Alot of good and helpful posts... Everything has pretty much been covered. A couple things to keep in mind is to make sure one foot is planted before the other foot goes any farther. Alot of rookies have the jet sled mentality: Keep legs moving fast enough to keep the body "on plane."

Always face upstream, or slightly across. Pick a reference marker(rock,stick), and try to keep a straight line to that point, if you cant keep that line and there are rapids or log jam below...go back
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"I have a fair idea of what to expect from the river, and usually, because I fish it that way, the river gives me approximately what I expect of it. But sooner or later something always comes up to change the set of my ways..."
- Roderick Haig-Brown