I got to spend a day AT the river if not ON the river. A couple of really cool events today.
First was the American River Rendezvous put on by the Headwaters Institute - and expertly organized by my friend Tessa. It’s a chance for guides to come together and learn about the river and watershed in hopes of spreading the information to the thousands of participants who will be on the river this season. We had speakers on everything from the dam licensing process and conservation efforts to the native flora and fauna and the traditions of the original peoples on this land. It all gives you a better appreciation for what a special privilege it is to be able to earn a living working on the river and the responsibility we all have for ensuring this privilege continues to exist in the future.
Then in the evening was the Trailfest for the American River Conservancy. It was basically a really nice party to raise funds for a great organization. Not as much education happening, but the free alcohol would have probably interfered with that anyway.
Even if I can’t manage to get a day off work to paddle I can still squeeze in a little paddling around work. I took off from the shop at 5:00pm with my buddy Alex to get in a quick run down the gorge on the South Fork American to relax a little before a long weekend of work. We set the shuttle and were on the water just after 6pm - it’s nice to have the water so close. But we could tell that we had missed the bubble of released water from the upstream reservoir so things were pretty shallow at the start. Luckily the gorge is runnable without a whole lot of water - it just makes for a slower run with more paddling. We cruised through the flat stretch at the start and pretty muched cruised through the rapids when we hit the gorge. We finished up just after 8pm - about 2 hours on the water total. The gorge is such a quiet and relaxing place, especially when you’re the last ones on the run and there are no rafts in site.
I didn’t even have time to run home and get my own boat for the run so I borrowed a Pyranha Recoil from our instructional fleet. I was happily surprised at how stable it was considering the squirelly water you get in the gorge. It seemed a more capable river runner than I expected from looking at its lines and volume distribution. We didn’t have the time or opportunity to play much but it did seem a little slow on the wave. And it would take a better playboater than I to really see how it throws ends in a hole.
I got to spend my Memorial Day on the river even though I was working. I was leading a trip down the C to G section on the South Fork American. I was leading a couple of new boaters who had never done that stretch before and it is always an interesting experience. You have to look at the water totally differently and try to put yourself in their booties (so to speak) and decide what’s the easiest line?, how much can they handle?, is that eddy really catchable?, how tiring is a short swim? It really helps your boating when you have to think things through instead of just running something you know won’t pose a problem for yourself.
It ended up being a great day - we stopped in an eddy and got one of the students rolling (though not quite a combat roll yet) and the other made huge leaps in river reading and run the longest, hardest rapid of the stretch with grace and confidence.
Today was only my second day off from work this month, so instead of relaxing and finally gets the shelves up in my room to clear the boxes cluttering my floor, I took the opportunity to jump on the T for a one-day run of the whole 18 miles. I’ve only done the T at summer flows around 1,500 cfs and it’s an enjoyable class IV that gets a little too mellow after the first five miles and Clavey Falls. At 3,800 it is a lot more exciting and the flatter parts go by quick.
This was my second day in the Rocker and big water is a differenct ball game. While I could still edge it by leaning far and the eddies and swirlies were no problem, I found I get corked around a little if I’m not paying attention. A couple of times I found I would just fly up a wave and soar into the air unexpectedly before doing a back flip and landing on my head in the hole below. And once in a hole my light weight wasn’t going to pull the rocker through. So I either had to surf my way out or dig deep to grab some green water to pull me and my boat out. Yes, I should have avoided the holes in the first place, but it was good practice to see how the boat handles once in the hole and it’s best to do that on a run you feel comfortable with before getting there on something harder. So it was a great day - lots of fun bouncy water, good learning experiences and no swims. But now I’m exhausted and looking forward to a couple more weeks of work without let up…
Just got back from the Reno River Festival. I was working in the CCK booth so I didn’t get as much chance to paddle or enjoy the festivities but it was still a great event. Over 30,000 people passed through over the weekend, and while most were not paddlers they still had questions and got the see what our sport is all about. I’m not a park n’ play kind of guy, but the park in Reno is pretty darn nice - I can totally see the appeal of being able to pull up, throw your boat out on the water and throw down, then head home all in couple hours after work.
I did enter the boatercross which was a new event for me. At the low flows we have it definitely rewarded strategy. I didn’t get the chance to do any practice runs or even get in my boat until the first round which was just a timed run - I got a little off line and it clearly cost me. The timed runs set up the seeding for the actual boatercross heats. For the heats the top two boaters advanced - it was suppose to be four boaters in each heat but only two heats had four - most had three and some only had two. I was unlucky enough to be in one of the four boat heats. It was a flying start so the most important thing was to get out early and stay out of the chaos. But that wasn’t as exciting for the audience. I ended up fighting my way down the whole course in second/third place and get edged out at the end. So my boatercross experience lasted a grand total of about a minute of paddling. But lessons learned for next year. EJ seemed to be trying a strategy of luring his competitors into false starts by charging at the starting line early and then pulling up. But it cost him in the second round when no one false started and he ended up behind everyone and couldn’t quite catch up. As I said - strategy is key.
It’s a good day when you get to paddle two different rivers with two different sets of friends. I started the day with a C to G run on the South Fork with a couple friends from my time with UCLA’s Outdoor Adventure program. In a way I had helped to start them paddling since they both got their first kayak experience on the guide training I conducted for the program. One is a local (lives in Coloma) who has become an awesome raft guide spending her summers on the Tuolumne and Middle Fork of the Salmon. She has also become a competent kayaker in the years since I knew her at UCLA. The other hadn’t been in a kayak in four years so we put her in an inflatable. But when we got to the takeout she decided she wanted to see if she remembered how to roll, so she jumped in the hardshell and after a 15 minute refresher she gave it a go and rolled up on her second attempt. It’s a great feeling to see someone get that skill and to know how much it opens up their possibilities for paddling.
So I got off the South Fork around 2pm and drove up to the North Fork to meet another UCLA friend. He is finishing Business School at Davis and had class during the day so he couldn’t join us in the morning. But he made it out for a late afternoon run down the North Fork’s Chamberlain Run. He and I did Chamberlain’s once several years ago on a trip through the area, but about all I could remember is that it had a good number of solid Class IV rapids, a reputation for being dangerous and a rather steep canyon. I was happy to see that my friend brought a few locals who knew the run well so we could speed down it easier. Good thing since we didn’t put on until about 6:30 pm.
The best thing about the run was that I got the chance to try out my brand new Rocker. I’ve had it in the pool, and I took an 06 version out in the surf, but this was my first river with my new creek boat. And boy was it fun. I knew when I started looking for a new creek boat that I wanted a displacement hull but it had been a while since I actually paddle one on the river. I was surprised by just how fast it is – I kept overshooting my targets because the boat just rocketed forward when I took a couple hard strokes. And with the smooth surface any diagonal wave or funky current just seemed to bounce off so the boat never got grabbed by anything. Being on the light end of the weight range (165 lbs.) and without much gear I seemed to ride up and over anything in front of me – wave, holes, rocks, other boats… We cruised down the run and made it off well before dark, but I think I could have done it twice as fast if I just kept the Rocker pointing downstream and let it do its thing. I can’t wait to get it out on some challenging whitewater to see how it handles the bigger drops. Hopefully the water will stay around long enough to accommodate me.
I drove down to Kernville for the Kern River Festival this weekend. The flow is very low (<500 cfs) but this weekend is more about seeing friends than paddling. I also sold my old BigEZ to a local. I was sad to see it go – I think the EZ series is one of the great designs. It was my all around river runner – it had enough volume I felt comfortable on easy Class V but was still fun to take down Class III. My new Jackson Fun should be arriving shortly to replace it (I’ve been paddling a demo in the meantime) and it is a better boat for me – more playful yet still fast. But it’s always hard letting go of an old friend. Though I ran into the guy who purchased it on the river the next day, so it looks like it’s in a good home.
The Festival itself was definitely hurt by the lack of water and cool/rainy weather. It seemed to keep the kayak companies and sponsors away, but the volunteers and participants were there and had a great time. Saturday had the Wildwater race and the Brush Creek race (even though it involved a fair bit of rock scraping). The TJ Slalom Classic was on Sunday – the park had enough water to make for a challenging course. I only managed to paddle one short Limestone run on Saturday, but it was worth the drive to see my friends and paddle the Kern at least once this year. The Kern has been my local river since I started kayaking but now that I’m in
Sacramento I don’t think I’ll get down there very often – too many rivers up here to explore.
We had a little instructor day for California Canoe and Kayak on the Chili Bar run on the South Fork American today. It was my first time paddle with most of my fellow instructors and while I had spoken with them before you really get to know what people are truly like on the river. And what a great bunch of people it was. We had some young instructors, some very experienced paddlers, some great playboaters, some hard core creekers and everyone blended together seamlessly. While discussing teaching progressions and techniques there were many different opinions but everyone was open and sharing and listened to each other respectfully – that’s not something you always get with a group of experienced teachers. I think everyone took away some new ideas and I am definitely psyched about the upcoming teaching season.
I was also excited to get out in my new Jackson Fun. After trying the 06 version a couple weeks ago I finally got the chance to take the wrappings of the 07 version and see how it handles. It’s great to be able to show up at the put in with a brand new boat and be able to comfortably adjust the outfitting in about 2 minutes. On the water it definitely feels faster than the 06 version and generally a little smoother on the waves. I didn’t have a lot of time to play but I’m really looking forward to spending a lot of time in the Fun on the South Fork over the summer.
I just wrapped up a four day Youth camp for the City of Folsom today. We were in their pool for the whole class and only had the kids for an hour and a half each day, but we really tried to introduce them to the concepts of river running. The ages ranged from 7 to 13 which is a major difference in physical capabilities. And while the kids seemed to have endless supplies of energy I am definitely exhausted. They seem to enjoy tipping their boats over even more than paddling them. After draining out well over 100 boats in the four days I am very appreciative of the light weight of the
Jackson boats, especially the Fun 1’s and 1.5’s. It was great to be able to use the Fun’s and size them to fit all the kids – and we could even size up for those that felt less stable (one of the 7 year olds actually loved the Punk Rocker the best).
I got the chance to run a portion of the C to G (Coloma to
Greenwood) section on the South Fork American today. I’m recovering from a shoulder injury (sustained during the kayak polo World Championships last summer) and I have been doing a little flatwater paddling but this was my first moving water. There isn’t anything too challenging in this stretch but it was good just to get out and feel the water moving against the boat. I was demo-ing an ’06 Jackson Fun for the first time. It’s definitely more playfull than the Big EZ I normally paddle – but it actually feels faster on the wave even though it is considerably shorter. We did a little surfing at Barking Dog but I was reluctant to try anything else until I have more confidence in my shoulder. It’s interesting how the psychology of an injury comes into play – I felt strong and fit and didn’t have any pain but still wanted to take it easy.