Whether you are stepping into a packraft for the first time or working to sharpen skills you already have, the APA's Be WaterWise series offers a practical, progression-based path to becoming a confident paddler. Episodes 15, 16, and 17 cover the technical fundamentals of moving water: first, learning to control your boat; second, knowing how to rescue yourself and others when things go wrong; and third, unlocking the body mechanics that make edging and ferry gliding click. Together, these three episodes cover the core fundamentals every paddler needs before venturing into more challenging conditions.
In Episode #15, we break down the fundamental strokes that give you real control on moving water.
The forward stroke is your engine — full arm extension, a vertical paddle shaft, and core engagement combine to create power and efficiency. Steering strokes, including sweep strokes and stern rudders, let you guide your direction rather than simply go where the current takes you. Blended together, these strokes allow you to move smoothly around obstacles and nail eddy entries and exits.
Bracing rounds out the toolkit. The low brace provides quick stabilizing support; the high brace offers stronger correction when you're about to flip.
"Forward stroke drives, steering stroke guides." Get those two working together and paddling becomes dramatically more intuitive.
To build these skills between sessions, try pivoting your boat on flat water and work brace recoveries into your edging drills until they become instinctive rather than reactive. Filmed with real beginners on easy moving water, this episode is built around muscle memory, reading eddies, and finding your flow.
Episode #16 shifts the focus from movement to safety, walking through the essential rescue skills every paddler should know.
The episode opens with a wet exit demonstration — the critical skill of getting out of an overturned boat quickly and safely. As Swiftwater Safety Instructor Jeff Creamer puts it: "The most important skill your packrafting partners need to master." An excellent partner should be able to rescue herself.
From there, it covers buddy rescues (how to get a swimmer back into their boat efficiently), throw bag technique (setting safety from shore when in-water rescue is not an option), and communication and teamwork under pressure. Slow-motion footage and real on-land demonstrations make each technique clear and repeatable.
Whether you are new to whitewater or looking to sharpen your group's safety game, these are the skills that build genuine confidence on the river. Practice them, know them, and share them with your crew.
Episode #17 brings together balance, body mechanics, and river reading. Watch Sandra Hyslop, owner of West Coast Packrafting, demonstrate edging, ferry gliding, and reading river flow.
It all begins with balance, and more specifically, with learning to decouple your upper body from your hips. When your torso can stay stable while your boat tilts beneath you, you stop fighting the current and start working with it. Your body becomes the rudder.
From that foundation, comes catching eddies: the calm pockets of water that form behind rocks and obstacles. Learning to read them, enter and exit with confidence, and use them to rest, scout, and plan ahead is a fundamental moving-water skill. Eddy hopping is moving from eddy to eddy as you travel downstream and gradually challenging yourself with smaller, trickier targets. It's one of the most effective ways to build skill progressively.
Ferry gliding, or ferrying, is the art of crossing a river without being swept downstream. The technique involves pointing upstream at roughly the 11 o'clock position, paddling hard to get moving, tilting your boat to resist the current, and adjusting your angle as the flow changes. Having your target eddy clearly in mind before you commit is essential.
The central insight worth remembering: most beginners instinctively reach for their paddle when things feel unstable. The real skill is in the tilt — letting the water move beneath your boat rather than muscling against it. Tilt, don't paddle harder.
Filmed with both POV and drone footage, Episode 17 gives you multiple perspectives on every technique so you can see what is happening beneath the waterline.
For the full Be WaterWise series and additional resources, visit the Be WaterWise page on packraft.org. The best adventures are the ones you come home from.
Check out the video series on APA's YouTube Channel to see all 20 videos.
