I always tell people to join the Washington Kayak Club too, because even if you don’t see runs at your level on their events calendar you’ll end up getting on some big email lists with people organizing all kinds of runs, often in the II+ and III range.  For some odd reason people often don’t take my advice (a recurring and disturbing theme – but I digress), so now this thread should at least make it somewhat easier on the Professor Paddle side.

Speaking of beginner runs, this is a great season (August to September) to get used to running Boulder Drop on the Skykomish River, it’s much less pushy under 2,000 cfs and we run it all the way down to 500 cfs.  Just a heads up that it’s much less fun to swim at lower levels, especially that last drop after House Rocks.  But it’s always a simple portage too.

Many nice photos like this one on the River Gypsies Burn review post.

Leland posted a link on Professor Paddle to his nice review of the 2010 Pyranha Burn, here’s a link to his blog post with the entire Pyranha Burn review on the River Gypsies website.  There are a lot of good photos and he goes into quite a bit of depth about the various paces he put the boat through.

To my unschooled eye it’s hard to tell much difference between the old and the new version, but he and some commenters on the Professor Paddle thread definitely seem to be able notice them.  I think it’s pretty hard to go wrong with the Burn overall, Charles from AquaSports in Redmond says it’s the one boat that in 15 years he’s had only one person return because they didn’t like it, and everyone seems to rave about it as a creekboat.

After doing Tumwater the last two weekends I can definitely say I learned to fall in love with my previous-version Burn, even though I’m still portaging POW and man is it a pain to lug around!  Yesterday I was definitely weighing the disadvantages of possibly losing a tooth on that rapid versus the hassle of dragging the Burn up and over boulders on the river right portage – which is actually even easier than the perilous scramble down to the river if you do that portage on river left.  The tooth won out, but it was a close call….

Anyway, in the past I’ve gotten a little resentful taking the Burn out on the Skykomish to get used to it because I love to do that upper run in a playboat, but as soon as I got on the Tumwater run I loved it.  Mike Peele, who did Tumwater for the first time with me the previous weekend had the exact same reaction about his Burn – we kind of looked at each other at the same time and said, “I love this boat!”.  Although, a lot of people do that run in playboats (and Rob McKibbin of course makes bobbing blithefully down Class V+ Exit rapid look easy in his Dagger Kingpin).  But he’s around to keep the rest of us humble.

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.”

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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.)