Re: [Paddlewise] Your rolling stories

These are all great stories... and I'm enjoying Mark's ongoing and
quasi-legendary search for his own perfect roll. Keep up the good work. I
was on the lake in front of our house yesterday and slipped and damn near
broke my butt when I landed. I had a good roll though.

Years ago my wife and I were invited along on a "beginner's" trip down the
Deschutes River in northern Oregon; only 4 or 5 hours away from our farm.
The rest of the crew was from the Pasco-Kennewick-Richland (Tri Cities) area
where the Hanford nuclear laboratory has raised the average intelligence to
one of the highest levels in the USA. Too bad I live on the north side of
the Saddle Mtns. from the nuclear labs... but I digress...

Most of the Deschutes north of Maupin, OR is a very technical ride and about
half of the paddlers were expert w/w kayakers; the rest were either
intermediate or beginner. The run selected was one the experts wanted to run
and the rest of us were too ignorant to know better.

My wife opted to ride one of the catarafts piloted by one of the wives of
the experts. A wise decision, as it turned out.

We put in on a quiet section and floated down into a canyon and almost
immediately into class III water. No problems and on to the next section
which looked pretty easy from the top. I yelled to one of the experts about
a good line and he yelled back, "You're good... right down the middle." Well
about then I went into the biggest hole I'd ever seen. I was so shocked I
froze... no brace, no roll, nothing and went right over. Swam out and tugged
the boat (an old 11 foot Dagger) to shore. Lesson learned: don't be
surprised to find the river different than the experts describe it.

On the same trip another beginner, in an RPM, capsized downstream in about 8
inches of water over a bottom made up of softball-sized rocks. He couldn't
roll and he couldn't swim out. He just kept bumping downstream trying to
fend off the bottom with an outstretched hand. If one of his hands had
gotten caught between rocks there would have been a high probability of a
broken wrist... or worse! Two of us positioned ourselves downstream of him
and let him run into us so he could use our decks to right himself. Lesson
learned: shallow water is not always the safest water.

My wife, on the cataraft, complained after the trip was over that she "got
splashed once" during the trip. Lesson learned: a technical and wet ride in
a kayak can be a boring trip in a cataraft.

I may have told these stories before. It's hard to tell at my age. <grin>


Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
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