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:

Joe Bob's is sick!

I can't really fathom why people aren't flocking to Joe Bob's (near Bob's Hole) on the Clackamas these days, as it is seriously "in" lately. If flows are this good next weekend, we may have to have a rodeo event at the 25th annual Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival! Going by the NWRFC forecast pictured at right, it might just happen...

Thursday. Headed out to Joe Bob's for dawn patrol (5am) with Luke and Eli L., with the level around 3850 cfs. Good times all around. We got a solid 1:45 of surfing in before I broke my backband and had to call it. It's a very aerobic wave to work, due to how fast the eddy is, especially if you exit the wave in the center or on the furthest side from the eddy. I had some nice cartwheels in the foam pile and some sort of proto-loop attempt sprinkled in with some longer rides. Backsurfing and flat 180s are coming along nicely, as well. I think I missed the wave twice this morning, ferrying out while winded a couple of times because of the time pressure.

Wednesday. Headed up to Bob's Hole after work, solo style, to see if Joe Bob's was as good as I had been told by Todd R. Just like he found Tuesday night, no one was there to take advantage of the best play within fifty miles. What were they thinking?!? I had a few 30+ second rides, which was a breakthrough for me. Level was around 4000 cfs, and I got a nice 1-hour session followed by a break and a 45-minute session. I recorded video of the second session with my camera phone...I need to get the card reader situation worked out, edit it down, and post it. Reviewing the footage has already been immensely helpful in troubleshooting my mistakes and inefficiencies. I only missed the wave once, and barely at that.

Man, is it nice to have a boat that doesn't leak like a sieve. Thank you for taking my money, Gorilla Tape and Wild Wasser! ;) I'm measuring post-playboating water by teaspoons instead of gallons, and I feel like a new man for it.

sunstrip to bob's, clackamas

With levels around 2550cfs, the Clack made for some decent play today. Todd, Ken, and Jim laid down some playboating science for this humble student. I'm a bit loose in my playboat these days, and both boats are leaking quite a bit more than is really practical. I detect an imminent boat-outfitting session...

park and play, joe bob's

I had a breakthrough day today parking and playing at Joe Bob's, at around 2750cfs. It was a great workout -- 2.5 hours, with maybe 15 minutes spent out of the boat. I completed an accidental back loop, aired 6 feet over the trough on a loop attempt, threw a couple of ends off the back of the wave, and just generally had longer and higher quality rides than I thought I was capable of. An hour and a half in, Tony S. and Eli L. showed up, and all three of us had some good playboating experimentation and progression. Tony and Eli bailed to check out the Roaring River put-in and take-out afterward. Hard beta is good to find.

after-work paddling is back!

Gosh, it's nice to be able to head out for an after-work run again. Daylight savings time has its upsides, I suppose. :)

Tuesday. Hit a brown-tinted Clackamas River for a play run after work at around 3900cfs with Luke S. and Thor. More sick whirlpool rides at Big Eddy, and some nice surfs at Joe Bob's as well. At this flow, repeatedly attaining upstream to get on the wave is a solid aerobic workout.

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.