This shouldn't surprise me but it did rain on my fun parade. I had finally made it back into my boat after a 23 day forced sabbatical from kayaking. I was able to borrow a drysuit and picked up my new 5.10's and headed out to Robe Canyon.
Robe is awesome. That's about the only way to describe that river. Its dark and scary (to me) and is just too good to pass up when it's in. I checked the gauge in the morning and was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't huge. Got to the put in and thought it might be a solo mission for the day, but about 10 minutes later Brad X pulled in. Then Leif drove up and within about a half hour there were 10 or 12 of us loading boats and gearing up. The day was gorgeous! Clear blue sky with white puffy clouds, snow on the ground and a sense of tranquility that follows the shift from fall to winter.
We put on and to be honest I was a little nervous. I hadn't been in Robe since the fall of 2010. It was awesome though. I elected to walk T1, as did most of the crew, there is a very large root ball in the main line now. T2 is still one of the coolest boofs to launch off of. Nailed the line, the Drop Zone practically exploded out of the water when I contacted the rock hump on the second pour-over.
Got to listen to Ol' JP explain the new Sunshine line to some new Robe Canyoners and then took the plunge. Although it isn't the same Sunshine that I fell in love with, she's still a pretty sweet drop. Got good angle and a soft landing.
I was in the bottom eddy in time to watch Jed completely air out the drop. Looked awesome. Then on to the new line at Hole in the Wall. Pretty fun on that left side now but I kinda miss the zig-zag move on RR.
The rest of the run was going really well. Two laps on Faceplant and I got to watch Rob and Sam both run landslide. Then, right after I put back in to paddle down to Garbage I decided to do a little boof move on a small pour-over above Garbage. Bad move. Instead of the normal dull thund/thunk of plastic hitting rock there was an odd twang noise. I knew deep down what had happened but I was in denial so I asked Sam how my boat looked. I rooled up on one hip and then back down to see a look of horror on his face. I paddled over to the bank and got out to take a look. The crack was directly below my left hip, under the seat. It was a little bigger than my fist and jagged. Not in a straight lateral line like I've seen on other boats.
This is where it got interesting. I had nothing in my boat, just a tripod and a throwbag. No tape, no bitchathane, no gorilla glue, no nothin. I was hosed. When everyone finished the portage and made their way down to where I was, we were able to round up some meager supplies from other, more well prepared boaters. We had one 6"x6" square of old bitchathane, 1 small roll of Gorilla Tape and a small lighter. It was so cold that the bitchathane had lost all adhesiveness and even the Gorilla tape wouldn't stick unless I held the lighter to it for a couple seconds prior to application. After we assessed the situation we arrived at a couple conclusions: Mainly, I am an idiot. Secondly, our group was massive and needed to split up. Third, We were only about halfway down the run with another couple of serious rapids and then a 1.5-2 mile paddle out ahead of us. We split the group up: Sam, Rob and Myself stayed put while I tried to create a waterproof layer in my boat. Everyone else started scouting Grabage and paddling out.
I walked Garbage, much to my Pride's chagrin. I walked Cat's Paw and Off Broadway as well. I hurt inside as I shouldered these amazing rapids as they are some of my favorite. Due to my lack of physical preparedness, combined with the cold wheather and ice on everything, by the time I put back in below Off Broadway, I had decided to just run everything else. I was exhausted already and had only covered a quarter to half mile of terrain.
Sam was getting dangerously cold and had to start paddling out. Now it was just Rob and I. I wasn't too worried until we got to the pool above last conversation. The crack in the boat had expanded and the makeshift patch had fallen off. My boat had so much water in it that my spray skirt was only an inch or so above the water level. Balance became an issue and confidence started to disintegrate. I was able to empty my boat out at the top of the rapid but by the time I hit the final wave hole in the first series of the drop I was stern-squirting uncontrollably and I was barely able to catch the middle eddy above the final pitch. I had a momentary vision of being able to sponge out the 20 or 30 gallons of water that was in my lap, when a surge pulled me back out into the RR current. I made it down and was able to pull over and bail my boat before having to boof Mrs. Robinson, the final river wide ledge in Robe Canyon. As I would step back into my boat, I could see a black line in the bottom of my boat with so much water coming through it it looked like someone was holding a garden hose to it. Depressing to say the least.
We made it through and all we had between ourselves and feeling in our hands and feet was a mile or so of braided flat water. We reached the takeout with about 15 minutes of light left in the day and surprisingly only a half hour or so behind the main group. Stokes was stoked and I was happy to get into some goose down. All in all, despite the cracked boat, another amazing day on the water. Robe canyon is an amazing place to be able to kayak. This incident definitely put the hazards of boating Robe Canyon during the winter months into perspective. If I hadn't been wearing a full drysuit or if I had elected to wear less layers underneith, it would have been a very long, dark and cold hik eout of that canyon. And what would I have traded the locals to cross though their lands? I think they deal in human skin and teeth in those parts...After a couple of high fives and handshakes, it was time to head for home.
All in all I stand by my statement that I love the Drop Zone. Even though Wanda broke and left me in a pretty bad spot, I have a feeling it was nothing personal. Who knows, maybe somebody at the airline dropped it or something. She put up with some wear and tear over the past 10 months. My last Burn only lasted 2...
By the numbers, Wanda got around:
River / Laps on said river
Robe Canyon, WA / 1
Skykomish, WA / 2
Tumwater Canyon, WA / 4
Chelan Gorge, WA / 3
North Fork Payette, ID / 3(ish?) thats 45 miles of sharp class V...
Upper Upper Cispus, WA / 1
Green Narrows, NC / 15
Big Creek, NC / 1
Potomic, MD / 1
Watauga, NC 2
Pilchuck Creek, WA / 1
Ernies Gorge, WA / 6
Huge thanks to Leif Ellsworth and John (?) from the East Coast for having all the repair gear that I was completely lacking. An even bigger thanks is due to Rob and Sam. These guys are why I come back to kayaking again and again. Staying out and putting your own health on the line to help a friend are just one more aspect of why our sport is so fulfilling on an emotional level.
Cheers
No comments:
Post a Comment