By the Numbers

Ever since I started whitewater boating, I've kept track of my runs. At first, I kept detailed records and wrote long stories, but after a few years I got behind and just wrote enough to remember the run. At some point, I lost all of the details, but I had a sheet of paper with yearly counts on it, so I started over with that to keep a count.

To date, my total number of river days is 640, which averages out to 32 days a year for 20 years. Prior to 2004, my best ever year was 1992 with 50 days. In 2001, I boated 3 days because I spent most of that year with tendinitis and it wasn't a great water year. By 2003, I had 207 days, with an average of under 14 days a year.

The years since 2004 have been much better. I've averaged around 75 days a year. My best ever year was 2006, when I hit 90 days. The biggest contributing factor to the increase is getting a drysuit. You simply can't IK very much in Washington without a drysuit.

My next boating day will bring me to 52 days, which is only significant in that it averages to 1 day per week. Unless I get injured, I expect to reach 75 days again this year.

It would be fun to try to reach 100 days. I know a number of people who do this, but most of them are retired and the others are just crazy...