~~RapidPirate~~

I talked with the manager of the Horseshoe Bend Power plant tonight and he said they are going to deflate the bladder dam Friday morning. This means that the gutter is not surfable and the bladder wave will
NOT be in. He was not sure when they would re inflate the dam on Friday afternoon and said it could be down for several days. Here is a link to their page with info on deflation schedules Go to the bottom of the page! :

http://www.innergex.com/en/energie/02-10-05-horseshoebend-recrea_e.html

As of about midnight this is how it reads :

“Very high flow conditions are predicted for the Payette River for the
next days. In order to prevent the plant structure from being sanded
up the hydroelectric plant operation will be momentarily stopped.

Please note that the Rubber Dam of the HBHC power plant will be
lowered tomorrow May16th, 2008 and could be down for the next couple
days. Most of the river water will flow in the main river channel
over the deflated rubber dam.”

Keep an eye on the Horseshoe Bend Gauge and watch for it to hit about 8.500cfs. At that point they start messing with the dam. Sometime it will be down completely and this floods the gutter and nothing is surfable. Go HERE and check the bottom of the page for scheduled deflations. In the past here is what the power company has done when the level hits around 8,500:

1. They drop the bladder all the way in the early mornings - nothing good for boating
2. At about noon they bring it into ‘Cascade Mode’ which is about 1/2 pressure. If the bubble forms in the middle as it usually does BINGO - Bladder Wave

Right now the forecast for Boise is low to mid 90’s for the weekend and the river will be shooting up. Here is the current river forecast for Horseshoe Bend