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I can think of three main branches of kayaking, namely sea kayaking, white-water kayaking, and kayak polo. (Other interesting branches exist such as "snow kayaking".)

• Sea kayaking is paddling on flat water such as a lake or the sea. It is pretty boring - like marathon running - but it can get you to some interesting places such as little inhabited islands, coastal rock walls and other remote places. Of course, it can get pretty hairy depending on the weather such as the wind and tide.
• White-water kayaking involves paddling in moving water, and it is FUN! Some times you go down a river from top to bottom, or sometimes you just spend the whole day playing in a hole somewhere, or surf a wave in the ocean. Going down a river can take anywhere from an hour to three weeks. If you spend the night on the river, you can either stuff all the camping gear in the back of the boat, or have somebody in a raft carry it for you. Rafters and kayakers have a symbiotic relationship: kayakers save rafters when they fall in or lose stuff in the water, whereas rafters carry all the gear and - more importantly to some - the beer.
• Kayak polo involves paddling vigorously around a swimming pool, throwing a ball around and pushing opponents over whenever possible. It is most popular in parts of the world where the rivers are not always in condition for white-water action. To many white-water kayakers it is a fun way to keep the paddling muscles warm in the off-season.

How?

Since I am mainly into white-water paddling, let us focus on that.

Once you have decided to get into kayaking, you will very quickly want to learn the eskimo roll. This looks difficult to the uninitiated but it is actually quite easy - at least in quiet water. Most people can be taught to roll a kayak by spending an hour or two in a swimming pool. However, it takes a lot longer to be able to execute a so-called combat roll which is managing to roll up when your are in the river. The first few times people get tipped over in a rapid, most don't even try their roll even if they have practiced it in the pool all winter! The instinctive move is to get the hell out of there and punch out, or wet exit, which means pulling the spray skirt off, exiting the kayak and swimming next to it. Then you probably wish you *had* tried to roll because swimming can be fairly scary - it is hard to move around obstacles, and you may get pulled under water frequently and just generally get beaten up by the river. But if it is your first trip you are probably in a mellow river, and swimming won't be too traumatic.

My brother and I think guides and courses are totally soft - you get a much better experience trying things out for yourself. As an example, I will never forget the first time we went caving: we ventured into Goatchurch Cavern on our own. It is a pretty easy cave where lots of school kids go (with guides) but because we were on our own we had a really nervewrecking experience. Not having a guide to tell you where to go really makes you think for yourself, and also gets the adrenaline flowing when you squeeze through a little crevasse that may be the right way out (and may not get you completely stuck). We have taken many friends into the same cavern since but they are not having the same adventure we had. Anyway, for kayaking I tried the same thing. I went up for a kayak demo day on the South Fork of the Payette river. The dude from the shop fit me in a kayak and off I went. I got completely munched in the first little wave and had to be rescued to shore by some other paddlers. I decided that as an exception I would accept a bit of tuition to learn some basic technique such as the eskimo roll. I guess if you don't have any friends who can teach you the basic tricks of the trade, a course may not be such a bad idea after all.

So, I'd recommend taking a beginner kayak course at the local kayak club or outdoor center or whereever you can find it. They will teach you the roll, some paddling technique and some rescue methods. One way of finding a course is to find your local river shop, and ask them. Then buy a kayak and some gear and head to the river!

In the beginning, I just showed up at a popular put-in for an easy river (Banks at the Payette river as it were). Don't paddle alone, but ask someone if you can go down with them. Be honest about how reliable (or unreliable) your roll is so they know how closely they should keep an eye on you. Most people don't mind. I met almost all of my regular paddling friends that way.

What?

Don't buy a wet suit.

If we add up the gear for a warm weather paddle, it looks like it takes almost $1500 to get outfitted in new kit. The easiest way to shave off the initial expence is to go out and buy a used boat - or a bundle of boat, spray-skirt and paddle. Then if you get into it you can get some proper stuff.

Where?

As you can see from my kayak log, I have mostly paddled in the north-west of the US - mainly in Idaho. In fact, well over half of my river trips have been on the various forks of the Payette river, north of Boise. So perhaps I am a bit bit biased when I say that Idaho is a brilliant place to paddle. Here is some info on Idaho rivers.

Rafters like big rivers with lots of volume, and have made rivers such as Nepal's Sun Kosi, Chile's Bio Bio, Zambesi in Africa, and the Colorado in the US known. These rivers are not necessarily the best kayaking rivers. I certainly prefer the smaller more technical rivers which have more opportunities to play as well.

So, don't necessarily listen to rafters when you are deciding where to go on a dream kayak trip. A notable exception is if you are on your own and looking for people to paddle with. If you are experienced you can hook up with commercial rafting companies for some safety kayaking. When I was on my own in Mexico, I did that in Jalcomulco. Great way of meeting other paddlers.

Whatever you do, don't go to our home country Denmark expecting white-water action!