Middle White Salmon: handpaddling Maytag and Husum

(Willie's custom expert handpaddles)
These suckers (crafted by Hucky McChuckinstuff) are just under half the surface area of my large handpaddles, and even smaller than Riveraholic's small handpaddles. My first time using them, on September 9th's Carnage Run, was a hoot.

It'd been quite a while since I asked anyone to have my back on T-rescues, and even longer since I'd felt gripped in the big eddy at Fish Creek. With my heart racing, I undertook the run without knowing for certain that I'd be able to navigate, much less have a combat roll. Things went very well, and I even got my surf on several times.

My hand roll has to be a bit more optimal with the tiny handpaddles, which is good training. I find that taking many more (but less powerful) strokes gives me a better cardio workout on the river, and requires better boat control, more focus on river reading, and more premeditated obstacle avoidance.

Friends who've started handpaddling recently after months of encouragement from me have been having a blast and extolling the virtues of this pursuit. Me to them: "I told you so!" We had 3 handpaddlers at the first and second Carnage Runs this month, and 4 last week at the third. People wanting locally-made handpaddles should hook up with Hucky, a.k.a. Tango Charlie.

The following Saturday, Luke, Ryan, and I set out to conquer new turf with our handpaddles, having honed our game on the Upper Clackamas. This was my second time using the insignificant pieces of plastic known as "Willie's custom expert handpaddles", and the White Salmon would prove once again to be a sizable step up for someone so used to Fish to Bob's on the Clackamas.

This clip (at Maytag, the first rapid of the Middle White Salmon run) starts with me (background) succeeding at my second frantic roll attempt in the boils below the top drop with Luke shouting encouragement in close chase, as Ryan runs the 2nd "drop" (foreground), followed by myself and then Luke:


(Ryan, Willie, and Luke on Maytag, with handpaddles. Footage courtesy of 'Nette from Next Adventure's staff blog post.)
The run was challenging, as I don't know it very well, and line planning has to happen much earlier in each rapid when I'm in the tiny handpaddles. My focus slipped at one point, and I found myself center-broaching on a rock in the shallows, where I flipped. An advantage of the handpaddles in this situation was that I was able to crab-walk upside-down on the rocky bottom, from my back deck over to my upstream side, and roll up from there, protecting my head/shoulders/etc. from the menacingly shallow riverbed. There is probably a whole sub-sport to be had in dynamic playboat moves that incorporate the riverbed, but I'll leave that revolution to someone else. ;)

This clip of Husum has Luke crushing the tricky low-water boof, then myself, followed by Ryan, having more interesting lines. I can tell you that handrolling in froth with something smaller than a DVD case strapped to each hand is an interesting exercise. The word "swim" ran through my mind briefly when I got pulled back into the maw after my second capsize. Luckily, it was all the more easy to feel and grab the downwater for an inverted escape from the chunder zone:


(Luke, Willie, and Ryan on Husum, with handpaddles. Thanks again to 'Nette from Next Adventure for the footage!)

Oregon Kayaking: Chelan Gorge

(Entrance Exam - photo by Chris Arnold)
Chris Arnold has finally gotten his Chelan Gorge trip report up on Oregon Kayaking. There are a couple of pictures of me. I still need to finish my report for that trip, but it's getting close.

Squirtboating: Weasel Gathering, underwater footage

I had a blast figuring out how to sink at last weekend's Weasel Gathering. I'm so grateful to the small community of Northwest squirtboaters for letting me try lots of boats and giving me crucial pieces of advice at just the right moments. I managed to get 6-8 consecutive submersions, with a max of 8 seconds, once I was in a boat that worked for me. (Noah's KOR was just right in a very Goldilocks way.) I came in last, but posted no zeroes. Not bad for my second day on the river in a squirtboat. What helped me get fast results was having read Squirtboating & Beyond and then rereading it again after doing a lot of playboating, before ever getting into a squirt boat. Handpaddling my playboat a lot and getting partial mysteries doing so at high water Big Eddy on the Clackamas helped a lot too, no doubt. The hook is set; now, I just need to knock off a bank so I can get a custom squirtboat and accompanying gear.

Weaver sinks into the Weasel at previous, higher flows.
At the end of Sunday's session, I volunteered to shoot some underwater footage of Tim Hollar dropping at The Weasel. To prepare, I swam into the downwater and rode the mystery with swimfins and one handpaddle, which was a trip, indeed. It's as if there is a creek beneath the river that follows the contours of the bottom-most part of the riverbed. It would be nigh impossible to stay in the "body mystery" while filming, but it was an instructive experience nonetheless. For the following footage, I just stayed in the seam on the surface, upcurrent from Tim, and managed spacing by kicking forward with the fins or pushing back with the handpaddle. Thanks to Joel Meadows for letting me use his camera, and thanks to Tim for the use of the goggles and snorkel.


(footage by yours truly, who has no "S" in his name)

Whitewater Kayaking Lifestyle Videos

In the absence of completed trip reports for recent adventures, I offer you these glimpses into the kayaker lifestyle. This clip is from the informal White Trash Party 2009 at Northwestern Lake, on the White Salmon River. The annotated video says more than I ever could with mere words:


Some months later, Adventure Technology had a farewell party at the plant, with a Pimp & Ho theme. Katie and Josh were probably the best pimp and ho of the party, respectively. Here's Josh playing on his unicycle with a both feather boa and a light buzz tied on:


Any whitewater kayaker who tells you that they don't see this kind of thing every weekend is obviously hiding the truth. It could be a cocktail of pride and shame, or maybe they're trying to bogart the fun all for themselves. Trust only those who can look you in the eye and assure you that this type of shit happens every day...

Upper Upper Cispus: Behemoth from above

I'm still pulling together media and words for my Chelan Gorge trip report, so here's a clip from a Cispus run we did in the meanwhile.


(video by Travis Lee)

White Salmon: Green Truss: another day, another cave rescue

The Green Truss in summer can be a real treat. This weekend, we had sunny weather with temperatures pushing 100 degrees F. You know it's a hot day when you can sit safety in the mist coming off Big Brother in total comfort, wearing shorts and a lightly-insulated drytop. My lines were good this weekend, so I got to be the rescuer in the scenario below.

Steve and I yard Eric out of the cave at the base of Big Brother
(photo by Chris Arnold)

Lower Wind: handpaddling Shipherd's Falls, melt line

I tried to prematurely boof a little to give my bow more downward momentum into the seam. I don't think I can get all the way under the foam pile to the downstream side without higher flows or a bunch of water in my boat. Either would be a scary proposition.


(Thanks to Ryan Young for the footage.)

just watched a hand paddle fly out of the boat on my roof and get kicked into the median by a passing car on I-405...good ol' carnage run!

26th Annual Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival

Ryan Scott made a sweet little video for the Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival this year. I almost completed a fakey forward flip off the ramp, at 2:59 in the video:

Northwest Creeking Competition: East Fork Lewis River extreme race

The second year of the newly-reincarnated NW Creeking Comp went off with a bang April 11-12, 2009. The race, party, huckfest, and camaraderie were sick, as expected. The Columbian wrote an article about it, featuring a photo of me doing an old school pirouette whilst waiting at the hole by Oly's house for some other kayakers to come down:

Upper Clackamas play: Joe Bob's

Joe Bob's is better at higher flows, but it's fun enough at around 2850cfs. Paul filmed me working on clean spins:



...and doing some sort of proto-blunt:

PDXkayaker Film Fest 2008: Semi-Pro Spotlight

Luke managed to get 2nd place in last year's PDXkayaker Film Festival, with Semi-Pro Spotlight:



I shot much of the footage used in the film. Luke and I were going to co-produce our effort for the contest, but he just had more spare time in the week leading up to the contest. I'd say he represented, for sure. The Johnny Ott BZ Falls carnage clip was a huge crowd pleaser. Ahh, memories.

Liquid Zen - "Where did you leave your shoes?"

After ten years of study, Zenno believed that he was ready to be made a Zen master. One rainy day, he went to visit the famous teacher Nan-in. When Zenno went into the house, Nan-in asked: “Did you leave your umbrella and your shoes outside?”

“Of course, I did,” replied Zenno. “It’s only polite. I would do the same thing anywhere.”

“Then tell me this: did you place your umbrella to the right or to the left of your shoes?”

“I haven’t the slightest idea, master.”

“Zen Buddhism is the art of being totally aware of one’s every action,” said Nan-in. “Lack of attention to apparently minor details can completely destroy a man’s life. A father hurrying out of his house must never leave a dagger within reach of his small son. A Samurai who does not polish his sword every day will find that when most he needs it, the sword has grown rusty. A young man who forgets to give flowers to his beloved will end up losing her.”

And Zenno understood that, although he had a good knowledge of Zen techniques when applied to the spiritual world, he had forgotten to apply them to the world of men.

-----

My thoughts on the above Zen koan as it relates to kayaking have made an appearance over at Scott's Liquid Zen blog -- check it out. I'm honored to be included with such esteemed kayakers on that site.

North Santiam: OKCC playboating clinic

On Saturday, I tagged along with the OKCC playboating clinic, handpaddling from Niagara to Spencer's on the North Santiam, with flows around 1050cfs up top. EJ took some pictures:

helping portage Packsaddle dam

EJ's and my Astros at Packsaddle dam

The highlight of the day for me was getting 4 ends while spinning around in a series of whirlpools at one of the squirt spots. The awesome part, though, was watching everyone make progress. Thanks to Michael Williams and EJ Etherington for leading the trip. EJ's trip report is up on the Riot Team site.

Teeny Weeny wave, low flow Upper Clackamas

I haven't updated in forever!

Here's a clip of me on Teeny Weeny last Sunday, shot by Paul. Getting used to the new(-to-me) Riot Astro 58. This was not my best ride of the day, as I was getting pretty tired. After flubbing 3 handpaddle rolls on the eddy line, I barely pulled it out.



Thanks for the footy, Rio Raul.