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.

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.

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.)

Brett Barton on Eagle Falls, Skykomish River - Photo by Abraham Herrera

I’ve been thinking about what I’d tell someone who was starting out whitewater kayaking and wanted to learn fast.  One of the most useful things that I’ve been fortunate enough to do has been to paddle with people who love kayaking, are really good at it, and who are really generous with their knowledge.

I learn much faster when I’m with people who encourage me into into stuff that is a bit over my head, even if it means messing up and swimming.  It just makes you choose your line more carefully next time, or work on a stroke that will steer you away from trouble someday, or learn to roll up in squirrelly water when you’re scared.  Or, on special occasions, all of the above, all at once.  

(I’m not talking about people who put you in unreasonably dangerous situations, obviously, just good paddlers who help you stretch your limits.)

Anyway, I don’t have pictures of many of the kayakers who have helped me out with advice, but here are some cool shots of a few, starting out with Brett Barton, above (actually messing up on the line on Eagle Falls in that photo - but it makes for a great shot.)  Brett is a great playboater who has shown me a ton of lines on Boulder Drop.  I actually was the safety throw bag person on the Eagle Falls run, but seeing as I have an unfortunate habit of getting nervous and throwing the safety throw bag sideways into the tree tops it’s a pretty good thing he nailed the run both times.

Brian Pernick on the Skykomish River

Brian Pernick, above, is my unofficial attainment coach.  (This may be news to him, I realize.)  Up until a few weeks ago I didn’t know what an attainment was, but it’s when you find ways to move your kayak upstream, sometimes finding your way through rapids.  Brian is really good at it, and I end up trying some of the same moves he’s doing.  Practicing attainments is not just good for the physical aspect of kayaking, it also puts you in a more proactive mindset where you’re more likely to think what you can do with the water rather than what it’s going to do with you.

Chipper Maney on the Cheakamus River, BC - Photo by Preston Brown

Chipper Maney, demonstrating a nice boof stroke above, is another really good boater who notably picked a really fun line through Boulder Drop yesterday, finishing up with a fun little auto-boof at the end that I actually got a good boof stroke on the first time down (possibly my first actual boof stroke ever.)  I’m not sure what river he’s on here, but I love this shot.

There are a ton of other good boaters who have helped me learn, including Charles from AquaSports – who is super encouraging, but who was also nice enough to let me know that I need some work in the eddy-catching department (so true!)

Overall, I feel incredibly fortunate to paddle with the people I kayak with – they give great advice without being bossy, test your limits without making you feel like they’re trying to kill you, and no one ever makes you feel bad if you decide to not do something.  And, they love to be on the river – what could be better?

(The first one is the same one that’s in the last post on higher Youtube video quality that I just did.)

This one has Brett, Kevin H., and people I don’t know.

This one has Brett and people I don’t know.

This one has Jon A., a cat boat and people I don’t know.

This one has Claire H. twice, and a guy I don’t know.

When you’re embedding a Youtube video, you’ll get a higher quality version if you add the following code to the very end of the urls in the embed code that start with value=http://www.youtube.com:

&ap=%2526fmt%3D18

Insert it into the very end of the url, just before the last quotation mark.  You need to do it twice since the link is in the embed code two times.

If you’re just linking directly to the video, you can add the following code at the end of the Youtube video link to get the higher quality version:  &fmt=18

I’m pretty sure this works – here’s the first Rodeo Hole video in both quality formats for comparison.

This video has Brett, Kevin H., and people I don’t know.

Low Youtube Video Quality Version:

Higher Youtube Video Quality Version:

I’ve watched these at the same time and I definitely notice a difference.  See what you think.

I’ve still got two more sets of video to go through from Sunday – Rodeo Hole, which should be good, and another Turkey Shoot bunch from Sunday.  In the meantime, here are the ones from Saturday.

This one has Brett, Butch V., Clea H., Becky D. and people I don’t know.

This one has Roger M., Clea H., Butch V., Brett and people I don’t know.

This one has Clea H., Brett, Roger M., Butch V., Kevin H. and people I don’t know.

This one has Brett, Lucy, Raina, Doug M., Roger M. and people I don’t know.