Fins

[pontoonman]

Excellent advice from Tube dude! Study the recommendations for safety carefully, and you might want to start your learning process in a small area of non-moving water like a pond or River Creek. Propulsion and control will be very important in moving water, so start learning about fins ASAP, it will take several sessions before you learn how to maneuver. Anchors are not all that useful on a river, because you can head for the shallows to hold position with your planted feet. If you need and anchor because of deep or steep Banks, I would recommend a grapnel folding anchor as small as possible probably about 3 pounds. Use as much anchor line as necessary to hold with that weight. Tie the line to the bottom eyelet and then use a weaker cord to connect to the top anchor hole, which allows you to recover a stuck anchor when the weaker line breaks. A foam float should go at the end of the anchor line, and a special snap with instant pull cord release allows you to get out of danger quickly. It is best to face Upstream while anchored so that you can see floating debris coming.
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