Our research explored why some females were expressing anger, frustration and lack of connectedness when learning paddling in a university unit called “River Environments.” Our review of the literature on motivation theory suggested that we need to teach females differently, simply because they often learn differently than males. We attempted to determine if there was a connection between boat design and feelings of paddling satisfaction, but we discovered a range of deeper issues. We discovered that fear, particularly social fear, is a powerful inhibitor of risk taking and learning, that it affects confidence and hence competence, and that this was more noticeable in female paddlers. We also concluded that females may require: different learning experiences and instruction to optimise their learning outcomes; a path that reflects a more gradual and repetitive sequence with considerable intuitive instruction; and gender specific groups. We also discovered that the students’ attitude and the environment are clearly important, but that the paddling instructor can be a far more critical motivating influence to confidence, competence and satisfaction outcomes, particularly with females.