# What Age To Turn Your Kid Loose in Their Own Cat



## Benjamin W. (Apr 2, 2020)

Let him have at it! But also make sure your pfd is nice and tight.

In all seriousness, it really depends on your level of comfort/confidence in him on the oars. How adverse are you to swimming/going upside down? Is there anyone else in the cat? Rig to flip, or pass some of your gear onto another boat (if possible). If he's excited about it, that's a great thing - but maybe he doesn't know his own abilities yet. A swim on any of those rapids wouldn't be the worst place to end up in the water, and could be a great learning opportunity. 

I also don't have kids, so it's hard to put myself in your shoes.

Cheers and have a good trip tomorrow!


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## ski_it (Aug 27, 2015)

Once they can clean out the litter... I mean groover.....


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## Bigwaterforeveryone (Feb 7, 2018)

FWIW: My son is about to turn 12 and I'm nearing a similar decision. 

Sounds like your son can read water pretty well with all of his packrafting experience. I'd cut him loose with strong caution about watching his downstream oar and other possible oar related mishaps. Then float along and watch him go......


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## Electric-Mayhem (Jan 19, 2004)

Depends on the kid... but 9-12 seems like a good time to start. A lot of parents let their kids mess around with the oars in easy water and supervised. It sounds like he has some experience already. As I recall Cabarton is a pretty solid class III and it sounds like he has done well with the smaller boats....so no reason he shouldn't do awesome on the Cat. If anything its more forgiving as long as he can get leverage on the oars.

My friend Justin ( @azpowell ) puts his kid in a RMR Cloud 9 nine footer and he does great. Just take it easy and don't push too hard or you can scare them away.


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## showme44 (May 13, 2013)

As Mike Rowe says. “Safety Third”


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## Electric-Mayhem (Jan 19, 2004)

showme44 said:


> As Mike Rowe says. “Safety Third”


Have fun, make a profit....Safety.


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## agrankin (Aug 31, 2017)

We have let both kids on the sticks of our 14 foot Hyside through a range of conditions--most recently up to II+ on Desolation Canyon (Chandler Falls, I think) when our son was 12, but we were always close by to assist if he ever got in a pickle. He has done great is constantly asking to row. We try to let him row at least a couple class IIs when we are out. Our daughter, who is 10, is still a little small for our set up but it won't be long.


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

Same age you'd turn a kid loose in the same kind of whitewater in a hardshell kayak.
Absolutely depends on the kid.




Electric-Mayhem said:


> Depends on the kid... but 9-12 seems like a good time to start. A lot of parents let their kids mess around with the oars in easy water and supervised. It sounds like he has some experience already. As I recall Cabarton is a pretty solid class III and it sounds like he has done well with the smaller boats....so no reason he shouldn't do awesome on the Cat. If anything its more forgiving as long as he can get leverage on the oars.


Yep.

So...another way to think about it: kids are wired to learn, especially physical skills. There is no better time than NOW to learn how oars move a boat. Doesn't even have to be in moving water. I learned from age 8-12 to row my grandma's old aluminum rowboat. I jumped in a raft 15 years later and grabbed the sticks like I'd done it my whole life. Granted, I wasn't perfect by any means, but I definitely didn't ever think about which oar to push or pull on.

But....understanding dangers on the river--currents, eddies, watching for upstream danger (logs and other boats) and downstream danger (sweepers/strainers, pourovers, sticky vs surfy holes, etc), looking for the best lines and setting up to get on them....is a LOT to process and is something we adults do best. While we have crusty stone dinosaur brains for learning physical skills, we're better able to assimilate myriad information and make decisions. And some adults still aren't good at that.



Electric-Mayhem said:


> Just take it easy and don't push too hard or you can scare them away.


^^^^
This. x-1,000,000
I'm that dad. OK, I didn't push my kids too hard, but I did give them too much encouragement at an early age and let them go too big, too fast.
Had them in Class III at ages 8 and 10. They both had rolls.
They weren't good enough at reading water and we didn't work our way up over days and days and days through Class II and working on strokes, eddies, etc.
It's OK to pull them back a little, and OK to leave them wanting a little more each time rather than giving them too much.

But my girls kept rafting and my oldest is the best highsider bow rider I've ever had in my boat. She LOVES the Lochsa.
...and yet I put her in a paddle raft as captain last summer (age 18.5) with her bf and my wife and she found it way harder than expected. It does take practice. May as well get started.

_Cliff's Notes:
Go for it, just don't go too big, too fast._


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## Pinchecharlie (Jul 27, 2017)

I wholeheartedly agree!!!! If it's fun and safe he'll love it. My oldest got so scared at a pay kayak camp for kids , she will never ever get in a kayak again. My youngest who I baby and will not cut any corners with rowed my little sabertooth (me behind her in boat) down a couple class 2's and was stoked. She's 7. But no way in hell I'd leave her in a boat alone lol!!! We saw a ten year old kayaking that same weekend. His mom said he swam ever rapid (easy class 2/3). I was kinda shocked but she said he loved it and loved swimming too (she shrugged her shoulders) His parents where good kayakers and they where in a big group....so there you have it. I asked the kid if he was stoked and he said "yeah I love it!" Everyone's different


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## Electric-Mayhem (Jan 19, 2004)

I mean.... a couple of 9-11 year olds have kayaked the entire Grand Canyon. One of them, Abby, came back as an 12 or 13 year old, after doing a raft support trip the year before, to do a self supported trip the following year. Dane Jackosn, the current "best kayaker in the world" basically had a paddle in his hand and custom boats made for him since he could walk.

...but those are special cases and all of them grew up being on the river from an early age and seemed to gravitate towards it. Not every kid is going to have the enthusiasm level or ability to match the people mentioned above...but they can still have blast. My friend Jesse's kids love to go on trips...but if you ask them what their favorite part of the trip was it playing on the beach at camp making sand castles and not the river stuff. I'm sure as they get older that will change and the river will be more important...but for now its just a way they get to go camp in cool places.

I guess that is just another way to say.... take it at their pace...not yours.


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## morbald (Mar 10, 2014)

I learned to row in an 18' gear boat at about 12 or 14 (two grand trips and a bunch down deso). My own kids are still really little, but I've had a couple of nephews take my oars (with supervision) by 9 or 10. Smaller boats on smaller water, I think some young kids would do great. Just play it by ear, and have a backup for them. I learned on big, heavy craft, and when I got turned loose on a smaller boat as a teenager, it was a breeze to maneuver as I was used to setting up my lines far in advance. 

In short, make sure they know the theory well, and have the emotional and physical wherewithal to recover from a mishap. Have fun.


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## dean999 (Aug 4, 2020)

I was a bit more restrained with my boys and waited till they were about 15 before I taught them. My perspective is similar to driving a car, yeah they can do it at a very young age, but they don't really understand the consequences and risks. I know some kids that started young and love it but also know some that took a bad swim and wrote off the sport for good. That said, let em on the oars when you can, just be careful.


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## Bootboy (Aug 25, 2020)

I would suggest that their rowing skills are not the only metric to consider. Being able to handle things when shit goes belly up is at least as, if not more important. Self rescue skills and judgment are indispensable.

I’d make your kids flip and re-flip a boat on flat water until you’re confident they can do it on their own quickly and safely.


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## cnalder (Jul 7, 2016)

He did awesome! Got worked a little in Trestle but rocked the rest. I ended up sitting right behind him so that I could grab the oars but only needed to once. He ask when he can do it without me in the boat, I told him another time or two and I’ll turn him loose. Could see the confidence grow with each rapid.


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## azpowell (Aug 14, 2014)

10-12 seemed good to me for easier stuff, might give him a go at westwater in the next year or 2...


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## MNichols (Nov 20, 2015)

Ii know of 2 exclusive to the ones EM mentioned that rowed the Grand at age 12. Depends on the kid. Confidence is key. Seems he did well on class III, keep on mentoring him and he'll deal with all the trials and tribulations of learning to row.

Is not rocket science, the more time on the sticks he has the more he'll learn. Just remind him of the 2 types of boaters. Those that are waiting to flip, and those that have flipped and are waiting to flip again, that way he doesn't panic when the inevitable happens.. 

The 3 "C's" are important. Calm, Cool and Collected, even when the fecal material hits the rotary oscillator. Above all, have FUN!!!


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