Not long ago I posted about how Rush Sturges’s swim on Upper Cherry Creek really set the standard for “hanging in there,” but I think that award now goes to Ellie Wheat – just check out the sequence starting at around six minutes into the video (orange boat, blue helmet).

(Just a heads up, there are one or two F-bombs dropped somewhere in the background at one point, in case you’re watching this at work – not that any kayaker would ever do that. )

Ernie’s Canyon is one of the most difficult whitewater kayaking runs in Washington state.  The Bennett book has this to say:

“You can slice every one of ‘em (the rapids) and walk away thinking this river’s just another challenging Class V trip, or you can miss your line by two feet and get permanently stuffed into an undercut.”

When you read the river description you’ll notice the word “sieve” come up frequently, and I was just recently listening to two good Class V boaters talk about it, one in terms of “I don’t feel the need to ever do that run again,” and the other describing it as “constantly paddling away from sieves in a Class V environment.”  Not for everyone, in other words.

But obviously some people love it, and this is a gorgeous video.  There are a few little clips after the ending credits, just so you know.

What really struck a chord with me though was what she says starting at around 4:20 mins into the video, when she’s talking about her approach to doing something this difficult:

“The key to climbing outside is just looking at a line and thinking that it looks fun and going for it – not having to have a grade correlate with your ambition to try something.”

Substitute “kayaking” for climbing and “class” for grade, and I think it’s something most boaters can relate to, both in terms of maybe not forcing yourself to do something just because it’s rated as difficult, and also not being afraid to try something just because it is – and, not to mention, remembering to have fun.  (Granted, climbers are roped in whereas boaters will always be dealing with that pesky inability to breathe underwater thing, so I still think we have more to deal with – but there’s a good point here.)

Not only does he get stuck in that hydraulic with a broken paddle and still manage to get out of it and roll up, he also boofs that one ledge hand paddling, does a whole bunch of hand rolls, goes over several ledges, and the reversal he finally swims out of is obviously super sticky – his boat stays in there a really long time.

I like this video because any one of those circumstances is enough to make most people swim, never mind putting them all back to back.  So it kind of sets the bar for what’s possible and hanging in there.

Oh, almost forgot to mention – he then also manages to get out right away instead of swimming the next seven miles, like I usually do.

Anyway, this is an example of how I’d love to be able to boat.

Craig Kleckner is part of the Team Pyranha band that comes out here every year, for some reason I’ve only posted about them once, the first time they were here in 2009, but they are an awesome group and we always have a good turnout when they come through.  Craig gave me some really good advice about how to practice holding your boat on edge, which I think about frequently and sometimes even actually do.

The CC Stilly is a fun, short IV/V run that’s easy to do laps on.  I did it a couple of times a year and half ago at around 5.2, which is on the low side and I don’t think anything was harder than technical IV, but that first ledge can really hand out beatdowns.

By the way, thumbs up to Todd for doing Boulder Drop the other day at around 6200 cfs in a playboat, only two years after starting kayaking!  I was super happy that things worked out in the Project 45 for me, especially after swimming after the Picket Fence at 2,000 cfs a couple of weeks ago - agh!  Todd and I both did the Needle – you won’t catch me near Ned’s at 6200 cfs, at least not until I become inducted into the Boofing Hall of Fame.  And next time I plan to not sneak the entrance.  Baby steps.

Rob McKibbin did a first descent of Pinnacle rapid on that run, according to JP’s post on Professor Paddle it was a lot harder than it looks in the video.  I talked with Rob the other day and he said it was not as hard as running Landslide rapid on Robe Canyon at 5’9″, which he did last week for the second time – Landslide being a much longer rapid that for most mortal beings is a portage, especially at that level.

I don’t know everyone in this video but definitely saw Fish, Ellie Wheat, Dave Moroles, Rob McKibbin, and it looked like Joe Howard.  I give Ellie thumbs up for doing this in a small Burn, it’s what I have and we’ve both been checking out creekboat volumes recently – the small is only 63 gallons, that’s 11 gallons less than the medium Burn and it makes a big difference when you’re running beefy drops.

According to the YouTube comments on the poster’s channel and also a Canoe and Kayak article, the paddlers included Walt Blackadar, Darwon Stoneman, and Mike Huges, and the film was made by Barney Griffith.

Apparently this run was in part a response to a proposed dam project on the Susitna, which was abandoned in the 1980′s.  Ironically, in checking around for this post I saw that there’s now a new proposal for a Susitnu dam, which the Coalition for Susitna Dam Alternatives says has the potential to be “destructive on a massive scale” to salmon runs and caribou habitat – no big surprise.  But Governor Parnell appears to be gung-ho, and according to the papers plans are moving forward fast.  This would be the 8th tallest dam on earth, but according to that article, would generate only 280 to 300 megawatts of electricity per year.

I also saw that there’s a biography of Walt Blackadar’s life called “Never Turn Back” which is supposed to be really good, I’m going to check it out.

The Boof from Whitewater Instruction on Vimeo.

LINK TO THE PAGE WITH DETAILS ON THE BOOF.

"Into the eddy" Boof from Whitewater Instruction on Vimeo.

LINK TO THE PAGE WITH DETAILS ON THE EDDY BOOF.

The Straight and Fader Boofs from Whitewater Instruction on Vimeo.

LINK TO THE PAGE WITH DETAILS ON THE STRAIGHT AND FADER BOOFS.

If you’re new to whitewater kayaking, boofing is a way to get your kayak over some obstacle, usually a ledge of some sort, in a way that keeps the bow up so that you clear what is usually a reversal at the bottom and land in control, centered over your boat and without sinking the bow.  You’ll notice he breaks it down into three parts: the approach, the paddle stroke, and body position.

I am by no means an expert on boofing, by the way – as I’ve said before, most of my boofs require scuba gear.   But I think these videos have given me a much better idea of what to work on.

If you’re new to Boulder Drop and maybe trying to figure it out for the future, here’s kind of a play by play to go along with the video:

Section 1: The Entry

Right when the title says “Boulder Drop” he’s heading towards the entrance.  That rock he goes to the right of just there is what I call the pillow rock – you can go to the left but it’s way less squirrely on the right.  At higher levels it’s covered and a nasty backed up reversal forms on the back side of it – I plopped right into it at 4200 cfs and had plenty of time to contemplate not just that bad decision but also many others.  It will spit you out eventually though.

Section 2: The Picket Fence

Where he eddies out on the right is what we call the Bubble Pool, and from there you can either do Airplane Turn (a ferry move to the far side), Ned’s Needle or the Needle.  Greg does the Needle, the slot to the left of where he goes is Ned’s, which at under around 1100 cfs gets really narrow and can remove your elbows on the way down.

The nice thing is that the Needle is friendly up to around 1700 and then gets pretty sticky around 2000 cfs, Ned’s is high enough above around 1300 cfs to do without banging your elbows and doesn’t really get sticky until around 2500 cfs (not very sticky, but definitely sticky around 4,000 cfs and up), and above 2500 cfs the Needle is less sticky, it just starts getting bigger.  So there’s always some kind of option that doesn’t have to involve flailing around in a hole forever.  If you’re just starting out the Airplane Turn ferry might be the easiest of the three up to around 3,000 cfs, but if you can it helps to get out at Airplane Turn eddy (river left, at the end of the ferry) and scout if you can – that’s very easy to do in the 1500 cfs range, which I think is a great first-time level for this rapid.

Section 3: The Last Part

Greg doesn’t go through the two big House Rocks on the left in the last section (that’s the typical route), he goes to the right, FLIPS (sorry Greg, I couldn’t resist.   I flipped in Cable Drop yesterday, so I have no room to talk), then cuts back left to do the last drop, which at that level is easiest to do if just as you go over the lip you angle yourself off towards the right instead of straight downriver - you can see me do that just behind him.

Clear as mud, right?