weekend update - March 13-16, 2008

Sunday. Afternoon Clack play run with Kourtni went well. I had some sick whirlpool rides at Fish Creek eddy and Big Eddy, and I continue to hone my banzai line at Toilet Bowl...surfing the massive reactionary wave from river left to right, which lines me up perfectly for the Grand-Canyon-sized waves at the bottom. Got a decent wavewheel over the first wave and rode the next two out with my bow aimed at the sky. Ran into A&B folks and their blow-up toys at the take-out and tried to bum a shuttle, but they had already run theirs. Fortuitously, Kourtni was able to shake her hips at a passing vehicle with kayaks atop it, and we were in business in short order.

Saturday. Nice day playboating/creeking (in the playboat) on the East Fork Lewis River, with Luke, Oly, and Ken K. Level was 2300cfs or so, which makes this run a sweet-indeed blend of creeking and playboating. Highlight for me was the melt line on the left chute at Horseshoe Falls. I stuck it, went way deep, and emerged upright from the pile about 20 feet from the base of the falls. Pure bliss. Those guys think I'm a bit nuts, though. When I came up, I was about 5 feet off the bottom left corner of this marked-up photo:

Friday. Made it out to the Clack after work for a short run-and-play. Luke and I put in at Armstrong and ran down to Bob's Hole for a bit over an hour of good play. Joe Bob's seems kinder to me each time I try it. I'm gaining ground in the areas of wave-catching and front-surf stability. Level around 2800cfs.

Thursday. After handing Apple their own ass by presenting Linux thin clients to a local school district, I hauled my playboat out to the Clack for an after-work run with Diana. It was a perfect level for most of the rapids (~2600cfs), and we had an awesome run.