The PaddlerUK magazine July 2015 issue 3 | Page 66

P D L RUK 66
A DE
Bony

Shallow… I have no idea where this comes from.
Like most exuberant argot, it has the tang of the
new world to it. But then it could be a British
expression. Either way, it’s more descriptive than
the old terms “scrapy” or just “shallow”.

Bow rudder/duffek stroke/
hanging draw

The bow rudder (UK) or the Duffek stroke
(US), is now redundant in all but slalom, although
it’s still a graceful and powerful way to turn
sharply without adding forward or reverse
speed. It is named (in US English) after the
Czech/Swiss paddler Milo Duffek who invented
it and developed it in the 1950s. The British
term, bow rudder, is more instantly
comprehensible, but loses the historical
connotation. The term ‘hanging draw’ takes a
poor third in this race.

Break out/eddy out

Break-out is the English term here. Both seem to
describe the move well enough, so we might as
well stick with the English.

Gnarly

1970s US surfer slang, by the 80s, it had
sprouted a secondary meaning – its antonym.
Like ‘bad’, ‘wicked’ and ‘sick’, it can be used as a
term of approbation but rarely is this side of the
Atlantic. It’s more often used in kayaking in its
‘noun form’ – gnar, and often used to describe
Norwegian creeking – and why not?

Photo:
Steve Brook

Grade/Class

Because the Americans lack an evolved class
system, they class rivers instead. Actually, that’s
probably bollocks, but it makes me laugh. All the
same, let’s stick with the word “grade”.

Hip flick/hip snap

Flick is the English term, and it’s more
descriptive. So forget about hip snaps.

Inspect/scout

We used to ‘inspect’ rapids in the good old days
of wetsuits, beards and long boats. Now, the US
term ‘scout’ seems to have taken over.

Kayak/canoe

You could almost write an essay on British usage of
the Native American term ‘kayak’ over the years.
The distinction is one that Americans, with their rich
tradition in both, have always understood and
observed. In reality, Americans go ‘boating’ and
British kayakers, these days, go paddling. I suspect
the reason is simply that ‘kayak’ although a beautiful
wo