just to enjoy your kayak tour. with us! The Soca Rider van would be waiting for us in the end point of the Easy inflatable kayak tour, so you can change immediately, and we have a short drive back to Bovec!
What to bring
- bathing suit
- towel
- suncream
- strap for glasses/sunglasses
Other than kayaking
In our office we would be happy to give you some advise what to see in the Soca valley, natural wonders, good excursions, mountain trails! And you can check our small shop where you can find Soca Rider T-shirts, hand made Stack beanies and jewelery.
Reviews of Soca Rider
Soca Rider won the Certificate of Excellence in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Beginner kayak school
Enjoy the crystal rapids of Soca river, during whitewater kayak school.
Watch our video
Whitewater kayak school
Whitewater kayak school
Easy kayak tour Prices
2 days kayak school
3 days kayak school
4 days kayak school
5 days kayak school
Whitewater kayak school infos
- Whitewater kayak school is available:
- From 30th of March until 30th of September, exept July and August.
- Whitewater kayak school starts
- 9am, or 2pm
- Required minimum participants
- Whitewater kayak school starts with minimum of 2 people from 15th of March till 31st of May, 3 people from 1st of June till 31st of August!
The price includes
- time on river 2,5.3 hours
- professional guides (with Slovenian licences)
- all necessary equipment
- transfer between Bovec and Soca river
- River permition
- You will get photos from your kayak school as a present!
Csaszi
Founder, guideI love waters from my childhood. I started as a flat water canoe competitor, later I navigated my sea kayak along the sea coast and around many islands of Croatia, on the Adriatic. Recently I paddle mostly in whitewater kayak, but I still like every kind of water. In the time of the university I was working during the weekends as a rafting guide in Slovakia, Austria and Slovenia. After a few years of unsuccessful attempt as a horticultural engineer, I returned to the whitewater. I was working as a guide almost every day since 2008. Summertime in Slovenia, wintertime in Chile. Now, I am using the experience of many years in our company. In my free time of course I go cycling, or to the mountains, or I ride the Soča with my kayak. The Soča river is one of the most beautiful rivers I have ever paddled and this is the valley, where I am very glad to guide you!Petra
Founder, Contact managerhanks to my parents, I was sitting in a boat very early, mostly on flat waters of Hungary at first, and later on whitewaters of Austria as well. Later I was falling in love with the sea kayaking: a lot of water, huge distances, remote islands with all the beauty and danger of it. I went to South America spending half year there with Gyula, and I could see really high quality of whitewaters, and what does it mean, living close to the nature? From that time, there was no option to return to a big city and to my "old" life. We moved to Slovenia, to Bovec. I have a pharmacist degree, and I have thought I will cure the people with drugs, but I found something in Slovenia, what is able to cure in a better way. This is, what I would like to show you. I am always glad to go to the water, or to ride my bike roaming the countryside, or so happily put on my boots to go to the mountains of Julian Alps! This is my real world!Jofo
GuideJofo loves to be on the river and guide. He is an enthusiastic guide with a great sense of humor and with a spectial talent of figuring out good anymations, to get some extra on your trip. You can meet him on canyoning and whitewater rafting tour of Soca Rider. He was a flatwater kayaker since his childhood, and guided a lot of whitewater rafting tour in Slovenia and India. He's working on, that as you are a guest of the Soca Rider, have a safe, fun and memorable whitewater adventure, and that you always want to return to us, to the Soca valley.Laci
GuideLaci is a friendly, dedicated and very helpful whitewater rafting guide of Soca Rider's Soca rafting tour. We are very happy to know him in our team. He is always checking where to help. He was working on whitewater in Austria and Slovenia. His other passion is riding a bike, he discoverd a lot of contries all over the word by bike. He is always paying attention, that you, as a guest of the Soca Rider, have a great time in Bovec, a safe and fun whitewater adventure, and that you always want to return to us, the Soca valley.