Gary Luhm took some amazing photos of the 2010 La Push Kayak Surf Pummel, they are well worth a look. Here’s the link to the photo gallery on his site, or you can just click the photo below to go there.
Photo by Gary Luhm, used with permission.
The Cedar River whitewater and slalom races are coming up this weekend, March 13 and 14, 2010! Here’s the email I got from Northwest Whitewater Racers director and slalomer extraordinaire Jennie Goldberg:
CEDAR RIVER WHITEWATER RACES
Photo from the 2009 race.
This event is Northwest Cup Race #1 for Slalom and Downriver and is a USA Regional Team qualifying event for Juniors, Seniors and Masters. It’s also just a lot of fun and a perfect event for those new to slalom racing. The race is open to all ages of boaters and types of whitewater craft. The Cedar River is class II+. Flow will be 390 cfs. Flow and river information is available from the American Whitewater website.
Location: Landsburg Bridge – where the Cedar River crosses the Issaquah-Hobart Road. Adjacent to the City of Seattle park at the Cedar River Watershed and the King County Regional Cedar River trail. Home of the League of Northwest Whitewater Racers permanent slalom training site about 40 minutes east of Seattle.
Cost: $25/racer ($5.00 discount with proof of ACA membership. Most WKC members are ACA members). FREE to Spectators and Volunteers! Special deals for Juniors!
SCHEDULE – Downriver races on Saturday and Slalom races on Sunday. The course is open for practice all day Saturday and Sunday until 10:30 am. (Practice gates are always up – race course will be set on Friday afternoon if enough folks are available.) E-mail Jennie if you can help! Otherwise will be done Saturday morning – if you come help, should be done in an hour.
Saturday – March 13
Registration – 9:00 am – 6:00 pm
11:00 am – Downriver sprint runs
12:00 pm – Boater Cross sprint event??
3:00 pm – Downriver Classic race
Sunday, March 14
2:00 am — Daylight savings – Don’t forget to move your clock ahead one hour!!
9:00 am – Late registration ($5.00 extra fee)
10:00 am – Registration closes
10:45 am – Racer’s Meeting
11:30 am – Morning Runs
1:30 pm – Afternoon Runs
3:00 pm – Team Runs
AWARDS – following course take-down
VOLUNTEERS always needed and appreciated for:
Course construction on Friday or early Saturday morning.
Timers for the Downriver sprint and classic races on Saturday.
Judges and Timers for the Slalom race on Sunday.
Registration assistance on Saturday.
THE CEDAR RIVER RACES are organized by the Washington Kayak Club, www.washingtonkayakclub.org, and the League of Northwest Whitewater Racers, www.nwwhitewater.org.
Sanctioned by the American Canoe Association: www.americancanoe.org.
With specials thanks to Seattle Public Utilities.
To help out, or for more information, please contact:
Jennie Goldberg, Director
League of Northwest Whitewater Racers
206-933-1178
www.nwwhitewater.org
Tags: cedar river gates, Jennie G., kayaking events, whitewater slalom
I did a really fun trip on the Upper Green Gorge last Saturday, my first time down (thank you Claire Hews, for leading the way and showing me a clean line through Mercury!) Afterwards Claire pointed me towards this nice instructional video from the Nantahala Outdoor Center on how to execute a good water boof, it’s a good article and the video has explanations that pop up as people boof in slow motion, so it’s really easy to see the different steps.
Here’s the link to the Nantahala water boof blog post and video.
Update: After I posted this Claire told me that not only is this the video that taught her the boof, but when she does this boof now the song from the video actually plays in her head. Too funny. 
Tags: boofing, Claire H., Green River, learning, Nantahala
Here’s a video I saw the other day on the Kayaking Sucks website, an obvious example of some of the other stuff (i.e., aside from getting sucked into a massive hole, etc.) that can unexpectedly go wrong you’re kayaking. (Getting sucked into a massive hole I’ve pretty much come to expect.)
They make some good points on the blog, such as that it’s helpful to always bring a waterproof flashlight (I think they had a hard portage out that lasted until nightfall) and lots of rope, which they needed for the boat extraction.
Seeing as this happened just after some of the group had gone downstream past the landslide point, they were incredibly fortunate to have all made it out OK!
Tags: safety, Sultan River
When it comes to how to go from kayaking Class IV to Class V whitewater, needless to say, I’m NOT the person to ask. However, I’m borrowing from this thread on Professor Paddle, where my friend JP posted some great comments in response to our friend Connor’s question about how best to do it. (Connor and his sister Savannah are still in high school but are such good paddlers that it’s almost disgusting. 
)
Here’s what JP had to say about going from Class IV to Class V:
“I would find the hardest class IV run you’ve done that is closest to where you live, preferably within 2hrs, but the closer the better. Hopefully it runs frequently throughout the year. Get out and paddle that run religiously until you know it like the back of your hand, at the widest range of flows.”
“You should know it so intimately that you are comfortable paddling it at the higher end of its flow range. Paddle it all other water levels. Then paddle it some more. If you get bored you aren’t using your imagination, so find all of the out of the way routes. Don’t just paddle all the normal lines, paddle this run really hard. I said paddle. Don’t float it. There should be moves you can hit to make the run harder for yourself: difficult boofs, pillow moves, slots between rocks ect. You want to be able to link moves together in a flowing way. Paddle smooth. You’ll need a richly diverse repertoire to be comfortable in class V. Comfort is what you’re after. You want to be able to go in and enjoy the experience, not just survive it.”
“In the meantime, frequently paddle new class IV+ runs (you should be seeking out every class IV run in the guidebook).”
“Occasionally go run an easier class V- run, but only with people you trust who are familiar with the run. If these will be challenging for you, make sure you do your homework on the run beforehand so you know what you’re getting into. There are lots of available resources; This site, AW, the Bennett Book, etc.”
“Also, from time to time, lead some trips on class III+/VI- runs that you’ve never done before with paddlers of equal or lesser abilities than your own. But generally if you’re leading trips this way, I emphasize that you should be leading runs easier than your skill level.”
“Keep in mind that leading whitewater trips will greatly advance your skill, but you also have to undertake the responsibility of looking out for the people following you. If you can’t do this you shouldn’t progress to class V. This may sound boring, but it shouldn’t be. It’s more challenging than it seems on the face of it, if you are paying attention. Not only do you need skills before you go hog-wild on class V, but you need experience as well. Lots of people these days have good boating skills but prematurely venture into class V without experience. Skill and experience are two entirely different things, and they go hand in hand.”
“Anytime you paddle through class II to get to the take out, you should be PADDLING if you want to run class V.”
“Encourage your friends to do the same.Too many people float instead. A refined forward stroke is the most important skill to have in your toolbox, but because it isn’t as glamorous as a boof stroke or a double pump, people generally don’t master it. That’s why 80% of the paddlers out there have sh*tty stroke technique. The forward stroke is where all kayaking begins and ends. It should be a form of moving meditation. The prevailing trend is to float. Remember: Logs float, sh*t floats, but YOU are a WHITEWATER PADDLER.”
————————–
Words of wisdom from JP, who I should mention is (obviously) a really good paddler, and also famous for swimming Boulder Drop on the Skykomish River at 60,000 cfs, flood level, after his paddle got ripped out of his hands in a hole. I would quote his full name, but I don’t know it! Which is ridiculous, because I’ve paddled with him a bunch of times. Anyway, I hope this helps someone out down the line.
(Also, if you haven’t been on Professor Paddle I encourage you to check it out, there’s lots of good advice on there – along with what I can only describe as the usual allotment of man-fluff – plus it’s a great way to connect with good boaters paddling Northwest rivers.)
Tags: Connor, JP, learning, Professor Paddle, safety, Savannah
Since a lot of whitewater kayakers are downhill skiers as well I thought I’d use that as an excuse to post this totally non-whitewater kayaking-related video – ostensibly in deference to what I think is our earliest ski season opening on record, but really just because it has some great tree skiing shots and I like the song. (There is an amazing jump at 1:10 into the video.)
Tags: skiing
I was messing around on the Jackson Kayak site recently and from there somehow ended up finding this video about Jackson team member Dr. Jessie Stone. In addition to being a superb kayaker and apparently an extremely nice person (going from her interview and the way she comes across on the old Eric Jackson’s Strokes and Concepts video, which I highly recommend by the way), Jessie also runs Soft Power Health, a non-profit organization that provides malaria education and outreach in Uganda, as well as whitewater kayaking camps for inner-city and at-risk kids in the U.S.
I really like the part on this video where she talks about how we only have one shot at this life - it starts at 3 mins 20 seconds into it, so if you don’t have time to watch the whole thing I recommend at least fast-forwarding to that part.
Tags: jackson, Jessie Stone
Ouch, ouch, and ouch.
So is it foolish to kayak on Friday the 13th? I’m not superstitious, but as I was heading out to boat that morning I remember thinking how ironic it would be if there ended up being river carnage that day. As it turns out, I was front and center in the carnage department, but at the same time it was relatively minor, so I’m seriously grateful to have been able to learn a lesson without totally sidelining myself for months.
Anyway, here are some thoughts I’ve had about what happened:
It’s easy to get used to getting away with things.
What happened is that I ended up breaking 3 ribs when I got T-boned by the bow of someone’s kayak while they were surfing and I was coming down a wave train. It flipped me over and I remember thinking, ‘Holy smokes, I think I really got hurt this time’, but fortunately I was able to roll up and get over to an eddy. Now apparently (as I’ve heard since then) there’s a river rule that says the upstream kayaker has right of way, but let’s be real - there also has to be an unwritten rule that says the upstream kayaker should avoid acting like a bonehead, and I know I had enough time to get out of this person’s way - I just was being a little lax about paddling hard. Usually you get away with that stuff with some flips and apologies, this time I didn’t.
Snow billows through Index as we put in.
Little mistakes can have big consequences.
I think for most kayakers it’s a lot easier to consider getting hurt and dealing with pain than it is to think about the amount of time they’ll have to take off of paddling. They told me six weeks and I’m hoping it’s four, but poor Fish Waidelich, who’s an amazing kayaker, dislocated his shoulder recently and is out for months – recently he was on Professor Paddle begging people to take him down river in a raft, and (paddlers being the people they are) he got lots of offers right away. But seriously – from what I hear, he got hurt on a class III section, and he’s a class V paddler. So I guess it’s worth keeping that kind of thing in mind. Although at the same time, if you think too much about what can go wrong you’ll never leave the house. (Martha Stewart reruns, anyone? )
Your paddle group is your lifeline.
I was fortunate to be paddling with a great group of people who did everything they could to make things safer and easier. Everyone took the time to figure out what was going on, Brett Barton carried both his and my boat off the river and through the woods for half an hour up to the road, the guys from Peak 7 happened to come along and give us a ride up to Index, JP and Dave Morales drove me back to my house, and Dave didn’t make me feel bad about committing his afternoon to taking me to the hospital when it turned out I couldn’t drive. You seriously want to paddle with people like this.
We are blessed with amazing capacity to heal.
I know most people know that, but I have to emphasize – I am completely mind-boggled at how much better I feel just over a week later. When I got to the hospital on Friday I could barely walk, and on Sunday I couldn’t clear my throat, even on Percocet. By Wednesday, however, I was off of painkillers and actually tried a slow jog (then got walloped on Facebook by my clear-thinking friends.) Today is nine days later and I can breathe in just fine – sneezing is not agonizing, I can run (although I’m not) and I’m just watching out for my left arm and shoulder blade, which I can tell will take longer. If you had told me last Sunday that I’d feel like this today, I would have snorted in disbelief – and then toppled over in agony. It’s truly amazing.
So in the end…
I’m not trying to sound like Polyanna. It’s not fun to have broken ribs (other than the outpouring of sympathy, including fellow paddler Marilyn Ridings showing up on Sunday with a full grocery list and flowers – thanks Marilyn!) But who are we kidding – any time you get the opportunity to learn a potentially life-saving lesson without losing a bunch of teeth or rupturing a shoulder (the point being, obviously, that you’d be off the river for a long time with those injuries ) there’s not that much to complain about, right? I’m calling it good, and hoping to be smarter and better when I get back out there.
Clear skies and fresh snow on the way back.
Tags: Brett, Dave M., Fish, Irene D., JP, Marilyn R., safety
Before I write an enthralling post about what I learned from my accident on the Skykomish River yesterday, I wanted to give a heads-up about what appears to be a really cool organization, Peak 7 Adventures. It’s a non-profit ministry that teaches underprivileged and at-risk youths how to whitewater kayak, raft, climb and backpack, and they have a great website at www.Peak7.org.
Brian, Blake and Austin from Peak 7 Adventures at the Skykomish put-in in Index.
Yesterday three Peak 7 guys, Brian, Blake, and Austin, who are from Spokane and doing some local rivers this weekend, stopped on Highway 2 to give me and Brett Barton a ride into Index, and seeing as I had just broken 3 ribs and hiked off the river for 30 minutes I REALLY appreciated it – plus they had a truck crammed full of kayaking gear, so it was nice of them to fit us in. (By the way, the reason I call myself a bonehead in the post title is that the accident was totally my fault – but that’s another blog post… )
Blake gave me some encouraging words in the car about how he had bruised some ribs once and they really hurt but healed quickly, but after seeing me lurching around the car in Index his verdict was, “Umm, you should probably get that checked out.” :)
Anyway, the Peak 7 motto is “Challenging the Body, Engaging the Spirit”, which I think is very cool, and their website is well worth checking out. They’re also hiring a full-time Seattle area director, so if that’s up your alley click here for info – the application deadline is 12/15/09.
Tags: Brett, Irene, Peak 7, Skykomish River
Yesterday Brett Barton, Rob McKibbin and I met up with Rick Paag and Chuck Kapise at Split Rock wave on the Skykomish River. Here’s the video of those guys surfing it at around 5200 cfs (Chuck’s not in this one but I have a bunch more to post later that he’s in.)
The actual best video would have been of me actually getting up onto Split Rock to take the video, which involved having to stand on the nose of Brett’s boat as he was paddling against the current and then throwing myself onto the side of the rock. Oh well, you never have a camera rolling for the truly great shots.
Here’s Rob and Brett checking out the video with the super-nice waitress from the Gold Bar cafe (great desserts, by the way – huge pieces of pie.)
Tags: Brett, Chuck K., playboating, Rick P., Rob M., Skykomish River, Split Rock