Re: [Paddlewise] Fresh water lake paddling

That's pretty much my experience. A wipeout in the Canyon is usually 
pretty dramatic. When wave #5 on Hermit explodes it's something like 
one of Saddam's lost WMDs. I learned fairly fast to hit the shoulders 
of waves and run from the peaks as we only had 3 days of green water. 
The following photo was taken at the confluence of the Little Colorado 
and the Colorado:

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2024211730067748792uszAjU

Did I mention to keep your eyes closed when rolling?

Cheers,

Rob G

Jim wrote:

I don't paddle on salt water enough to have observations to share.  But
I have paddled on different rivers with different amounts of mud in
them.  The most dramatic differences have been on Grand Canyon trips.
On three of my trips we have started with green water and ended with
brown, due to rain storms washing silt and soil in from the side
canyons.  There is a HUGE difference when the water is brown.  A green
wave hitting your face feels like water, a brown wave feels like being
hit with a sandbag.  A green wave hitting the side of the bow changes
the vector of the boat a little, a brown wave turns you around.

Not knowing anything about physics, I would guess that it takes more
energy to create a wave out of heavier water than clear water.

We have all seen how rain can flatten small waves.

And have you ever seen what a little bit of oil can do to waves?  We
once took some plates that had peanut butter on them and washed them in
the ocean.  After a few minutes there was big calm spot radiating out
from us.  There were just little wind ripples, but the oil wiped them
out.  Ben Franklin used to do this same trick, using oil that was in his
cane.  A quote from his writings:
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