The Wettest Week of the Year and no Boating

The week of Thanksgiving is usually one of the wettest weeks of the year, and this year was no exception. On Monday, we expected a couple of inches of snow. Instead, we got close to 10 inches. It took me 3 hours to get home that night. For the rest of the week, it was cold and we got a little more snow and some rain. It stayed cold enough that the snow has stayed around, and there has only been a little bit of melt. I had expected to get in as many as 4 days of boating, but in the end, I didn't boat at all.

Some people are still amazed that we boat in the winter. The key to winter boating is clothing. You need a drysuit and warm clothes to wear under it. If you keep your core warm, it's quite pleasant. For me, the worst situation is when the wind comes up. Strong winds can really make me cold.

76 - 11/20/2010 - Middle Middle

Russian Peaks from the Put-in

I had originally planned to run the Green in my new boat, but nobody responded to requests and some friends wanted to run the Middle Middle. The flow was around 1200, which was low for a cataraft, but still good enough for a first run.

Realistically, 1200 is not a great flow even for my small cataraft. It's more work looking for the channels and dealing with rocks. I don't like to run my big cataraft on the Middle Middle at under 2000 cfs, and I think I'll prefer to run the smaller one at 1400-2500.

The run was fun. I got stuck a few times, but that was no big deal, especially since half of them were intentional. Getting the little boat out of trouble is pretty easy. I took the steep drops whenever possible, and the boat was stable and quick. I'm looking forward to lots more runs in the new boat!

New Boat!

Cubby

In 2009, I developed shoulder problems for a while. I got several pieces of advice, including using shorter oars and getting a smaller boat. A smaller boat would have all kinds of advantages. I could carry it more easily by myself. It would be a great winter boat for when the water is low but I don't feel like kayaking. It would even be fun for overnight runs when I just need to carry a small amount of gear. I decided that I would put together a small cataraft in 2010.

The first step was to get a frame. I wanted my frame to be the same basic size as my existing frame, but without the cargo area in the back. I knew that Dave Nissen would be busy making frames, so in October of 2009, I called him up and ordered the frame. His estimate was that it would be ready at the end of January, but in the end it wasn't in my hands until the end of May. That was fine, since I really had no idea what tubes I would be buying. In various conversations with Dave, he suggested that I consider an 11' Sotar Legend. This is a small, but very maneuverable setup.

In July, a friend of mine got a set of standard 12'6" Sotar Legend tubes, which are 22.5" in diameter. I tried these tubes out a few times, and found them to be bigger than I wanted. I then tried some smaller tubes, and finally settled on a set of 11'x20" Sotar Legend tubes. I ordered these in early October of 2010.

The boat arrived in mid-November. I was able to put it together an about an hour, though I still need to get the final matching straps made for it.

75 - 11/13/2010 - Skykomish

I admit it. The main run on the Skykomish scares me. When I first moved to Washington, I ran the Sky and swam all of Boulder Drop. I didn't get hurt. I didn't lose any gear. But I still get scared running that rapid.

We had a fairly large group, and I was running my purple cataraft. The water level was just barely high enough for that boat, and I got stuck a few times in the early rapids.

When we got to Boulder Drop, we all stopped to allow some people to scout, and then 4 of us went ahead and ran the rapid while they watched. I went into the entry very fast and ended up spinning around backwards at the bottom. I made a quick decision to run the Needle, rather than going around to Airplane Turn. I hit the Needle with a right angle, which caused me to get pushed onto the Dragon's Back, which is a big rock that sticks up. I had some trouble getting my right oar out of the water, and once I did, I had to make sure I didn't go in front of someone else, so I waited. When I saw the next boat go by, I spun off the rock and finished the rapid. If sloppy is a style, I styled the rapid. In any case, I did make it. I hope that someday this rapid won't scare me so much.

The rest of the run was much easier, and I spent more time playing. One thing I try to do a lot when I'm on rapids I know fairly well is to try to get myself in minor trouble and then get out of it. That is, I'll get myself stuck or go into a big hole and then work my way out of the situation. I think that in the long run, this will help me on new runs.

74 - 11/6/2010 - Middle Middle

We started the week with a huge storm, but by the weekend the flows had dwindled. A lot of people went over to the Skykomish, but I decided to stay local and do a quick Middle Middle run with a couple of friends.

I took my Aire Outfitter (now named "Derbus") to get some practice for the future. The boat is fine, but it's a lot heavier than my Wing and it's not as easy to carry. I need to work on some kind of shoulder harness to make it easier.