# 2013 Swim Board



## leif

Alright buzzards, I want to try to start a tradition here. Over at calpaddle.com, they have a rule that when you swim, you have to post it to a thread in their forum called the SWIM BOARD (here is an example: Premature Evacuation - 2011 Swim board). I want to start the same thing here. I know how we all love to talk trash, or perhaps offer emotional support when needed, and honestly, it'll just feel good to own up to it. It'll also be a great spot to thank your rescuers. Think of it as an internet supplement to river karma.

Of course, I wouldn't just start this thread at random. Allow me to kick things off with an admission of my own: During our trip to Chile, I had an out-of-boat experience during a high water run on the nevados. I had plenty of excuses, but it was still a swim. I suppose it was before new year's, so it was actually a 2012 swim, but I figured it was close enough. The next day, a different group made the same run at a similar level and had two swims of their own, and Eric Bartl gained a bunch of hero points in my book by leading a daring rescue of my boat and paddle along with theirs.

Since I was bored while editing a video about the rest of the trip, I threw together a very rough cut of the gopro footage from that swim. Enjoy the entertainment brought by my shame:

Rio Nevados swim on Vimeo


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## Miller Time

Great idea... Our group also has the "Swim Team" t-shirt. The most recent swimmer wears the jersey until another swim occurs... You might have seen it around Bailey Fest


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## TriBri1

Do you think we can create a "Swim Team" forum?


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## bobbuilds

TriBri1 said:


> Do you think we can create a "Swim Team" forum?


I think bumping the thread should suffice, no?

I will keep you posted, my season starts in a few days. I hope to make it 'till june or july this season


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## lhowemt

I like this idea and want to lay out a raft/cat rule that if you fall out of your boat and get back on completely on your own (no one caught your boat for you, pulled you in, or assisted you in any way - heck you might have just jumped in to go pee) it is an OOBE (out of boat exp), not a swim, but must be reported separately. Perhaps a flip and complete self rescue could just be called a twirl- nah it's still a flip. I hope rubber pushers are welcome??? I'm expecting to have quite a few reports with my new smaller boat!


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## TriBri1

lhowemt said:


> I like this idea and want to lay out a raft/cat rule that if you fall out of your boat and get back on completely on your own (no one caught your boat for you, pulled you in, or assisted you in any way - heck you might have just jumped in to go pee) it is an OOBE (out of boat exp), not a swim, but must be reported separately. Perhaps a flip and complete self rescue could just be called a twirl- nah it's still a flip. I hope rubber pushers are welcome??? I'm expecting to have quite a few reports with my new smaller boat!


I don't know, I figure any unintentional in the drink experience should count. If you self rescue then you can get an asterisk. Same goes for IKs and inner tubes for that matter.


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## adgeiser

Ditto to TriBri1,
any unplanned out of boat experience is a swim.

if a kayaker self rescues and gets them-self back in their boat it is still a swim. 
I see no difference.

Claim your swims people... then your free beer afterwards...
"gosh guys, i would love to pay my river respect and do my bootie beer... but i don't seem to have any beer  " works every time.


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## Don

*Swim*

Leif, I love the video and the idea. I would much rather get to know people through threads like these than others that come around. I promise that if I swim this year I will post it HERE.

All men know that they will have to face death and taxes, and paddlers know they will have to face swims and paddling again. It's just how WE process it that makes the difference to staying in the sport or never doing it again.

I recommend taking a moment to getting back in your boat and give it another try. Like many on the Buzz, kayaking/ rafting has made a meaningful impact on our lives and often refuels our inner needs. Because, we stuck with it and found the rewards that only a river can deliver. Find your balance, until then, post that sh!t here and it doesn't need to be as cool as Leif's (way cool). Just write it up and we will laugh and learn together.


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## xena13

Uh oh. I can see my post count ballooning on this thread...


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## huck_finn

Three swims all self rescue this jan. big water harder to roll? Maybe or I'm just a junk boater


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## BryanS.

Swam twice on the N. Umpqua a few wks ago. Eddy turn, hit a rock under the surface. Missed first 2 attempts. Self rescued myself and boat and paddle. 30 min later got munched in a big hole. Swam out. Self rescue, got paddle. Had help reuniting with boat.


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## hojo

Swam in an eddy on foxton. First run of the 2012 and 5 min on the water and I was sans boat. Self rescued and then rope assisted to the road side.

I have to second a new forum for swims. It's too cumbersome to keep up with a 150 post thread and it keeps the trash talk nice and encapsulated on a per swim basis.


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## lhowemt

OK, sounds good.


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## WetExit

I think my moniker speaks for itself.

At least I'm good at SOMETHING...

ehhh.


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## oarframe

i swam in the pool. Does that count? I didn;t even have a boat.....


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## David L

I'm in, but......Seems to me that the waves I go for lead to more than a few swims a year. Does every swim get posted?


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## skipowpow

SUP'rs don't need to bother right? I mean that would be rediculous.


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## coloradopaddler

Yes that would be RIDICULOUS.


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## lhowemt

David L said:


> I'm in, but......Seems to me that the waves I go for lead to more than a few swims a year. Does every swim get posted?


Whatever, of course they count.


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## floatingk

I agree, unintentional equals swim. This is gonna be fun!


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## TriBri1

Now I can't wait for my next swim.


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## David L

This year, I'm going to try to stay in my boat.


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## ednaout

This will be awesome... I mean...not that I'll have anything to post or anything, but ya know, reading other people's posts will be awesome  !


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## lhowemt

I'm looking forward to many flips this year with my new small cat and going into lots of places it doesn't belong. I do not hope for swims, which on a cat is really just falling off a perfectly good boat.... Last year I had only one flip, even pulling back for a surf in Lochsa falls every time. The flip was in the stupidest place, it was a good lesson. This will be fun!


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## mdignan

I had a rough day in the New River Gorge at 2.5' a few weeks ago. Swam at Lower Keeney after missing a few rolls in some big water. Fortunately I was on line when I was upside down and didn't get washed into the sieve they call "the juicer". Then I swam again at Fayette Station in the run out. I was too tired to hit a roll, it was embarrassing.


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## caspermike

I swam once this year on the gambler up a big timber crick. Probed it and didn't have a fighting chance swam and Evan Garcia was on shore with a stick to pull me out. Took three of us to remove the kayak from said hole. And remember be safe!


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## bobbuilds

Here we go, It did not take too long for me.

Westwater 3-16-13 flow 2,400cfs

rapid: sock it to me.

I got backendered by the first wave and finished off by the second wave. I was on the eddy line, tried to roll once.

Then I swam.

Tips for improving my hang time? man, I am a sad paddler.


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## lmyers

Well, well, well. Guess I should post, since I got my first swim in for the year too.

Wednesday, March 13th in Browns Canyon at 150 cfs....... 

Scouted 4x4 rock at the bottom of Pinball and 90% of the water was going into a sieve. The other 3 paddlers, all of which are better than me, decided to portage. I have ran this rapid so many times, I thought for sure I had the line....

Hit my bow trying to make the ferry move and broached on 4x4. My tail got sucked into the sieve and vertically pinned me with my face about 8" below the surface. Pulled my skirt and flushed through the sieve. My paddle stuck in it and took a good 4-5 minutes to pop out.... luckily the only gear lost was my sunglasses.


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## GAtoCSU

Good stuff man. That looked like a wicked little hole. Nice moves above it though! Great water too.


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## suigeneris

*over/under*

Kudos to Myers and Bob for being on the river this early, swim or not I'm jealous back here in the city. Don't forget to post your bodily injuries from the swims as well. Gruesome pics of bloody legs, arms and facial trauma welcome. Lord knows I've got a few shin scars I'll carry to my grave.:-D


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## manelson

*Don't count your rolls before they're done.*

And so a group of us (5) were taking a 3 day class up in the Arkansas River Valley (2012 but this is a new thread). On the First day I made the declaration that who ever swims the most during the day ends up buying drinks that night. I thought, "hey, I've taken this class before. I've been on the river before. I have my own gear. There's some new guys who have never kayaked before, this is a safe bet!"
None the less, I ended up buying.


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## milo

Um , when I was learning how to roll, I'd first swim " laps" , full length of the pool with my boat attached to me..... Good stuff.... I also put " lost and found" fishing lures and hooks on my grab loop on my skirt.... It eliminated the desire to pull the frigging skirt..... Both of these helped eliminate my swimming problem.... My last swim was in the BLACK CANYON... In SIEVE CITY rapid......that's was 4 yrs ago and it was fucking scary.... I did not have the option to roll or I would have.... I was pinned upside down in a "coffin" shaped slot with no exit..... The whole time I was thinking about lotsawaters' sieve time on day 1 of our trip.... I could barely get out of the boat due to the current smashing me down on the bottom.... It was like somebody parked a car on top of me.... Then I started chewing on sand!!! FUCKING SAND.... Lord hath giveth me another chance.... It was not a death trap but just a "bad place".... I pulled my skirt after a battle and fought to get out from under the boat and current.... As soon as I popped up I went to grab my paddle (10' away from me)... As soon as I reached out for it, " it went" somewhere that I didnt want to go.... bye bye little AT paddle.... my swim was all of 10 feet in unfavorable conditions..... That was a rugged trip that I'll never ever forget..... Swimming is a whole other sport.... Milozadik 420 CB


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## mdignan

I swam at the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte a few weeks back during their green river St. Patrick's Day party. I rolled after surfing m-wave and rolled up right in time to get stuffed under a raft pinned on some pylons. Needless to say, I had to pull out and watch my boat continue on down the channel stuck underneath the raft. Those floating undercuts will get you!


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## abron

*renewed my rio grande swim team card...*

3/16/13 hit the Race Course in Pilar, with my homie Lancedog from CO and his buddies...had a great run, water was like 550 cfs, and sleeping beauty is still kinda munchy at that level...it will smooth out closer to 800-900... i had the bright idea to ask my buddy billy to use my iphone to get some footage of me, as i had only gotten pix of everyone else. and you know what that means...video = carnage.... :mrgreen: I have actually been pretty solid with my playboating, rolling all over the place, but i guess i was tired... and the current was funky, and the river gnomes were pulling my paddle so i couldnt set up for shit.... but i definitely think it was the camera....lol. the worst part was i went for a 'bow down-i dont know how to loop, but let's just see what happens' move. instead of just getting a decent mellow (timid) front surf like usual...  
OH, and ol' Jackson from Salider (in the pink pyrhana) got to return the favor for me assisting him at big rocks all too quickly. the irony was appreciated.and so was the paddle rescue... here's the vid, with sympathetic commentary and all from billy...lol


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## ednaout

Well, I thought I might at least wait AT LEAST until mid to late April to bump this thread but no....I got impatient and swam in Kirschbaumbs yesterday...It was pretty uneventful all in all. I got out pretty quick and my gear floated beautifully into an eddy just below me, with barely any assistance at all. The rest of the run went well, Gore was fun, walked tunnel (which I swear I'll never to again, I'd rather swim it if it comes down to it.... errrr, I think). 
Alright, well, there it is. I still owe my booty, but I'll pay up before my redemption run!


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## leif

I wish this was more like facebook so that I could "like" certain posts... Beth...


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## hojo

First swim in the bag. Exited in the freestyle hole at the Salida boat ramp. I was paddling bow in a C2 slalom run. My stern partner was doing everything she could to correct my flagrant mispaddling. Dropped into that hole slow and sideways, and I thought it would be much easier to finish the race sans boat. I was totally unprepared for the flows as, unbeknownst to me, the recent rains/snow bumped the water from an already raging 160cfs to the insane level of 190cfs!!! It was epic.


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## booferton

*Swimmerson*

The other day I was hand paddling the white water park in Gunnison with neopreme nrs gloves. I have the worst hand roll ever and when I hit the eddy line I flipped like a coin and pulled my skirt immediately. I was paddling with my friend anna who just cheered me on from the shore as I self rescued. All I could think about was how much fricking wax was on my boat, from kayaks on snow boatercross at monarch mountain. My buddies were at the bottom feature cheering because I owed them a six pack of beer for getting my boat after it floated down to them. Hopefully doing my gross beer booty tonight! All in all pretty good swim


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## one legged wonder

BETH!!! I want to be there for your redemption. Are you free anytime next week?


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## BryanS.

Got my first swim from a raft this weekend. Tried to punch a hole in Black Barr on the Rogue and got stopped, spun sideways and surfed back into the hole. One unfotunate buck later and I was swimming. Caught up to raft, climbed in and finished the rapid.


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## Issip

*Animas*

I'm new to this and bought a Puma so I swim a lot. Had a good audience for this one and video! I warned my wife this was a likely flip and she still wanted to do it, although she stayed in. Animas water park - Durango - May 4, 2013.

Puma Fail - Animas - Durango CO - May 4 2013 - YouTube

Skip to ~1:20 if you just want to see this wipe


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## hojo

Style points for your wife. Any reason you don't use helmets? I know you're not strapped in but I'd be worried she'd turn around and wallop you one for not paddling hard enough


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## Randaddy

I swam Wild Horse on Sunday. Yep, Wild Horse. Class 2.


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## Monto

Nuff said...


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## lhowemt

Sweet. The classic Lochsa Falls left lateral flip. Are you ready for some thumpy water this weekend? And 85 degrees?!?!


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## Monto

Ya i was pullin' back for the surf which lasted about .1 seconds. My passenger loved it though. 

Hell ya! Im ready! I put in overtime in the garden this past weekend so i am free to head back over.

I'll come say hi in C-loop


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## glenn

Gallyschwag
Rodeo Hole
No pull swim
Booty


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## smauk2

glenn said:


> Gallyschwag
> Rodeo Hole
> No pull swim
> Booty


Mountainbuzz is not the place to share your personal bedroom experiences! I think that one is illegal in four states!


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## glenn

smauk2 said:


> Mountainbuzz is not the place to share your personal bedroom experiences! I think that one is illegal in four states!


She looked clean but now it burns when I pee.


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## jlinn

*1st swim, no pull strap!*

I'm just learning to kayak, and went to the Glenwood wave last Saturday. I couldn't surf worth a damn so I got a lot of practice rolling before swimming for the first time. The worst part of the story is that despite having been warned about this multiple times, I made the bad mistake of tucking my pull strap into my skirt and had to pull it off from the sides. The experience shook me up pretty good, and I don't plan on making that mistake ever again. Fortunately I am not deterred from learning to kayak, ran the Fork the next day, and hit the pool this week to practice wet exiting without the strap should I be stupid enough to find myself in that position ever again. Check your pull strap, check it again, and check your friend's as well!


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## yourrealdad

Unless my buzz post times are off, John you posted at around 1 am. Why are you awake at 1 am on the buzz. Oh wait, you are addicted to kayaking.


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## jlinn

*Your Fault*



yourrealdad said:


> Unless my buzz post times are off, John you posted at around 1 am. Why are you awake at 1 am on the buzz. Oh wait, you are addicted to kayaking.


It's your fault for lending me a damn kayak!


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## kevinhindtown

After about 100 runs down Rockwood, I swam there the the other day at 600 cfs after lazily getting pasted against a wall upside down. Swim might not be the best term as after failing to roll a bunch of times I pulled my skirt and stood up, for shame. At least my boat and paddle continued to stick against the wall, conveniently within reach for a self rescue. Time to playboat and practice rolling again on the offside!


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## craven_morhead

_Swimming might not be the best term...
_

Wrong. It is the only term.


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## bluesky

So I was recently arrived in New Zealand and looking for paddling partners. A local crew in an outdoor rec program, all of whom had learned to kayak within the last 18 months and were a solid 12 years younger than me, took me under their wing and let me tag along on the local big water class IV on the Rangitata. The first handful of rapids went smoothly, so when they asked if I wanted to scout the last drop I puffed my chest out and said, "Nah, I feel solid." The only move you have to make is avoid a nice surf/munch at the top and then hang on through the boils and waves and such. They all went right and I went straight. I pulled after the second recirc and yard saled my gear all over the river. The guy who was paddling his first ever class IV was nice enough to grab my paddle on the way down and return it to me, shaking and gasping in the huge eddy just downstream.
The next run down I crapped my pants but totally OWNED it!


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## lmyers

Yeah. Fuck. Second swim of the season yesterday. I won't bore any of you with the lame ass details of my screw up, but it involves whiskey, low water shots to the helmet, and a shitty back that has been hurting.... all excuses. What it boils down to is I haven't owned a playboat in over a season. Time for hole sessions and roll practice. Now if the temps would just get over 50 degrees........


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## abron

lmyers said:


> Yeah. Fuck. Second swim of the season yesterday. I won't bore any of you with the lame ass details of my screw up, but it involves whiskey, low water shots to the helmet, and a shitty back that has been hurting.... all excuses. What it boils down to is I haven't owned a playboat in over a season. Time for hole sessions and roll practice. Now if the temps would just get over 50 degrees........


Damn dood. headshots are no bueno. i still cringe thinking about tagging my head in #1 last summer at 300cfs. being too relaxed and all stupid, cause #1 at low water is actually very friendly. my neck was sore for the rest of the summer from that stinger.didnt swim tho (that time) 
I am always down to do some mellow play runs with lots of rolls everywhere .that is always my goal for pilar runs. we will have to hit some laps in two weeks. if you actually get a playboat...:razz: 
btw, i know you wont approve... but a used (2009-up) fun or 2fun would be a bitchin river/play boat for you.did me wonders.


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## dsmoake

*quartzite falls flip*

From what I hear I am not the only one who flipped in Quartzite.

Dave Smoake (on the Water) HD - YouTube

I was able to swim my raft to the small cobble bar above corkscrew.

Enjoy,
Dave


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## one legged wonder

I swam Tunnel today. For this season that makes the score tunnel 1 Heidi 0. Overall we are at tunnel 12 Heidi 31. at least the odds are still in my favor.


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## smauk2

one legged wonder said:


> I swam Tunnel today. For this season that makes the score tunnel 1 Heidi 0. Overall we are at tunnel 12 Heidi 31. at least the odds are still in my favor.


If this thread started last season I'd have a few posts like this, fuckin Tunnel.


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## mhelm

*2 already this season!*

After about 12 years of not swimming, I swam at Tunnel last season after around 60 successful attempts.

This year I swam in a sieve on Cross Mtn. after Snake Pit, and yesterday I had a new experience on Upper Fish Creek... my boat was ripped off of me after my paddle got stuck in a crack. I didn't even get my hair wet, but did get to enjoy a nice steep hike back to civilization. Thanks to my RCRE boys for grabbing my broken Habitat. I'm just lucky my pride is the only thing hurt.

I am in the market for a new semi-cheap creeker!


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## Ninja_Nico

I swam today at the screaming 1/4 mile GG race. After missing a time on my first run, the crew let me go back for a second lap. So I get almost through with my second run, within 100-50ft of the finish and I flip. After a few roll attempts, I pull out thoroughly exhausted. Thanks to all the guys setting safety and to the CU kayakers for chasing my boat down. I still got to post a time as a swam across the finish!!


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## hojo

Swim of hubristic designs. After all that trash talk I swam the Cripps hole in a warmup lap for the race. Buck was awesome enough to save my boat!


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## mikesee

Swam Shoshone last week.

Doh.

Paddling partner decided two laps was enough for him. I don't seem to understand "enough" just yet. Went for #3. 

River was packed with commercials doing fast training laps, playboaters, SUPtards, etc... Figured I'd have people around me the whole time. While self shuttling (on the bike path) I'd noticed a few lines that were new to me as the water came up. Wanted to try 'em.

Flipped in a lateral that caught me leaning. Rolled up, but immediately got smacked back down by the cresting wave behind it. Tried to roll again but got pulled outta my boat by I still don't know what. Surfaced to see my boat ghost surfing 40' above me. Swam like hell, got out river left just before the next drop. Bloody shins, torn drysuit. Doh.

Boat finally exited said hole and continued down the right side without me.

Ran/stumbled the shore for ~5 minutes then remembered the train tracks. Scrambled up to them, ran some more, totally jacked on adrenaline and still haven't caught my breath from the swim. Boat finally eddied out in the pool above Maneater--but on the opposite side. Waded in and swam back across. 

Not one other boat in sight the whole effing time!

Caught breath, dumped boat, climbed in, ran Maneater, called it a day.


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## craven_morhead

Swam out of leap of faith on homestake. First lap went great and I got complacent on the second. Missed my boof and was stuffed against the wall on the left. Managed a redemption run though.


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## chrispy

*sit on top creekboat wet exit?*

i guess i swam today at the golden play park ..... but i was surfing in a new fluid sit on top creek boat.... (leif wanted pictures) ... i rolled it the first time i went over...got cheers... but after another ride in the hole i flew out of the thigh straps and fell out of the boat.... minor swim .... really doesn't count in my book... it was a sit on top..... you make the call.


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## glenn

You rolled the boat then you had an equipment failure. Did you flip on purpose?


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## ednaout

Oh Yea, i had the same swim as crispy in the sit on top fluid at the rodeo hole... We both swam so that leif could get pics of how easily it is to get out of the thigh straps after flipping... Yea... Intentional.... Thats it...


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## michalwolk82

I swam the Eagle the other day below the highway 6 bridge in Eagle Vail. The river got to about 4 ft when we put on, and as we approached the bridge I failed to see a sleeper rock river left. As I went to grab one of my passengers to keep her in the boat we both went for a swim. I crammed 5 people in my Hyside Mini-Max which was totally doable. The swim was not bad at all, but the water was just as cold as expected, BRRRRR!!! It was the first time I have been out of my raft, but won't be the last. Always prepared to swim!

Wolk


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## mjpowhound

Swam Screaming 1/4 today after flipping in some in-between boogie due to taking a bad line on the right after the field goal and paddling poorly in general. Broke in my new helmet nicely and although my neck is super sore, my head is fine. Yeah WRSI!

On a side note, does anyone find Snapdragon grab loops to be a little hard to find when you need to find them quick? I much prefer the skirts with the thick plastic hose around the webbing.


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## MT4Runner

Swam Split Creek on the Lochsa.


Yes, the Lower take-out rapid. Got into the hole on the bottom right. My butt fell out of my seat on my 3rd attempt......and this was after a clean run and surfing the Falls.


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## hojo

mjpowhound said:


> On a side note, does anyone find Snapdragon grab loops to be a little hard to find when you need to find them quick? I much prefer the skirts with the thick plastic hose around the webbing.


Always trace the cockpit rim. Their straps do get tossed about rather easily.


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## deepstroke

So, uh, I swam on lower Narrows of Clear Creek today because apparently I can't hold my breath long enough to roll. I was lucky enough that some boaters were there with a throw bag to help me cross the creek. Thanks again guys! At least my gear was recovered in good shape other than a lost throw bag and foot foam. Redeemed myself with a run through Rigo and a booty beer. There, I feel better now.


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## spider

MT4Runner said:


> Swam Split Creek on the Lochsa.
> 
> 
> Yes, the Lower take-out rapid. Got into the hole on the bottom right. My butt fell out of my seat on my 3rd attempt......and this was after a clean run and surfing the Falls.


Split creek can catch your ass, the lochsa never stops. I center punched house rock and did the boulder field backwards for a bit after switching to the 2 man spider rig after the clean video run. We all push the limits of the holes. They do bite ya.


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## MT4Runner

I've probably run the Lower twenty times, but had always followed other people. I'm feeling a lot more confident now and leading most runs. I guess this is where you find the medium-sized holes that other people don't think to tell you about, but they avoid just the same. :lol:

I took a submarine tour of the bottom hole of Triple Hole the day before. I saw the foam pile above it and mistook it for the hole. Figuring I was past it, I cut it close and dropped left STRAIGHT INTO THE FAWKIN' MOUTH. At least I hit it straight and penciled through and got flushed out the back upside down. 

I had my first swim in 12 years last year in Lower Eagle Mtn. After I "broke the seal", I figure I'll never have a clean run of 12 years again, so I may as well go for it!



That was a great video.


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## deepsouthpaddler

This thread is gonna get busy when we hit yardsale season (ie peak).


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## buckmanriver

*I swam tunnel!*

...a few weeks ago. It happens.


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## cravinmorehead

Swam all day yeaterday , cat flip practice for the Lochsa next week...does this count?


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## MT4Runner

Not if its intentional.


Please flip on something interesting on the Lochsa next week.

Or something silly. See above.


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## spider

This belongs here. 


lochsa carnage - YouTube


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## cheim

I swam last week while playboating my first run on black rock. Turns out that the pocket rocket doesn't have much volume in the stern, who'da thunk it?


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## adgeiser

Last Thursday while running the black rock section on clear creek, I approached the final drop of rigor mortis and realized that I had no beer at the take out... Now I knew my buddy did and since I didn't want to look bad and have to beg for a beer, I did the only logical thing and swam the run out to rigor. 

Yay!!! Free Beer!!!!


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## glenn

Way to grow the face sweater in.


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## T-Boss

2 so far this year. swam shoshone out of my girlfriends biscut after trying 4 rolls. totally the boats fault, not mine of course. then swam out of the pourover hole at gwood wave when it was low and stickey. still havent drank my booties yet so i'll prob. get beat down by the river gods soon enough, will update


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## skixc

*Poudre Swim Team*

I'm back on the team. We ran Poudre Park bridges in a 2 seat ik on sunday. forgot the hand pump so when we got in the river things were a bit soft. No problem until Pineview than the Kayak was too soft to stay braced in. I did a slow rearward exit. Carol continued to yell helpful steering ideas until she looked back and found herself alone. Thanks Bill and Jill for chasing paddles and us.


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## Flying_Spaghetti_Monster

adgeiser said:


> Ditto to TriBri1,
> any unplanned out of boat experience is a swim.
> 
> if a kayaker self rescues and gets them-self back in their boat it is still a swim.
> I see no difference.
> 
> Claim your swims people... then your free beer afterwards...
> "gosh guys, i would love to pay my river respect and do my bootie beer... but i don't seem to have any beer  " works every time.


I wish canoeist believed this logic. "dude it doesn't count I fell out." "I only have one paddle blade."


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## Nessy

Swam Tunnel 1 on Clear Creek today. Flow was 280. FU rock followed by a solid helmet plant.


----------



## Chief Niwot

Flying_Spaghetti_Monster said:


> I wish canoeist believed this logic. "dude it doesn't count I fell out." "I only have one paddle blade."


Exactly, I never swim, it just part of canoeing.


----------



## lhowemt

FINALLY I got my flip on. It's been two years since I flipped in Lochsa Falls, having gotten quite successful at pulling back for the surf. Well, there was no surf for me Friday. Just a door closing and OVER! It was a blast. The exact same thing happened to my friend in front of me, and I got reflipped before he did. Yah for fast recovery!

Then Saturday I got my flip again in Bloody Mary. The first burly wave is a hoot to surf, and I've been dancing on the edge there pulling back and surfing it for a couple of years. Well I hot a sweet big surf in there and wasn't going to let go. It's been a bad boating year for me, some health problems have kept me on the sidelines and when I nailed this surf and was hanging out there I was having a wonderful time. I had just left my husband who dipped his oars in the Lochsa for the very first time, he ran down to Morning Glory and took out. I was on top of the world! So I was driving hard w my tight arm to keep straight and not twist out, leaning a little left and holding my oar tower. I just kept dropping back in further and further and I had no strength to keep straight. So I began to twist, and shoot up. I had plenty of time to wonder if this was going to be yet another beautiful tailstand, and then I realized it wasn't. Oops! Going over! I never let go and came up in my cage and crawled on to ride out the rapid on my boat the wrong way. What fun it was. I heard about how it looked from people even on the road, I launched straight up and all the way out of the water doing a pirouette. Yes, it's nice to have my flip on again. Too much fun, Memorial Day on the Lochsa!


----------



## MT4Runner

Awesome!


----------



## Rich

Ok, I was hoping I would'nt be posting in this thread this year.
So after two great runs on the Piedra last weekend I was feeling pretty 
casual on the Eagle, Dowd Chutes this weekend. 

After a little side surfing above, I drop into the bottom hole of Dowd Chutes
with ZERO momentum. Well, that was a bad plan and I quickly realized I'm way too old for a Class IV swim. My very good friend Todd was right there and both picked me up and chased down my cat. 

Both my body and my boat were done for the day, but a little healing and duct tape and I will be out again next weekend!


----------



## MT4Runner

lhowemt said:


> FINALLY I got my flip on. It's been two years since I flipped in Lochsa Falls, having gotten quite successful at pulling back for the surf. Well, there was no surf for me Friday. Just a door closing and OVER! It was a blast. The exact same thing happened to my friend in front of me, and I got reflipped before he did. Yah for fast recovery!


 
Lochsa River Madness 2013 LOCHSA.INFO - YouTube

Who is that at 1:31?


----------



## spider

I don't know but that's me in the second boat (green)and I wasent there. Nice vid.


----------



## MT4Runner

I wondered if you had a doppelganger!

They must have shot you 3 weeks ago.


----------



## lhowemt

Yes, they used footage from peak weekend it seems. Two friends made it that weren't here either. 1:31, oh yeah, me and Cartman! Weak cage climbing, but that's just the way it is for me now. At least I got my flip on! Saturday was a total failure, I just squirt through with nothing interesting. I think I spent myself in bloody mary and my pull was weak in the falls. No matter, Fun fun!


----------



## Schutzie

You people need to stop having so much fun.
I think my head is going to explode


----------



## DoStep

It sure looks like the two stand up surfers were not wearing PFD's?


----------



## Jensjustduckie

DoStep said:


> It sure looks like the two stand up surfers were not wearing PFD's?



Yep, their full body wetsuits are apparently all the buoyancy they need.


----------



## MT4Runner

DoStep said:


> It sure looks like the two stand up surfers were not wearing PFD's?


They typically don't. They don't wear them in the ocean, either.
Many of them don't wear helmets, but the hardest thing they might hit is their glass board.

There's about 3/4mi of slack water before the next rapid.



Guessing that a fullsuit gives one 8-10lb of buoyancy.


----------



## spider

That looks a lot like a guy I partied with at camp. I'd say at almost 60 he probably knows his shit. And he had a very thick suit (he wore a pfd and lid on the float). He was catching the most consistent surf. I got a bit of vid for my self. Great guy, awesome cigars. See all
Y'all out there next year, that's one trip I won't miss.


----------



## ouachita

A swim out east. Not me https://vimeo.com/67150453


----------



## spider

My buddy swam twice today in Yankee Jim canyon. Self rescues,his first swims. Go Dirty!! He dropped into the meat of YJ revenge sideways. Entertaining for sure. Ducky carnage. Got one on film but he was to far away.


----------



## jtnc

Bit belated and sad but have to cop to a swim out of my new creek boat after surfing a small wave near a cliff on lower mish Memorial Day. Kinda sad, swirly water in a funky eddy and a weak roll did not go well.

As for surfers and pfds, being a thin guy who sinks if not swimming, I was shocked when I started using a swimming wetsuit for open water swims. I can float vertically with my head out of the water. Likely they are in thicker suits than I have, so probably at least as good of boyancy as a pfd. I gotta get up to the Lochsa, that looks like a blast.


----------



## MT4Runner

Paddle raft flip in Lochsa Falls on Saturday and dump truck at Castle today.


----------



## lhowemt

MT4Runner said:


> Paddle raft flip in Lochsa Falls on Saturday and dump truck at Castle today.


Hopefully at the bottom of castle???


----------



## DoubleYouEss

I can officially join the 2013 Swim Board with a shitty swim on Black Rock last Friday after some time with the undercut/pocket... Nothing lost except a little bit of pride...


----------



## MT4Runner

lhowemt said:


> Hopefully at the bottom of castle???


Yep. Boat ahead of us likes to follow the kayakers but he's an oar rig and got right and spent a ton of time back ferrying the pillow. We scrubbed speed at the top to give him space and still ended up pushing him out. We lost momentum and didn't Highside enough in the rock.

I stayed in the boat throughout the race on Saturday, but still had some amazing stupid human tricks getting catapulted off the back in Grim and a boot to the face in Termination. We won the costume contest, though!!

Your crew launched at Fish just as we turned the corner. Jamie in the gray/orange cat was following our kayakers so I told him he'd have more fun if he caught your crew!!

My other friend Jamie got enough confidence to guide the Lower, so hopefully I'm in a kayak and cat next weekend!!


----------



## glcasson21

swam at Rigo on Friday evening...no hole ride...I just suck at kayaking


----------



## Aroberts

I'll confess my swim. Got stuck in a super sticky hole in my loaded boat on the SF Salmon 2 weeks ago. It wasn't even in a real rapid. I got lazy and next thing I know I'm side surfing a very deep and sticky hole. It ended up in me swimming right above Elk Creek. After a 4 mile hike I was back in my boat enjoying the amazing scenery and whitewater. 

That wasn't the only hole I got stuck in but for some reason is really liked me and didn't want me to leave. 

We are all in between swims.


----------



## powdahound76

Not sure if this is a swim (I didnt think so), but upon hearing the story my buddy was giving me grief about not posting here. 
I tried burying my nose in the rodeo hole in Golden on thursday last week, see if I could get some pop out of it yet. Skirt imploded and I flipped with no pop. Hard to roll a full kayak but I did, then paddled into the eddy until the nose was touching rocks and had to bail as I could paddle no further. I did exit while in mid-thigh water from a submerged but upright boat.

Buzzards decide and I will do my booty beer tomorrow after boating if deemed a swim.

Lesson learned here, if your regular skirt isnt up to creek work anymore due to some blowouts, dont use your wifes Easy Peasy skirt even if it fits, it will pop off very easy.


----------



## Aroberts

powdahound76 said:


> Not sure if this is a swim (I didnt think so), but upon hearing the story my buddy was giving me grief about not posting here.
> I tried burying my nose in the rodeo hole in Golden on thursday last week, see if I could get some pop out of it yet. Skirt imploded and I flipped with no pop. Hard to roll a full kayak but I did, then paddled into the eddy until the nose was touching rocks and had to bail as I could paddle no further. I did exit while in mid-thigh water from a submerged but upright boat.
> 
> Buzzards decide and I will do my booty beer tomorrow after boating if deemed a swim.
> 
> Lesson learned here, if your regular skirt isnt up to creek work anymore due to some blowouts, dont use your wifes Easy Peasy skirt even if it fits, it will pop off very easy.


That's a hard one and can be argued either way. Did you step out of your boat once you got to shore or did you tip over and swim out? I say if you technically swam out of your boat its a swim. If you stepped out it's not. 

You need to be at peace with the bootie beer situation. If in doubt I would do the bootie beer and make sure the river gods are at peace. 

I did a bootie beer a couple years ago because I swam out of a ducky. The hole was flipping 8 out of 10 rafts so I have no chance.


----------



## glenn

No swim. Paddled to shore in a controlled manner and exited the boat at your convenience not the rivers.


----------



## MT4Runner

I'm a big bootie proponent. That said, I'd give you a hard time but I wouldn't say you earned one!


----------



## powdahound76

I stepped out. I had to release my backband on one side because with it tightened up I can only really come out upside down.
MT$Runner, I am a proponent of big bootys too, but dont tell my wife......
Shopping for a new skirt tomorrow. Found a skirt with a zipper on the deck online, I thought avoiding the zipper was the whole reason kayakers wear skirts...


----------



## RandyP

*I belong to team I suck!*

Sunday swam double knife, damn it's rocky in there!:roll: the eyes roll but I didn't! Damn i suck at this sport maybe time to take up golf!
RandyP


----------



## kevinhindtown

*Swims, booties and broken paddles*

Well, it's good to see I'm not the only one swimming this year! I'm not a regular buzzard but I will own up to 2 recent swims. 

Swim #1: with juicy flows in First Gorge of Lime, I blew the move above Dragon's Back, boofing with too little right angle, and ended up swimming out of that nasty little left hole which has certainly gone worse for others at high flows. While holding onto my paddle and bumping down some rocks below the drop in pursuit of my boat, my paddle chocked and when I resurfaced I had only half of it in my hand. The 4 Corners crew helped mop me up, thanks boys! Mexican Lager out of a boot really ain't that bad.

Swim#2: My back up paddle was an AT2 and I thought I'd get more than a few rapids in before it broke. It did in fact break on its first reinstatement on a class 5 drop as I plugged entrance falls on the left, NR. The cave was friendly enough and Ben West was kind enough to get me Josh Mack's breakdown, much obliged fellas! Dale's Pale Ale out of a boot is even better!

No more expensive bent shaft paddles for me, went with a Werner straight shaft with fiberglass blades. Hopefully that'll be the last paddle I break this season. Swimming on the other hand ensures beer at the takeout, even if it is out of a boot. But, I guess that's not the point...


----------



## BryanS.

Swam twice at Bruno Mtn. on the N. Santiam Saturday. First one, got side surfed in a hole for 15-20 seconds. Then got window shaded into a boulder and boat was peeled off. Second time, dropped into a little hole, flipped. Left thigh came out of brace. Foot got stuck behind center column. Peeled shoe off getting out, but grabbed it as it started to float away. I suck. Apparently I needed to readjust my boat.


----------



## Schutzie

RandyP said:


> Sunday swam double knife, damn it's rocky in there!:roll: the eyes roll but I didn't! Damn i suck at this sport maybe time to take up golf!
> RandyP


.......from experience; if you can't do a good roll, you can't be good at golf. Take up bouncy boats! All that requires is no common sense and muscle.


----------



## stubby

Well, I spent part of my evening last night attempting the upside down line on Rigo...unfortunately I was not able to upright my boat after nearly cleaning the underwater line. 2013 swm count has started: #1.


----------



## Bpsig

Been a little too sheepish I guess to throw this up here but I've had a few swims so far this year. Three come to mind, all on the Gallatin. Most recent one was just above the 35 MPH bridge, had a eddy peel out that went all sorts of wrong, Glenn helped get my boat to shore. A different swim happened just after House Rock a few days before, and once again Glenn, saved my boat and was a huge help. And finally had one last swim just after rodeo hole on the Gallatin, swam for a while, got recirculated on a hole, finally made it to shore, all around good times. 

The River Gods were appeased with a bootie beer for each.


----------



## zbaird

Royal Gorge 1500cfs.

I got a little lax trying to casually row the right side of sledgehammer on saturday. Thought i was clear enough of it but ended up getting sucked in and had a long surf session in the sticky hole on the bottom right against the wall. I was bucked out after several minutes of trashy highsiding. I got spit out of the hole quick and had an easy swim out on the right once i saw my raft was still gettind surfed. Boat popped out upright a couple minutes later and got snagged right away in the eddy below by my crew as i was making my way down the bank to the other boats. I somehow broke 2 paddles i wasnt even using and lost my shades. I did however provide good entertainment for my whole crew who passed me one by one and got to watch me surf.


----------



## Dave Frank

Well that damn Cripps hole in the screaming 1/4 mile kicked my but yesterday. I tried all the tricks KSC suggested with no progress. The hole let me out immediately after pulling, but swimming through the rocky runout is not much fun.

Thank you Tim for corralling me and my gear. We had the pleasure of watching an R3 rig run through this thing as we stopped in on shuttle. front guys ejected instantaneously but the capn did an impressive job of surfing it. Not sure the raft would have flushed until the water dropped. He was quite please I chose my rope over my camera for viewing, though it is not clear why i didnt do both.


----------



## deepsouthpaddler

Cripps hole strikes again! Somebody out to mount a go pro to that rock on the side while the flows are up. The carnage video would be awesome.


----------



## brendodendo

We had a heck of a weekend.
6/8/13: Eagle River: Dowd Chute to Edwards Mile: 2000 cfs: Super Puma (R2)
B-Ride and I entered Dowd river right, moved to the middle and were having a good run. The boat hit the last 3 holes and stalled in the middle hole. Boat went a little sideways and B-Ride missed a high side and ended up in the water. I stayed in the boat, while B-Ride flushed downstream. The boat conveniently ended up in the eddy as I tried to watch for B-Ride. I then fumbled my paddle and it ended up in the river. As I reached for the paddle, I slipped over the edge and into the water. Still no paddle, and in the water, I climbed back on the boat, grabbed a spare paddle and headed downstream to pick up B-Ride. Found him 50 yards downstream and recovered my paddle at the bridge after the bus stop.


6/9/13: Yampa River: Cross Mountain Gorge: 4500 cfs: Super Puma (R3) / JPW Cuttthroat (Oars)
We headed into Cross Mountain knowing the level was BIG. Jared and I had never been in and Brian MFL and B-Ride had, but a lower river levels. We had talked about lots of scenarios and made plans to line boats around if we as a team did not feel up to the challenge. Osterizer was big and scary looking, but we saw a runnable line on river right over the rock in the upper section. The upper drop is the meaty hole at this level and the 2nd hole is more of a large wave. Both boats had good runs. We then scouted Snake Pit. The river right side looked very mean and we decided that the left line and then the middle were the places to be. Brian MFL had a great line into the drop, but was slightly left of where the sweet spot was. He got sucked back into and tossed off his boat. Separated for a few seconds, Brian was reunited with his boat and held on over some meaty holes and rocks. He finally got back on the Oars in the run out and eddied out to wait for us. Our line was great over the drop, but we stalled out in the slack water after the drop and ended up against the river left rock. As we tried to progress forward, the right tube became submerged and the boat started to crawl up the rock. We all high sided to no avail. We looked at each other and knew we were going for a hard swim after what we had just seen Brian MFL encounter. Jared cleared the undercut rock and made his way to shore pretty quick. I clawed my way onto the bottom of the boat and tried to get B-Ride who was on the side hanging on back on the bottom with me. As we approached the second half of the rapid, We realized that B-Ride was going to have to let go of the boat so he did not end up between the boat and rocks or under the boat in a hole. He shoved off for a swim through the mank to shore. I made it through the holes and rocks and B MFL was ready with a throw bag. He had a great “football” toss right into my arms. I grabbed the boat, both paddles and tried to hang onto the rope. I could not hold the boat and the rope and the boat started to pendulum to the shore. I slipped off the boat and into the drink. Too Bad. So Sad. I let go of the rope and go back on the boat. Found one of the paddles and then the other and started to make my way to shore. Two smallish rapids later, I go the boat to the shore and flipped over. The crew came down a few minutes later and we did a post action assessment and injury check. 1 lost paddle, and a few cut, scrapes and bruises later we continued on. Man that canyon and the rapids were sweet.


----------



## robemega

Okay, I get to fess up to a swim--Royal Gorge on Saturday, too. 
I think it was a rapid called Grateful Dead where a lateral wave in a hole sucked the front end of the boat down (and me with it) and almost flipped us. The boat spun over me and before I got too far away, I was able to grab an extended paddle. I was in the water for all of 15 seconds; I know this because there's video evidence.


----------



## Outlaw

Bless me father, for I have swimmed. I recently ran the Canyon section of the Payette River, guiding a bunch of newbies down with perfect lines. After the canyon I said, "now we'll do the easy rapids in Swirley Canyon".... The river gods must have been angered because 2 minutes later I was upside down, swimming out of my creek boat in class II. It also happens that I did all of this in front of the new Boise National Forest River Ranger. 

It reminds me of the time that I accidentally dropped my kayak into big falls while doing the portage with Grant Amaral (the old river ranger).... that was the first time I met him.


----------



## lhowemt

Bpsig said:


> Been a little too sheepish I guess to throw this up here but I've had a few swims so far this year. Three come to mind, all on the Gallatin. Most recent one was just above the 35 MPH bridge, had a eddy peel out that went all sorts of wrong, Glenn helped get my boat to shore. A different swim happened just after House Rock a few days before, and once again Glenn, saved my boat and was a huge help. And finally had one last swim just after rodeo hole on the Gallatin, swam for a while, got recirculated on a hole, finally made it to shore, all around good times.
> 
> The River Gods were appeased with a bootie beer for each.


But how was Glenn appeased? Bootie case of beer? 

Good stories Outlaw, isn't that the way it works, humble pie is good to eat every so often!


----------



## Paul59

I'll confess. Swam twice tonight at the Glenwood wave. No real reason. Suck it up, move on.


----------



## mikesee

Two swims yesterday--one on Gore Creek, one just below Dowd Chute. 

Missed my first roll and while setting up again started bouncing my head along the rocks. Felt like the right time to eject. Tried to wet re-enter the boat but couldn't quite get a handle on it before it was time to swim like hell.

Felt bad for making the group chase my junkshow down the river, so I collected myself and vowed not to let it happen twice. 

Err, not so much...

On the second as I was going over I was screaming (inside my head, of course) "You have to get this roll!!" And I think I had it. Until I didn't--the buckle on my right thigh strap sheared and with that I was instantly swimming. Let go of my paddle on this one, I think when I was pushing/spinning off of a boulder I'd stopped against. Which made it even more of a junkshow.

Bought the boys dinner for their help but that doesn't make being 'that guy' any more OK...


----------



## spider

Took another dip today in the Gardner run. Lame, looks like I was doing the scuba exit. Yankee Jim is huge right now and I skirted it like a little baby. I would have swam for sure. Time to switch to a bigger boat.


----------



## Porkchop

swim in class II boogie on the Eagle below Avon. i lifted my head. don't lift your head, and don't talk shit on the internet. its just pour form. lost my paddle on my easy swim ta boot. don't lift your head andif you swim hold on to your paddle. thanks nate.


----------



## coloclimber512

I took a swim Friday at Elbow. Was thrown right off the curler wave and was all jangled up on the right wall. Managed to self rescue boat and gear to the river right eddy.


----------



## spider

Enjoy my suck fest. I lost my knife too. 

gardner fail - YouTube


----------



## BryanS.

spider said:


> Enjoy my suck fest. I lost my knife too.
> 
> gardner fail - YouTube


Nice quick reentry.


----------



## spider

BryanS. said:


> Nice quick reentry.


Yeah lots of practice. I was out by myself in front. I didn't see that lateral coming. Tag lines on d rings saved my ass. Never ran that stretch, worth the shitty 300 yard put in at least once a year.


----------



## -k-

mikesee said:


> Two swims yesterday--one on Gore Creek, one just below Dowd Chute.
> 
> Missed my first roll and while setting up again started bouncing my head along the rocks. Felt like the right time to eject. Tried to wet re-enter the boat but couldn't quite get a handle on it before it was time to swim like hell.
> 
> Felt bad for making the group chase my junkshow down the river, so I collected myself and vowed not to let it happen twice.
> 
> Err, not so much...
> 
> On the second as I was going over I was screaming (inside my head, of course) "You have to get this roll!!" And I think I had it. Until I didn't--the buckle on my right thigh strap sheared and with that I was instantly swimming. Let go of my paddle on this one, I think when I was pushing/spinning off of a boulder I'd stopped against. Which made it even more of a junkshow.
> 
> Bought the boys dinner for their help but that doesn't make being 'that guy' any more OK...


I don't believe the crew thought anything of it. At the least I think most of us were impressed. Was wondering though if it would help to ballast that thing to help plug those waves?


----------



## Outlaw

lhowemt said:


> But how was Glenn appeased? Bootie case of beer?
> 
> Good stories Outlaw, isn't that the way it works, humble pie is good to eat every so often!


Humble pie is the only pie I ever eat..


----------



## hawktoy85

Not my swim, but a friend of mine charlie. We were on the eagle river yesterday running about 3000 cfs. This was our first time paddling. The swimmer and my self have ore rigs. It was a fun time. I am in the front right, the guy fumbling for the throw bag doesn't get out much.


----------



## cheim

I have to fess up to my swim on sunday or Roy won't be my friend anymore. I swam out of the rapid just past the I-40 rapid on WFCC. Bad news bears.

That makes two this year...


----------



## bldrmorgan

Jumped onto the Slate River section above the OBJ campground around 730 pm to ensure a rocking flow last Thursday. It was my 3rd lap down in 2 days and had decent lines following Menges and crew down for my first trips on the section. 









Photo Cred: Mark Ewing (thanks!)

The last hole (not that wicked wanda manky-mankfest slot) had a wave/hole thing that bitch smacked me. It flipped me upside down then I proceeded to run the little rock shelf/ slide on river right, leading with my inverted dome. About the 3rd major mafia-baseball-bat-to-the-head rock impact I decided I had enough. 










Pulled out mid-slide to initiate a short belly slide to ass-slide then at the end locked my heels on to a flake and launched myself into an eddy river right. Thanks to 5.10 for the sticky rubber to initiate the foot plant to launch off of, and of course a shoe that didn't leak any booty beer. Turns out Ska's Modus Hoperandi tastes pretty good warm and out of a neoprene lined shoe.


----------



## KSC

This is quite tardy, but only because I haven't gotten around to it. I don't even really buy the notion of confessing swims, because I'm all about total transparency. 

It was late April, the California hillsides were green, the rock was smooth, and you could taste the sweet fragrance of poison oak in the air. We'd exited Devil's Canyon on our third day on the Middle Fork of the Feather through a brief snow storm. Its tail still nipped us with strong gusts of wind. The first sign of civilization appeared as we passed a couple of irate dogs guarding the local pot farm. Only a couple more rapids of note were left before we declared full success on our trip.

We all eddied out on river right as the next looming horizon line approached. We waded across the channel to get a good look at it. There was a 12 foot ramp into a munchy hole backed up against the cliff wall on river left. While I was still looking, someone jumped back in their boat and fired up the obvious tongue, gutting the hole, taking a big ender and barely clearing the boil line. Then the next person followed suit, and the next, and the next. 

My instinct was that this was a dangerous looking hole that could keep a swimmer, and one that I would normally want to set safety on, but everybody was tired and just ready to go. My other thought was that there looked like a shallower line down the ramp, right of where everybody was going that might provide a little bit of an autoboof and hit the weaker part of the hole. I scanned the portage options, thinking I might want to take a pass on this hole. There was a reasonable portage working my way across the channel and down some rocks. I watched the last person enter their boat and go. I thought, well, I'm going to hold everybody else up if I portage, most likely it'll go ok, so I'll just run it like everybody else.

I peeled out in the current and lined up the drop with wind gusting in my face. Somebody said I wasn't lined up on the tongue, but I didn't get a good boof stroke in, which allowed my edge to drop and I got dumped over. I rolled up and it was pretty apparent that I was in the meat of the pocket hole. On the scout, I was concerned that swimming out of this hole might a problem, so I didn't given it much thought before pulling my skirt almost immediately.

I resurfaced fairly quickly against the cliff wall and was able to get a hand hold on the cliff, and actually had my foot on a tiny underwater ledge and thought for a moment I might be able to just climb right out of the hole. Before the glory of that thought could fully wash over my mind, a surge grabbed me and plunged me right back into the maelstrom. Fortunately, I went deep this time and flushed out fairly readily, but with plenty of time to contemplate whether or not I was ever going to flush.

Relieved, I swam to shore, retrieved my paddle, and got out in time to watch my boat cruise around the corner, which ironically was one of the very few places on the run that wasn't pool drop. However, it also wasn't that continuous and my buddies were able to quickly corral my boat to shore. No harm was done other than the impossibility of ever making it through a season without a swim.


----------



## Monto

spider said:


> Enjoy my suck fest. I lost my knife too.
> 
> gardner fail - YouTube



Spider, since your setup is kind of like a cat, I think adding a toe bar to your frame will help greatly in keeping you in the boat.

Aaron


----------



## spider

Monto said:


> Spider, since your setup is kind of like a cat, I think adding a toe bar to your frame will help greatly in keeping you in the boat.
> 
> Aaron


I was have been pondering that after seeing some nice cat frames at the lochsa. 

I came out funny in that one, my ass hurts. With a cooler in there I have even less of a foot bar but more weight and that helps. Some stirrups would definetly help. It is nice to have crash and burn video to analize and see wtf actually happened. It's fun to share and show folks what a hack you are too, makes for good winter entertainment. 

I have a feeling I'll be running a 14' cat next spring and keeping the spidercat for smaller river overnights and bony low water.


----------



## adgeiser

Leave it to rafters to hijack the swim board and turn it into a raft setup thread. :/


----------



## huck_finn

Swam Phoenix on clear creek last tues. got sideswiped by a lateral after two failed roll attempts while setting up for the third took a nice shot to the shoulder and then the head. Then had a lovely manky swim to shore. Glad my pride was the biggest injury minus a couple bruises.


----------



## Miller Time

huck_finn said:


> Swam Phoenix on clear creek last tues. got sideswiped by a lateral after two failed roll attempts while setting up for the third took a nice shot to the shoulder and then the head. Then had a lovely manky swim to shore. Glad my pride was the biggest injury minus a couple bruises.


Where is this Phoenix rapid you speak of?


----------



## huck_finn

Lawson


----------



## Pizzle

Phoenix is the rapid next to it's namesake the Phoenix Goldmine. Actually snapped a carbon werner in there during highwater 2011, rolled up with half a paddle and had to walk outer limits.


----------



## huck_finn

Well done sir you are a better man than i.


----------



## DanOrion

I've taken that exact same shoulder/head shot in Pheonix at high water. Real bell ringer. I clearly remember taking the shot, being numb for a second, realizing I was still conscious and rolling up. Nasty place to be upside down.


----------



## KUpolo

Chiming in almost a month late, but after almost a decade on Clear Creek, she finally got me.

Stuffed in to the undercut on part two of Black Rock and was a complete pussy about hanging out. Early season rust was stripped off in my brief swim. First time being upside down for the season should not be in a many rapid. Lesson learned. Time spent getting trashed in the Glenwood wave to remember how to roll. 

Also convinced me to buy a dry suit.


----------



## MT4Runner

spider said:


> Enjoy my suck fest. I lost my knife too.


What's the name of that rapid--is that one Jim's Revenge?

Dumped my daughter out of the boat there last year. :lol:


----------



## birdman83

MT4Runner said:


> What's the name of that rapid--is that one Jim's Revenge?
> 
> Dumped my daughter out of the boat there last year. :lol:



Revenge is in downstream in the Canyon. I think he is running "rock garden" here, though, not too rocky at this high flow.


----------



## spider

birdman83 said:


> Revenge is in downstream in the Canyon. I think he is running "rock garden" here, though, not too rocky at this high flow.


It was less than 10 min from the Gardner put in. Not man eater. It was just below that.


----------



## cheim

And here we are again...I swam out of the hole at the bottom of sign post on SSV last night. She's a sticky one. Cripps, however, managed to knock my boat out of the hole and get some style points by going for a nice ride and then nailing the pirouette dismount. WWKCD


----------



## stubby

cheim said:


> And here we are again...I swam out of the hole at the bottom of sign post on SSV last night. She's a sticky one. Cripps, however, managed to knock my boat out of the hole and get some style points by going for a nice ride and then nailing the pirouette dismount. WWKCD


Rough week for you Chris.

I think Kevin would reference WWFD...supposedly the king of escaping the beat down.


----------



## Jono

im new to the site and just found this thread by coincidence. so im gonna contribute with my last swim. It was a few weeks ago in the Mississippi in Canada running a local section called Blakney at medium levels. its usually a high level run only so at medium levels it was getting pretty meaty. anyways at the bend where the river gets a little technical i caught a eddy behind a rock. originally i planned to run the six foot drop on river left but decided to run the rocky chute in the middle. tried to ferry across the fast current but was being too lazy and got pinned sideways on a rock for a few seconds and fliped before the shallow chute and swam knowing i didnt have the time to roll. hit my tailbone hard on a rock at the bottom as well as hitting my legs and elbows a few times on other rocks. found my boat on shore hand paddled the last bit and found my paddle in the calm bay below the rapids.


----------



## montuckyhuck

Swimming Stone Chest is bad m'kay


----------



## SE_Huckleberry

Yall need to go to CafePress and get some iSwim stickers for your buddies' kayaks....cause a post and/or a booty beverage just don't last as long or look as fine as a nice pink oval sticker.


----------



## glenn

montuckyhuck said:


> Swimming Stone Chest is bad m'kay


Damn. I was just thinking about how your trip probably went better than ours... guess I was wrong. Heal up buddy.


----------



## lhowemt

montuckyhuck said:


> Swimming Stone Chest is bad m'kay


Yessssss. I once ran it with a kayaker that swam SC at the very first drop. He went WAY downstream, and his boat a couple of more miles (yes, at least fully one, of course it seemed like dozens). He thought he broke his leg, I've never seen anyone that beat up, but I'm not around a lot of kayak swims. I think his thigh looked kind of like that, could hardly walk on it for a week or so. Hope you came out OK.


----------



## montuckyhuck

glenn said:


> Damn. I was just thinking about how your trip probably went better than ours... guess I was wrong. Heal up buddy.


Turns out I really need a new PFD. I got flipped, which I wasn't that worried about, but then I rolled up and realized I was in the NO NO pocket on the left. Some rodeo and rock hits and I pulled and saw the light about twice for the next 200-300 yards. People who saw said they couldn't believe how little buoyancy I had. Like disappear for 100', pop up, go into washing machine, disappear another 100'. Some where in there I hit some rocks. Looks bad but I am still strapping on a harness and spurs at work every day so fuck it. I was about due for that as it has been a while since I took a beating. Glenn, lets go boat in a few weeks!!


----------



## malloypc

*First flip - Wolf Creek Rapid on the Selway*

Finally met the fate I've been challenging for quite a while.





 
Couldn't think of a better place and time for my first flip.

Ahoy!
Malloy
PS - yes a bootie drink can be other than beer


----------



## deepstroke

Swim number two above Tunnel Three on Clear Creek. Boat finally pinned between Narrows and Rigo. Thanks to the boater who spotted my paddle and gave me a lift! Bootie beer chugged.


----------



## iSki

*River 1, Me 0*

A week and a half late but better late than never. 
Getting in that after work lap having a fun run down lower clear creek. Elbow falls flipped me but 3 tries and and the wet side was down again. Scream 1/4 mile entrance was easy caught an eddy, watched my buddy go by and peeled out into current. Wanting to have nice left to right momentum to hit that 2nd drop (goal posts, cripps, not sure of name). I started out in the center and started coming right. I guess I did not get far enough right. 　Hit the hole and lost all momentum, tried to paddle out but river gods wanted some sport. Flipped me, rolled up facing left bank. Tried to paddle out. Teased me for 30 seconds with some hope but then pulled me back in and flipped me again. My skirt popped and next thing I knew I was swimming. Bumpy ride but ended up on the left bank. Ended up climbing up to the road and going for a jog watching my boat on other side of river. Some nice folks were down at the diversion portage who sprang into action when they saw my boat go by eventually pushing it into an eddy. They even found my paddle. Bad news was that front grab loop caught somehting on its unmanned mission and peeled open the front of the boat like a banana. 
Looking for a new boat and can't wait to get back out there.


----------



## Stiff N' Wett

I got washed out of an r3 mini me at the top hole of Deliverance rapid on the upper Clear Creek swam the rest of it and my bros pulled me in before Phoenix. Thrashed a few rocks and tore a huge hole in my dry pants but have never felt more alive! Thanks brothers!


----------



## caspermike

Did you feel more alive than randy savage. I don't think so Brother


Macho Man on coke - YouTube


----------



## Flohotter

caspermike said:


> Did you feel more alive than randy savage. I don't think so Brother
> 
> 
> Macho Man on coke - YouTube


definitely was comparable.. tossed gaggers for 5 min afterwards


----------



## teepegg

I swam three times on Monday in the Golden play park. Took my dad paddling for his second time in a tandem IK. On our second run, I got cocky with a small wave below the rodeo hole and flipped, which gave the old man his first whitewater swim. I got back in the boat, but he got to swim the next drop, where I flipped again. A fine person named Glen (Thanks!) retrieved one of our paddles while I hand paddled into the huge eddy on river right.

Later we screwed up the eddy below the library hole, and had an incredibly uneventful swim there, but the playboaters there liked our style


----------



## Stiff N' Wett

I definitely went right at the fork in the road with Macho Man! I was a star shining brighter than all the others! That video is absolutely rediculus! Thanks for sharing.


----------



## JDHOG72

caspermike said:


> Did you feel more alive than randy savage. I don't think so Brother
> 
> 
> Macho Man on coke - YouTube


I would hope so since randy savage is dead....NO MORE QUESTiONS!


----------



## caspermike

Ooh yeeeeah


----------



## DoubleYouEss

Well, swim number 2 came to me last week on Dumont at 1000cfs. I got back endered in one of the massive holes, got a sweet wonder chunder then exited my vehicle. Boot was consumed at the take out for penance.


----------



## spider

Buddy meated boxcar and flipped his 14'er with passenger. Shes still big @ 7700 corwin gauge.


----------



## wyosam

Forgive me father, for I have swimmed. Just above Pine View on the Poudre- not paying attention, got tripped up on a rock, flipped, drug on the bottom and fell out. Swam myself and all my junk to shore, proceeded to flip early in PV, but hit my offside (woohoo!) and made it through- redemption!


----------



## radman152

Well shit. I swam out of the pour over hole thing right after the bridge above Cardiac Corner on the Poudre yesterday. I didn't realize how sticky it was and was too far right. I was told that my rodeo skills were shining. The swim was easy thanks to a quick save by my neighbor Dave. It took a good thirty minutes to unpin my boat from the river right rock just above pine view. After some walking and hitch hiking I got down to the BTO. I have had my water boots since I was 13 or 14 and they smell like it. The booty didn't leak and the beer was gritty sweet. The wife said my breath stunk and I have a bitter thing painted to the back of my tongue that I can't get rid of. Moral of the story is to stay center right at 3.5" above cardiac only after buying new boots.


----------



## Chief Niwot

radman152 said:


> Well shit. I swam out of the pour over hole thing right after the bridge above Cardiac Corner on the Poudre yesterday. I didn't realize how sticky it was and was too far right. I was told that my rodeo skills were shining. The swim was easy thanks to a quick save by my neighbor Dave. It took a good thirty minutes to unpin my boat from the river right rock just above pine view. After some walking and hitch hiking I got down to the BTO. I have had my water boots since I was 13 or 14 and they smell like it. The booty didn't leak and the beer was gritty sweet. The wife said my breath stunk and I have a bitter thing painted to the back of my tongue that I can't get rid of. Moral of the story is to stay center right at 3.5" above cardiac only after buying new boots.


Okay, your post makes me need to come clean, I did the same thing earlier in the year on a cold day at the same level. I got out quick, but had to walk aways for my boat that my crew tracked down. I should have called it and not paddled Pineview, but wanted to get back on the horse. I then swam Pineview after funny water caught my chine at the big hole midway down and I didn't have my paddle in the water, dumb, I was not on my game. I need to get back up there and straighten this sheet out! I will always stay plenty left of that ledge hole above Cardiac now, it was quite sticky at that level.


----------



## Kendrick

*Lesson learned the hardway.*

Had my first swim on CC today (not including beginner swims down in the playpark, in the early days). I've run all of CC pretty much, minus Black Rock. I was even stupid enough to lap Rigor Mortis once, got worked like hell, but miraculously, I didn't swim. 

Penciled into crip/top of Screaming 1/4 mile. Not a big deal in and of itself (just misplaced where it was supposed to be). Worn-out sprayskirt (rand coming out of the top-seam/grab-loop) didn't hold up though (my own fault for not caring about that). Had one roll in that hole and was preparing for my second when I was ripped out of the boat. Not saying I wouldn't have swam anyway, but I definitely would have had some more rolls and surf-out attempts. All in all, a text-book self-rescue followed right below that rapid on river-left. I pushed my boat to the side and got on a rock. Whilst swimming I realized my paddle was in two pieces though. So had my sprayskirt held up, I might've had to deal with the broken paddle anyway. I don't know what or when it broke, just that the right half of it floated away as I was self-rescuing. Anyway, with the help of my new friend Nikos, drained the boat, and he offered his hand-paddles (I accepted but later realized I still had a set of hand-paddles in my boat). Vowing to get that new-fangled IR lucky-charm sprayskirt I hear so much about, I put back in towards the end of screaming 1/4 mile.

I wish that was the end of my swim report, alas, it is not. 

If you're an experienced kayaker, you probably already know what might follow, but if you have no idea what is clearly wrong with the above picture, please read on. 

The hand-paddles were fine at first. I have a lot of practice rolling with them. I did flip due to a failed hand-brace, but rolled up in some boogie water without much trouble. Being a little exhausted, I let the dam creep up on us too quicky and what normally isn't an issue became nightmare. I was eddied out on the wrong side of the river. Nikos ferried and portaged as planned. He set-up safety and I attempted to ferry across with hand-paddles (as retards are wont to do), above the dam. 

Having never run the dam, already decided I would never ever run it, due to the mentoring I had in my early days (not too long ago), I was terrified to learn that I didn't have the hand-paddling power/strength/technique to ferry across. Going head-on into the rapid, anticipating another swim, I took off a handle paddle right before the drop. I didn't see the throw rope Nikos so finally threw to me. I think I deliberately swam so I could exit the boat on my terms. 

Anyway, held on to the boat through the dam. Began to bump a few rocks, eventually came around the bend and the boat popped out of my hands, but I got to shore and didn't care at that point. 

The most important lesson I think I am coming away with, is always, always have a back-up take-down paddle in the back of your boat. Hell, even a cheap one from REI/Sports authority meant for the lake, would have been a godsend if I had it in that situation. 

Obviously, I should have just walked once my paddle was broken. Also, I would have been fine if I wasn't letting myself get distracted and actually eddied out. Also, there may have been a chance I didn't swim at all, had I kept my gear updated (sprayskirt); however, none of that really matters next to the silly decision I made to hand-paddle class 3+ (above a class V dam) which wouldn't have happened if I heeded advice and had a take-down in my boat. Take-down paddles are not expensive and don't take up too much room. I could have at least grabbed a cheapie from a big box store. 

Being lazy *off *the river comes back to bite you *on *the river! Well, at least in my case. 

Anyway, yeah. I think I have my contact info in the boat, but it may have my old number. Not really concerned about it, though I hope it doesn't hurt anyone; it's stuck somewhere below Tunnel 1 (possibly in Coors property by now)

Oh and I still made it to work on time this morning.  At least I leave enough time for that. 

Thank you to Nikos Hollis making the best of the situation and sorry for being 'that guy'. You paddled excellently and I just hope you decided to get a take-down paddle as well.

I will follow up with pics of at least the paddle when I get home. I'm at work and it's taken me up til now to squeeze in this post between tasks. 

Ps. do they make tailbone-pads for kayaking?


----------



## miker

*Mr. Bill got me*

First time Swim Board poster. First swim this year.

I am not sure what happened first rolling or my skirt blowing on the drop of Mr. Bill in Black Rock Narrows. I rolled up and did not realize my skirt was off until going through Mr. Hand. I tried to get to an eddy river right after Mr. Hand but kept taking on water near shore. Missed the eddy and got pulled backwards out in the current, flipped in my full boat I could not get it back up. I swam and luckily got out before the Narrows run-out mank. Molina got my boat to shore then my paddle was lodged on river left (opposite side). Molina ferried over and I threw him a rope to get my paddle back. Once he threw it in the river back to me it almost pulled me in but we got it back and after a while got back on the river. 

Lessons learned:

1) Once I knew my skirt was blown and my boat full of water. I should of got close to shore, hucked my paddle up on shore and hopped out of my boat. I acted a little slow on that one and could of saved a swim situation. 

2) I should of set up down stream from the paddle thrower when pulling my paddle back across the river. Pulling it against the current almost sent me in the river again. 

Thanks Goldcamp and Molina for the assistance.


----------



## justin.payne

Sounds to me like there are either alot of dysfunctional skirts out there, or alot of people that like to sugar coat thier swims.


----------



## paulk

I've never swam on purpose, my skirt just keeps coming off when I let go of my paddle and put my hand on the grab loop and pull up. F'n gear malfunctions.


----------



## lhowemt

paulk said:


> I've never swam on purpose, my skirt just keeps coming off when I let go of my paddle and put my hand on the grab loop and pull up. F'n gear malfunctions.


Hahaha! Always blame the gear or conditions....


----------



## Kendrick

I already called myself a retard and made it clear it was my own fault for neglecting the condition of my gear, and acknowledged the fact that I may have chosen to swim anyway, among other things.

But nooo, had I pulled my skirt; holy shit, the shame, the shame! I would NEVER pull my skirt. Being a retard is downright commendable, compared to that. I have every reason to lie about that one little bit. 

You just can't win on the buzz.  No, honestly though, I didn't even want to post it, but Nikos had mentioned this thread and I felt that someone might learn something from it. In other words, it wasn't easy for me to post that, especially so soon, but if it convinces one person to always have a take-down paddle (and to never use hand-paddles outside of playparks/never do stupid shit like me, etc etc), it's worth it.


----------



## deepsouthpaddler

Hey Miker... next time you lose your paddle on the other side of the river, get your buddy to throw it over too you. Way faster and simpler than tieing it to a rope, and always better to not have to use ropes if you don't have to. Hold the paddle in the middle of the shaft like a javelin. Set up the thrower as close to the river with good footing as you can, and the catcher as close to the thrower, preferably in shallow water to catch the blade. I've done it several times and it works. I think I could make the throw just about anywhere on clear creek.

Kendrick... a shitty breakdown is better than nothing, but you might be surpirsed how shitty they can be. You are better off getting a decent breakdown that you can actually paddle with. I gaurantee the first time you try to run a rapid at the normal difficulty limit you regularly run, you will wish you had a better breakdown. Been there done that. I'd recommend a lendal (not sure if you can still get them?) or a werner straight shaft breakdown.


----------



## bobbuilds

I'll second the quality break down, and dont be so hard on yourself. We are all bound to swim some time or another. I dont think anyone is attacking you personally, they are just running with the sprayskirt thing because its funny.

I dont think you have swam in a few years, so I'll bet it is taking a toll on you. You will shake it off, lets go get your boat!!!

I swim all the time, 

You hang in there and take your beatings and roll up, every time. Like you said, you got puled out, I would bet money on it.

walking after a swim or broken paddle, or putting back on. 

It is important to get back in the boat, maybe it was a good thing?


----------



## Roy

Hello. My name is Roy, and I'm a swimmer. It had been 13 months since my last swim, but today, during what was supposed to be a "quick lunch run", my old friend Mr. Bill decided he wanted to party. He insisted, actually. I was powerless to refuse, and relapsed badly.

I was demoing a new boat for me (don't tell John at Confluence), and I got flipped coming around the corner. I actually rolled right up on my first try, but either overrolled or got tripped up right away. Either way, it was plastic side up again, followed by a series of head shots and carping attempts to either side. Tick, tock....I know what's coming up. My last attempt may have been successful--I got my head up just in time to see I was sliding down the ramp into Bill's maw. Knowing what this hole is all about at this flow and being halfway out of breath on the way in, I pretty much pulled right away. Made it left around Mr. Hand, busted ass for the right hand shore and made it before the river turns back left under that overhang.

But that's not all! Busting ass to the right hand shore means letting go of your paddle. I'm usually pretty good about hanging on to that, but after that video earlier this year, I just went into full Micheal Phelps mode. Tim corralled the boat on the island after the runout, but the paddle was nowhere to be seen. Afterward, driving down the canyon, I stopped at what most Black Rock paddlers will recognize as that braided out section that can require wheelchairing at low water, figuring that was a likely place for it to get hung up. Sure enough, I saw a piece of wood wedged against a rock on the far side of the creek that was way too pretty to be driftwood. But Tim had gone up the canyon, and in a demo, I had no breakdown to paddle over there. So, I donned the drysuit and PFD and swam across the creek again. Yes indeed, that pretty wood was my beloved Sawyer!

I had the GoPro on, so when I get a chance, I'll post the swim vid, assuming it's not too humiliating. I expect it'll be a tutorial on carping and swimming like a mofo to get to shore. And bubbles, lots of bubbles...


----------



## Schutzie

A pilot buddy once explained to me;

When I'm landing, my co pilot has one of three things he can say

Great Landing!
That was my fault
Damn cross wind; good job though

So for all you yakkers out there unwilling to fully admit your limitations;
I give you prepared statements for your future adventures

Prettiest run I've had in years
Damn skirt popped off
Who put that fucking rock there?!


----------



## glenn

I raft instead of kayaking because...

I have a back back
I have a bad hip
I flipped over once and got scared.


----------



## Kendrick

Thanks for the moral support Bob. 

And I know they're joking, I just like to joke back, regardless. 

I actually could have avoided this one rock, but I was too busy dodging a fish.

Also, you know how I paddle with kittens in the back of my boat? It's the #1 preventative measure you can take, when it comes to avoiding swims. Well I didn't have those kittens in my boat this time... It's like... this morning I JUST KNEW I shouldn't pack them in. Luna was like "Merorauru", and I left without them.


----------



## lhowemt

Kendrick said:


> Also, you know how I paddle with kittens in the back of my boat? It's the #1 preventative measure you can take, when it comes to avoiding swims. Well I didn't have those kittens in my boat this time... It's like... this morning I JUST KNEW I shouldn't pack them in. Luna was like "Merorauru", and I left without them.


Admins, really can we get a LIKE button for posts? Best of the year


----------



## vardaddy

Swam Cripps hole on Father's Day at a little over 800 CFS. I had boated it the Tuesday before at 897cfs and had no issue. I was trying to go from left to right above the hole but didn't get far enough and hit the meat of the hole which stopped me in my tracks, tractor beamed back in flipped windowshaded. Surfed for a while facing river right and tried to claw my way out but couldn't. Flipped again, rolled up still facing river right tried back paddling to get out on left side which didn't work either. Flipped again rolled up and tried to get an ender in hoping that would pop me out but no luck. Flipped once more and finally called it, pulled skirt and exited easily down deep. Bounced off a few rocks, ripped a hole in the shin of my drypants, exited river left paddle still in hand. No real harm done. Gave chase after boat which pinned about half way down screaming 1/4 about 8 feet off bank. I was debating my options when my partner came boating thru close enough to my boat and that little change in the river from him going by dislodged it. I gave chase again and this time my boat pinned near the bottom of screaming 1/4 only a few feet off the bank where I was able to wade in and eventually pry it free. 

I kind of got redemption on Wednesday except it was only at 630. Made the same left to right move and still didn't get far enough right, dropped into hole, got surfed and thought oh no here goes again but this time was facing river left somehow got front end starting to face up stream enough and as I was getting flipped felt myself exiting the hole as I rolled up. Was somewhat relieved although mad I missed the line again. Went back up for another lap, nailed the line which made me happier than getting out.


----------



## canton

Blown line Monday night in Bed Springs on SSV. First day in my Karma and I blew right through the eddy above the seive rocks. No blame on the boat. sure it's fast but I was way late in making the move. Anyway it left me with a choice between trying the crux move (a ferry across the seive rocks) backwards or trying the left line. I went left and ended up in a nasty broach. Took a deep breath and went under to pull. This is where things got interesting. First my skirt wouldn't release for what seemed like an eternity but was likely 10 seconds. But things when bad to worse from there as my left leg was stuck in the boat. I think it was a combo of the water pushing me hard forward and the boat flexing a bit from the broach and not having a skirt for structural integrity. So somehow, not sure exactly, I was able to rip my leg out (major hyperextension and fractured fibula) I got my leg out. But the scariest part was once I was out I couldn't go anywhere since I was stuck on something in the water so water was pouring over me like a foot entrapment but at chest level. Turned out to be my rescue tether - something I will never wear again on a steep creek. Anyway, that's the scoop.


----------



## hojo

Wow. I prefer going backwards. Sorry about your leg. Way to fight for it. I agree on the tether. In class V, and even a lot of IV, I've heard too many tales of how they cause problems.


----------



## abron

holy crap. thats a gnarly swim. also sorry to hear about your leg. i have heard this before, and i think its time to ditch the cowtail in favor of a runner, and move to stashing the rescue tether in the side pocket.


----------



## smauk2

canton said:


> Blown line Monday night in Bed Springs on SSV. First day in my Karma and I blew right through the eddy above the seive rocks. No blame on the boat. sure it's fast but I was way late in making the move. Anyway it left me with a choice between trying the crux move (a ferry across the seive rocks) backwards or trying the left line. I went left and ended up in a nasty broach. Took a deep breath and went under to pull. This is where things got interesting. First my skirt wouldn't release for what seemed like an eternity but was likely 10 seconds. But things when bad to worse from there as my left leg was stuck in the boat. I think it was a combo of the water pushing me hard forward and the boat flexing a bit from the broach and not having a skirt for structural integrity. So somehow, not sure exactly, I was able to rip my leg out (major hyperextension and fractured fibula) I got my leg out. But the scariest part was once I was out I couldn't go anywhere since I was stuck on something in the water so water was pouring over me like a foot entrapment but at chest level. Turned out to be my rescue tether - something I will never wear again on a steep creek. Anyway, that's the scoop.


Gnarly!


----------



## nlove

*First in a long time*

Tried the ever elusive ferry of throw ropes across the Selway so a raft could get pulled to a hard to catch camp. Made it to the eddy but the current grabbed the throw ropes and caused an unplanned exit from my kayak and emergency release on my vest. Booty beer is the best.


----------



## Flying_Spaghetti_Monster

Kendrick said:


> (and to never use hand-paddles outside of playparks/never do stupid shit like me, etc etc), it's worth it.


Yeah you are a retard. 
Tell that shit to my buddy Keith or any of the many bad ass hand paddlers out there. Fact is you suck, not the hand paddles. Keith Sprinkle runs El Horrendo, Russell Fork River KY/VA - YouTube


----------



## Miller Time

Just heard of another two boaters simultaneously falling to Cripps hole fury. Two lost boats And two lost paddles. Can we get a confession??


----------



## Kendrick

To be clear, I am not shunning the use of hand paddles by anyone, mainly just me, or for people like me, who don't have the power and technique to use them when it counts. I do suck with hand-paddles. I can eddy out sometimes and roll up but I can't ferry with them when it counts, so it'll always be regular paddles for me.


----------



## benpetri

Anyone going to fess up for this one? I drove up to Lawson Friday night and got stuck in traffic for 15 minutes while Golden Fire rescued these rafters. It appeared that they dumped in the quarter mile and got out on the right bank with no way back across. Cripps hole strikes again?

Stranded rafters rescued by Golden Fire | 9news.com


----------



## justin.payne

I saw those people, they weren't rafters. Dumbass tourist tubers. Rescue squad got there about the same time I did.


----------



## benpetri

justin.payne said:


> I saw those people, they weren't rafters. Dumbass tourist tubers. Rescue squad got there about the same time I did.


Dumbass tubers makes more sense. It did seem curious to me that any self respecting rafter wouldn't be able to figure out how to get his people back.


----------



## goldenshowers

*22 mile warm up not enough*

Swam Mr Bill after a 22 mile warm up. Lessons to be learned:

1) 22 miles are not a sufficient warm up, perhaps 24 are better?
2) Don't text your gf above the rapid saying you're almost home
3) 3 people in a creaking group should be a minimum
4) Don't run a rapid with your name sake


----------



## hojo

Swam above the last bit of boogey water before Clear Creek Narrows. Some random (and smallish) hole combined with intention and complacency compounded my exhaustion from the day's paddling and conspired to put me helmet down. I probably could have managed a few more roll attempts, but I didn't. My crew got the boat before it took a joy ride down the narrows.


----------



## Caleb125

*swimming trestle*

This is a great idea!

I am 15 and was kayaking my first class III/III+ rapids on the lower eagle on the trestle rapids and I got flipped in a hole and rolled up but then right as i was paddling away it sucked me backing and I endowed! I ended up swimming


----------



## vito

Much like goldenshowers, I swam in Mr.Bill after a nice 22 mile warmup. The Narrows wasn't kind to our crew on Sunday. Much thanks to Hojo for the well-placed rope at the end!


----------



## WW Lush

*Narrows Clear Creek*

Two Saturdays ago now, with some nice flows on Clear Creek, my marathon run from Lawson to Golden was unfortunately cut a little short. Up to the point of my swim, I felt great and the day was pretty awesome. Everything was juicy and fun and we were right on schedule. My entry to the Narrows was smooth, and I hit my boof on Mr Bill- YES, I was cheering in my head! A little premature... A moment of pause cost me the marathon. I was a little further right then I had planned in order to drive left, briefly contemplated the eddy on the right but didn't commit fast enough and got a little spun around. The Hand hole got me, my roll failed, and as I pulled my skirt I remember thinking I should still be trying to roll. This was one of my top 3 worst swims ever. Thanks to a root I lunged for, I finally got out on river left. Quite humbling I must say. I was once again impressed with the power of the water. My lesson: Try, try, try again and ROLL UP! Or just don't flip...or cheer too soon...or read about swimming on MB...or slightly blow off the runout while scouting...lots of lessons.  The first rule about swimming is don't swim.


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## powdahound76

Well my first raft flip ever. Had an R5 crew running poudre park. Nailed the line through Pine View but pushed left into the rock after the Disney rock, thought it would be a bump and swing around but too far left and over we went. Grabbed by boat and was in the eddy across for the offensive rock quick. All swimmers out within 50-60 feet. 
Booty beer consumed by myself as I was acting as guide....
One swimmer lost a paddle. Was an unmarked river booty paddle from years ago so it returns to the river it came from for someone else to claim.


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## Jensjustduckie

powdahound76 said:


> Well my first raft flip ever. Had an R5 crew running poudre park. Nailed the line through Pine View but pushed left into the rock after the Disney rock, thought it would be a bump and swing around but too far left and over we went. Grabbed by boat and was in the eddy across for the offensive rock quick. All swimmers out within 50-60 feet.
> Booty beer consumed by myself as I was acting as guide....
> One swimmer lost a paddle. Was an unmarked river booty paddle from years ago so it returns to the river it came from for someone else to claim.



That rock is called "high-side" rock, can you guess why?  

I've been stuck on it high-siding wondering why we hadn't taken back paddle strokes so we could have bounced off of it... live and learn.


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## powdahound76

Never knew the name. Just got lazy since we had managed such a nice smooth line through Pine View. Next time......


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## oarframe

Ok, I'm on the swim team. Twice this year, once on Sat. Complete raft flip and reflip in about 5 minutes. Hit a lateral wave, flipped, got back on the bottom of the boat and waited until the next pool to reflip. Was charging the bigger waves, holes on the SFA (ca) in the mini max and almost lost it a number of times, got surfed a few and it finally caught up to me. Glad it was 100deg out and felt good to get wet~


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## BrianK

Not sure you can say you nailed the line at pineview when you flipped in pineview. The only move in pineview at current flows is missing the rock you flipped on.


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## powdahound76

BrianK,
Point taken. Never ran it at this level in a raft, was getting pushed towards nasty looking rocks between the middle drop and Disney and thought it was over after we made the drop clean. Poor planning on where the water was going to push the raft. Been down a ton of times and never been pushed into that rock.
Live and learn


----------



## bobblehead

I started my Sunday with a steamy bowl of roll-tard soup. Why is it that all the sage advice or "try, try and try again" gets sucked out of your head as soon as you are upside down? At least there were 213 others here to go before me. Anyway, chill run down lower rustic and got lazy in double-drop. Decided to pay the munchy hole in the middle a visit. Me no-likee. easy swim, self rescue, walked back ran it again. drank two beers for being stupid. That said, as awesome day!


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## ednaout

*Mystery Eddy pin*

I had the most profound swim since I began kayking while on Bailey, at mystery eddy, yesterday. 4 of us (Billy, Neil, Gavin and I) were having a stellar day on Bailey. enjoying the 460 cfs flow, repeatedly talking about how great it was to be on the water in general, Bailey specically, becaue it was just that gorgeous of a day...

When coming upon Mystery Eddy, Neil went right, Gavin caught Mystery Eddy on the left and I went to follow suit. I caught the eddy entirely too low, as I didn't want to enter right on top of Gavin. VERY VERY bad mistake. In retrospect, I realize I hadn't fully committed to the eddy catch - At the top, I was thinking I would go Right, but then thought about how I hadn't gone for mystery eddy any time recently, so "why not...?"
Before I knew it, I was pinned on the center boulder that begins the sievey cluster of rocks in the middle of the river. My bow was pointed river right, my body was pinned forward and I had a pocket of air in front of me from where my back and head was being hit with the current. It was very hard to move at all but thought if I could get my paddle blade into the current in river right that it just might cause enough reisitence to pry me of the boulder...I think my paddle was ripped from my hands immediately and before I knew it was pinned on my back deck with all the current hitting my front side - a.k.a - no air pocket. I imagine I was only pinned on my back deck for 5 or 6 seconds.... At first, I was unable to reach my grab loop because of being pinned so far back, but I was finally able to get it together and make it happen. I was finally able to get out of the boat, with no small effort, and then found myself pinned or caught on something underwater. I think it was a rock, it didn't feel like a tree or branch. I could feel the rock on my back and then I felt a tear...my pfd had been caught on something and the force of the water had ripped the shoulder of my pfd enough to give me the slack I needed to get in the current and flush out. At first I felt like I just repinned on something else, but was able to wiggle enough to make it happen.
When I surfaced, Billy was there in an instant telling me to grab his stern. Anyone that knows the water below mystery eddy, knows that it is pretty mellow...Even after the ordeal, I would not have had any trouble getting out of the water - Billy just wanted me to know that he was there and I was not alone. The next thing I saw was Neil moving quickly to make a plan to extract me from the pin, if need be. Gavin quickly came down quickly to make sure I was ok and to assure me that they would have found a way to extract me if I hadn't broken loose...
We tried to figure out a safe way to extract the boat, but the boat was pretty fully submerged and we really couldn't come up with a plan that safely made any since, so finally decided to leave it and hope it comes loose on its own or with a little less flow. 

It was pretty intense. Neil, Gavin and Billy were amazing - I think we were all a little shaken at how quickly the pin happened and then by the different stages it took for me to surface after pulling. 

As ridiculous as it sounds I really glad I've slacked on getting a new pfd - I don't think the shoulder strap would have ripped on a newer one and that rip felt like the difference between getting the slack I needed or staying stuck...but who knows....tough tellin' not knowin'.

Beth

I owe a boot.


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## ednaout

Heres the pfd I had on... most of the fabric attaching the strap to the body is separated.


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## cheim

Damn killer, brutal swim. Glad you're ok.


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## ednaout

> Damn killer, brutal swim. Glad you're ok.


Thanks sickbird: ). 

Late edit to my post:
My bow as pointing river left, not right, as I was trying to catch the eddy....


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## Schizzle

Glad you're okay Beth. That's a sketchy move because there's usually a few pieces of wood across the front of that rock splitting the current. Current is strong there, too, especially at close to five hundo.

Right...no, Left...oh shit I'm going Middle!


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## glenn

Scary. Sounds like you have a good crew.


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## KSC

Burly. You're not the first to pin there - glad you came out ok. I'm not necessarily saying that had you spent more time reading River Brain this never would have happened, but I did include this hazard in the rapid description: 
South Platte River, North Fork - Bailey Canyon - Mystery Eddy - River Brain

Regarding the boat extraction, I recall we pulled a paddle out of there once by climbing up on that rock from the downstream side. Once on the top of the rock you have decent access to the upstream side. Someone could probably get a biner on it that way.


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## glcasson21

Kevin,
How did you get on the rock? I can see it being easier at lower flows but we were pretty stumped...

That being said, now that my nerves have calmed down I think we could get to it. Not sure about from the top of the rock but I think someone could swim into the side of it with a rope on them and people helping to pull them upstream from the big boulder that forms the mystery eddy. Like Beth said, we were all a bit shaken up and had enough excitement for the day...no one was to jumpy to swim or dangle in front of an undercut after a chunk of plastic.

Later,
Gavin


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## BrianK

Scary story. I watched a guy take a similar line at lower water last year - he was on the rock for a bit and then just flushed through. I haven't thought much about that rapid in the past, but it has my attention now.


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## blutzski

Crap. Add this to the list of previously fun drops I'm now sceered of. Ignorance is bliss. 

Glad you're ok Beth.


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## Miller Time

ednaout said:


> Thanks sickbird: ).
> 
> Late edit to my post:
> My bow as pointing river left, not right, as I was trying to catch the eddy....


We are dropping in tomorrow afternoon. Is the boats still there and will it be a known hazard?


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## JDHOG72

glcasson21 said:


> Kevin,
> How did you get on the rock? I can see it being easier at lower flows but we were pretty stumped...
> 
> That being said, now that my nerves have calmed down I think we could get to it. Not sure about from the top of the rock but I think someone could swim into the side of it with a rope on them and people helping to pull them upstream from the big boulder that forms the mystery eddy. Like Beth said, we were all a bit shaken up and had enough excitement for the day...no one was to jumpy to swim or dangle in front of an undercut after a chunk of plastic.
> 
> Later,
> Gavin


I had to climb out of that spot last year around that same flow. KSC told me if I entered the eddy low and didn't paddle I would go into a magical cave filled with sheep. There were no sheep in there! 

Gavin
Buck jumped into the mystery eddy and swam to the rock baited swimmer style and rock climbed onto the rock to hook a biner on. It took some serious force to move the boat enought to get it free. Thanks Buck!


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## glcasson21

JDHOG72 said:


> Gavin
> Buck jumped into the mystery eddy and swam to the rock baited swimmer style and rock climbed onto the rock to hook a biner on. It took some serious force to move the boat enought to get it free. Thanks Buck!


 
Thanks Josh...that's what I was thinking was gonna have to happen.


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## stubby

Yikes Beth! That spot has claimed a number of boats and swimmers over the last few years. I pinned there last year while trying to make the ferry move out of the eddy and back to river right. I pinned and bucked my body and boat around for what seemed like forever then went down the right channel upside down across the rocks. Definitely had me scared for a minute. Glad you're ok.


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## KSC

The sheep are there JD, you just have to go deeper in. It's almost heaven.
Gavin, as I recall, the move was tether your boat so it doesn't float away, carefully pop out of your boat and climb up on the rock.


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## ednaout

> KSC told me if I entered the eddy low and didn't paddle I would go into a magical cave filled with sheep


If there are sheep in there, I am absolutely certain KSC has carnal knowledge of it...


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## cheim

Gross, is that why his abs are so ripped?


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## KSC

ednaout said:


> If there are sheep in there, I am absolutely certain KSC has carnal knowledge of it...


Let's just say I haven't had that much sex since I was boy scout troop leader.... I mean, I was seeing a lot of women at the time.


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## DoubleYouEss

After an awesome broken creek boat rodeo at the bottom of Trashcan, it happened again... Dues paid in full


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## GoodTimes

I heard this comment from a paddler after a challenging North Fork run. Thought it was appropriate for this thread....

"I've identified some imperfections in my paddling technique"

Well....that's one way to put it.


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## cheim

I'm back again. Ran the elevator shaft in the chute. Broke my paddle and got to play with the fishies for quite a while but I managed to pop out and regain most of my composure for the inner. 

Requisite booties were consumed in the parking lot.


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## Issip

*Trifecta de Arkansas*

The Ark got a trifecta on me over the 4th. First I toured (paid passenger) the pine creek section through the numbers, that one isn't my fault, I wasn't driving! But we flipped it in the death shute (swim 1). Next day I took my Puma from above #6 through the Narrows to BV, somewhere in the narrows I missed my line and drove the nose up a rock, we high-sided and when it finally broke loose I was suddenly under it (swim 2). Third day we couldn't figure out a shuttle so we toobed from the bottom of #5 to the top of #6. Even the tiniest hole is a toob trap, and I found a tiny one I couldn't get out of (swim 3). The last one barely counts, toobin' is as close to intentionally swimming as you get.

I had many runs since my last swim in Durango, but now 100% of my 2013 swims are documented for Buzzards enjoyment/annoyment . 

No video this time - GoPro batteries only pretend to charge...


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## justin.payne

Well shit. Seriously didnt think I would be posting on here this year. But here we go...

On Saturday, I thought it would be a fantastic idea to take the girl (who has never been in a kayak) down brown's canyon in a dynamic duo. We flipped in widow maker and I rolled up solo. She swam, but was in good spirits. After a short pep talk she promised that she would stay in the boat next time. I guess we didnt really go over the tuck very well, and we flipped on raft ripper. I tried to roll us 5 times with no luck, then we both swam. 

Yesterday, after work, I fired up blackrock. A weird draw stroke to hit the pillow on rigo resulted in a dislocated shoulder and ejection. After a little pounding on the top of my shoulder, it reset. My next concern was that I did not have any beer for my much anticipated bootie beer. Luckily I found a keystone that had been in my car for a couple weeks. Bootie beer consumed, river gods happy.


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## hojo

justin.payne said:


> A weird draw stroke to hit the pillow on rigo resulted in a dislocated shoulder and ejection. After a little pounding on the top of my shoulder, it reset. My next concern was that I did not have any beer for my much anticipated bootie beer. Luckily I found a keystone that had been in my car for a couple weeks. Bootie beer consumed, river gods happy.


Holy shit. No Bueno. The first story was awesome. The second... I hope your shoulder recovers ok.


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## justin.payne

Oh yea, it will be fine Hojo. It's a pretty reoccurring problem in my life. I usually wear a shoulder brace, but was in a hurry and forgot it. Current score is Justin 3, Rigo 1.


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## hkydef

Damn! Not exactly big drama, but... The swim occurred. Here's the report. Had discussed with a fellow boater the possibility of launching off the left-side rock in Rollercoaster on Bridges (I'm working on boof strokes and technique). First guy through skips this step and paddles to the right. I drift in. Bailed on the boof idea in favor of enjoying the waves. No forward strokes at all. Idiot. Into the wave/hole and over I go. Tried to roll a couple of times (never could seem to get any purchase on the blade). Started thinking about sharp rocks. Out I came. Lessons learned: (1) Be aggressive and paddle. (2) Keep practicing rolls in moving water (keeping head down). (3) Get back on the horse. 

Off to exorcise a demon or two at noon. Bridges put-in. (7/10/13)


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## Joel_G

hkydef said:


> Tried to roll a couple of times (never could seem to get any purchase on the blade). Started thinking about sharp rocks. Out I came.


Next time the thought of sharp rocks has you reaching for the skirt, imagine said sharp rocks impacting your nether regions.

Yeah, I'd rather take them on the helmet, PFD, arms, and shoulders also. Stay in the boat unless your next move is breathing like a fish.


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## hkydef

Thanks Joel. Those thoughts did cross my mind also while underwater. On the plus side of the swim, I did a pretty nice self-rescue, learned that my new boat (Remix 79) is not as confining as my old Vortex, and reaffirmed the notion that everybody swims sometime. 

Slightly related subject... I stopped to pick a hitchhiker/boater at BTO today on the way to the put-in. Turns out, he's the guy I was boating with the last time I swam some years ago (15 years?). The weird part about this is that he's from Lincoln, NE and only comes out for a week or so per year. What are the odds?


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## MT4Runner

hkydef said:


> Turns out, he's the guy I was boating with the last time I swam some years ago (15 years?). The weird part about this is that he's from Lincoln, NE and only comes out for a week or so per year. What are the odds?


Not a good week to boat if you want to avoid swims! :lol:

I broke a 12yr streak last June. Swam again this June. Careful once you break that seal!!


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## Cutch

Karma works in awesome ways, and I paid the price for not announcing my first swim of the season, so now I'm two deep.

So there I was back in February, tossing some ends around in Myers Pool and working on perfecting my flatwater loop, when I decided to ender up onto the deck of the pool (the lazy way to get out). A little rusty on my pump-to-ender-to-180 land on the pool deck move, I came up short, and casually slid back into the pool sans paddle, unexpectedly flipped, and proceeded to miss my hand rolls. Yeah. I started out my season by swimming out of the freaking swimming pool. Needless to say I brushed this off as a fluke, and started practicing my hand rolls. 

Fast forward to late June (exactly three weeks ago today), and I was feeling pretty sweet after a Blackrock Race win and a nice Clear Creek season. We headed up to the women's Poudre Race on Friday, and ran into Banks at the Mish... with just enough time for us to run some goods before the race got under way. The Poudre was running a respectable 3.5ish, which made Lower Narrows look a little larger than normal. Middle's looked sweet. The Upper Narrows looked kind of burly... mainly Whiteline. The entrance laterals looked good, the exit looked good, but linking up the entrance and exit looked tricky and I couldn't decide on a line. Mistake #1; if you don't see the line, you won't hit it. However, Banks was pumped on it, and upon further review, I couldn't really think of a reason to not run it, since it mostly just looked like a bunch of big laterals and flushy wave holes, with one obvious eddy of doom to avoid at all costs. Mistake #2; scouting from the road elevation always makes it look small and easy. I made the decision to charge in hard, and then to just kind of "see what happens when I get there." Mistake #3; stout class V requires more planning and less read and running... even if you think you're the shit. 

I geared up more slowly than usual at the put-in. Mistake #4; if something doesn't feel right, it's wrong. A quick float, and a dream line through Super Collider completely changed my attitude! All of a sudden I felt good, and the whitewater felt fluffy, which further justified my "just see what happens" plan. I entered into Whiteline beautifully, punched the first few laterals, and set up a great left to right charging angle through the last big lateral. 

And then I stopped paddling. I immediately lost all of my speed, and although my boat angle was good angled right, I was drifting left quickly. And further left despite starting to paddle again. And further left, until I hit the big hole directly in front of the rock pile on river left. Thinking I still had it, I rode the foam pile across, too far right all the way into the wall. My paddle momentarily jammed between the wall and my boat, and I missed my last stroke to freedom. Then I braced, flipped into the wall, and sucked back into the eddy of doom with my helmet dragging along the cliff wall as I went. 

My first roll attempt initiated the stern ender to fail. My second roll attempt seemed to spin me. The third was a complete fail. Seriously running out of oxygen, my fourth roll attempt pulled me up right just long enough for me to get a glimpse at how screwed I really was, and I inhaled water as I flipped upstream. Still no air. My fifth roll attempt seemed to spin me, and then I gave up the rolling thing and did the upside down burning man to reach for the current, which successfully dislodged my paddle from my hands. Then I ejected. 

The right side swim wasn't too bad except for the body boof that bruised both knees on the manky run out. The bruises have healed, but one knee has been pretty tweaked since then, though improving. Banks grabbed the boat, and my paddle eddied out above Lower Narrows... so after Middle's we portaged my bruised ego to the takeout vehicle.

The best thing about the swim? The motivation to not swim again. Ever. Thus, two days later, when I came off Double Trouble with angle too far right, I pitoned, flipped, rolled up, dropped the second drop backwards (with a pretty good backstroke), flipped again, rolled up in the river right eddy (of doom), and was so afraid to swim that I miraculously paddled out of that beast!

Be safe out there, enjoy your occasional swim, and better yet, save your botched lines without swimming!


----------



## Kendrick

Brian Banks sounds like (Superman) and is a great person to have on your team. Got your boat AND your paddle? I usually think of that as a three man job. I've run Middle and Lower Narrows on the Poudre and it doesn't necessarily look like an easy place for gear retrieval. Sure there are some eddies above middle, but still. 

I caught him and a decent size group lapping Gore. We were just downstream of them when they all ran Tunnel. He was the only one that didn't flip, running the slide on river left (something I immediately wrote off when I scouted). Thankfully, 1000 cfs is the perfect flow if you want to stay in your boat after rolling up there (generally). :grin:

A swim in the pool! When I used to practice hand-rolls in my T2, I pretty much expected to tire quickly or pull a muscle if I tried too hard. What I ended up learning to do after playing a game of Horse in the pool and copying silly tricks, is swimming to the edge of the pool when I'm still upside down and coming up with a practice hipsnap, hands on the pool ledge.


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## jlinn

*Shoshone Maneater Swim*

Ran Shoshone for 1st time today x 2. 1st run flipped in Tombstone entering river right and paddling left, rolled up unscathed. Second run, ran slot right next to the Tombstone, much smoother, but then flipped in the bottom of Maneater, tried to roll but slicing paddle and helmet bumping rocks so pulled out. Hung on to paddle and buddy corralled boat river right. Good learning experience.


----------



## Rocks

I was running Bailey for the first time. Walked Four Falls rapids b/c Class V creeking is not my thing. Next Class IV rapid I chose to catch an eddy mid-way through on river right but got pushed up against a rock on the back of it. The rock was undercut with just enough moving water to pin my boat. Freaky experience I don't want to repeat, I bailed with my cockpit facing upstream away from the rock and my boat stayed put. My eddy picking and catching needs some work. Boat was easily freed so it wasn't a horrible undercut but still a bad place to be regardless.


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## OC1er

*Swim and redemption in Grand Canyon*

So I have to start with the statement that I am primarily a C boater. I got offered a place on a GC self support, and I decided to K boat it. I practiced with my K boat back east, on the New and Gauley, but never managed to flip it for a combat roll. I had a pretty good flat water K-roll. 

So, about the middle of day 2, we get to Georgies. Al low flow. Georgies at low flow is described as "a sharp drop" in Mr. Martin's guide book. What does "sharp" mean?, I wondered as I approached. It turns out it means a super steep, fairly tall drop into a huge hole! The hit blasted me onto the back deck and the following wave tossed me over. I shamefully pulled the skirt immediately, but I was able to quickly self-rescue. No harm done, except to my confidence.

So down the Colorado we go, Hance good, Horn good, Granite good (wild!), next comes Hermit. Chatter above turns to "How many chances does one get to run Hermit blind?" The answer, it turns out, is one. So we decide to take our one chance and fire. I had done a fair amount of research, I knew there were some true giants in Hermit, and I knew #5 was the king of the giants. So I drop in, go over some big ass waves, then go over a HUGE wave. I said to myself, "That was #5! OH SHIT NO IT WASNT..." #5 crashed on my head and flipped me quick. Kept my composure this time. Carped a roll in the swirlys, paddle got twirled in my hands but I got re-set and hit my first kayak combat roll! In Hermit! Grand Canyon class 8! Pretty cool! I think someone should make me a T-shirt...


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## VandyIn541

*I'm in the club!!!*

Charge: Unintentional Swim on 7/22
Verdict: Guilty
Sentence: Public Humiliation

Enjoy!

https://vimeo.com/70902149


----------



## Stiff N' Wett

Second swim of the year out of a mini max, we crushed sunshine rapid on the royal gorge then nailed a rock at the very bottom got ejected... Came up first person I saw was Mr. Ranger he hit me with the throw bag and pulled me in. A little embarrassing but thanks Ranger!


----------



## Flohotter

Stiff N' Wett said:


> Second swim of the year out of a mini max, we crushed sunshine rapid on the royal gorge then nailed a rock at the very bottom got ejected... Came up first person I saw was Mr. Ranger he hit me with the throw bag and pulled me in. A little embarrassing but thanks Ranger!



The photographers nailed it. Sorry, it's a pic of a pic.


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## glenn

So, I ran lower mesa less than perfectly and by the bottom pool I decided I had enough and pulled the plug. Short swim where I got banged up. Drank the booty as soon as I finished the hike back to car. I'm waiting on a vid of the event. If it ever shows up I'll share.


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## glenn

glenn said:


> So, I ran lower mesa less than perfectly and by the bottom pool I decided I had enough and pulled the plug. Short swim where I got banged up. Drank the booty as soon as I finished the hike back to car. I'm waiting on a vid of the event. If it ever shows up I'll share.


Some Carnage that Happened - YouTube


----------



## jmack

So there I was, upside down just upstream of a sieve on Colorado's most committing river section with only half a paddle. How the hell did I get here?

It all started in a small country town called Durango, where the rain started to fall in late July. Much to the local kayakers' delight, this brought the mighty Animas river up to levels that allowed us to paddle the Baker's Box aka Pandora's Box section of the river, and a small but dedicated group of paddlers paddled it often. So often in fact that I got pretty comfortable with it, maybe a little too comfortable.

On one August evening, I could find only one other taker, but we were both keen so off we went. We negotiated hike in and put on around six, and quickly leapfrogged through the first 3 drops. Above the Plunger, Steven took the lead. I gave him a few seconds and followed. For those of you unfamiliar with this rapid, at low flows, it consists of a small boof into a cauldron that exits through a narrow slot on the right wall down a boily slide roughly 10 feet tall. At the bottom is more boily water followed by a sieve against the right wall about 50 feet downstream. 

After a number of pretty good runs on the Plunger this season, I was beginning to think that its bark was worse than its bite, and that you didn't really have to work that hard to stay off the right wall. I was wrong. After a good boof into the cauldron, I failed to get any left boat angle and found myself against the wall going down the slide. I have been close to the wall before and was not too concerned, knowing I could ride a left brace down and get left after the drop. As I was riding the brace down the slide, I suddenly lost all leverage on the paddle and flipped. I started to set up to roll and realized that like a once happy couple whose marriage is now irretrievably broken, my trusty Werner paddle was now two pieces of paddle. 

Oh shit! I dropped one piece and tried a roll attempt with half a paddle. It wasn't even close. Knowing that the sieve was rapidly approaching and that a swimmer could get through the sieve (it been done), I pulled the cord and swam. Almost immediately, I was up against a rock. I heard Steven yelling to swim right I think. I had no idea which direction right was, but I swam towards his voice.

Once clear of the sieve, my next thought was the class V rapid downstream and the vertical walls that would likely force me to swim it. I grabbed the left wall as soon as I could and struggled to climb up, but the rock was too slick and undercut. As I let go, I did not know if there would be anywhere else to get out. I planned to catch my breath treading water in the eddy before swimming the exit to the gorge.

As I rounded the corner, I saw a beautiful sight, my boat in the eddy, with Steven holding it, and a boulder against the wall that might provide a spot to get back in. Long story short, it was sketchy, but I emptied my boat, put together my breakdown, and found a spot to balance and get back in so I could paddle my lucky ass out of there.

Lessons learned (cause this thread is not just for entertainment):

1) don't paddle lackadaisically in scary class V ( duh). Though the swim was the result of a broken paddle, like most equipment failures, it all started with a sloppy line.

2) carry a breakdown. The ass you save may just be your own!

3) be more vigilant about safety spots on runs you do frequently. I didn't even know that the cleft in the rock where I got back in existed until I needed it.

4) paddle with solid people. In addition to being a scholar and a gentleman, Mr. Naylor corralled my boat and stayed totally calm throughout this whole adventure.

Be safe out there. I'll do my bootie at Baileyfest!


----------



## benpetri

Damn! Glad to hear you're alright!


----------



## T-Boss

what about calling out swims that were witnessed, but not posted here? saw one saturday below tunnel. i realize not everyone plays the buzz game


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## KSC

jmack getting overconfident?? I don't believe it! Bakers in August - sounds like Durango is giving up the goods. The only thing that could make it better is getting some strippers down there in the box.


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## glenn

T-Boss said:


> what about calling out swims that were witnessed, but not posted here? saw one saturday below tunnel. i realize not everyone plays the buzz game


A couple have shared 3rd party swims but I think it's bad form to tell someone else's story.


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## Kendrick

In layman's terms, this is not a swim, as the act of swimming did not occur. 

In kayaking terms? I'll leave that to the peanut gallery to decide:

How not to paddle Gore Canyon - YouTube

Either way, it's equally as shameful.


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## hojo

Kendrick said:


> In layman's terms, this is not a swim, as the act of swimming did not occur.
> 
> In kayaking terms? I'll leave that to the peanut gallery to decide:
> 
> How not to paddle Gore Canyon - YouTube
> 
> Either way, it's equally as shameful.


I'm calling it the lamest high-center-broach-thing ever. The switch gore sneak above it was also rather comical and pulled off rather impressively.


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## Kendrick

hojo said:


> I'm calling it the lamest high-center-broach-thing ever.


I'm sure if you picked up my dialogue there, you'll know I have no argument there! 



hojo said:


> The switch gore sneak above it was also rather comical and pulled off rather impressively.


That's a compliment if I ever heard one. Thank you.  

On the plus side, even though I'm really out of paddling shape this season, I wasn't half as nervous this time on Gore, as my first two times in 2011. Incidentally, had great lines my first two times down. Only goofed on my first descent through Toilet Bowl, since I ran (and subsequently swam) it blind, not knowing what it was. 4th lap is bound to have less lame broaching, at least and hopefully will see my 3rd upright descent through my favorite rapid: Kirshbaum's.


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## craven_morhead

My first run of First Falls in Bailey went not so great. Ended up in the pothole on the left and spent a little bit of downtime under the undercut before getting hit with a well-timed rope throw from Ian. Then the boat was vertical in the pothole for quite some time until we got a biner onto it with a stick from across the river. Next time I'll be setup further right with more right angle.


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## JP Griffith

Last week I was trying to run the meat of Gore Canyon in todo-switch style... all of the rapids backwards. Everything was solid until I tried to back boof the meat of Toilet Bowl. I had almost no speed and was a little off center. After a little beat down and being pulled close to the rock that backs the hole up, I decided it was time to swim (I've yet to see someone paddle out of toilet bowl once in it, but I'd love to hear if someone has). It spat me out fast followed shortly by my paddle and boat. I'm glad to say that I completely self-rescued, drank my booty, and can't wait to give a todo-switch Gore Canyon another go!


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## smauk2

craven_morhead said:


> My first run of First Falls in Bailey went not so great. Ended up in the pothole on the left and spent a little bit of downtime under the undercut before getting hit with a well-timed rope throw from Ian. Then the boat was vertical in the pothole for quite some time until we got a biner onto it with a stick from across the river. Next time I'll be setup further right with more right angle.
















































A tricky drop that claimed a lot of swims this weekend!


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## Ryanrugger

Before I get on with it, I must say that even with the personal carnage I participated in, this Bailey fest was probably the best ever. I met more people, drank more beer and generally had an all-out kick ass time. Thanks Ian. So there I was…..Pumped to shred the steeps, face intact and a full on smile from just rock spinning after second falls and a questionable line through the left center drop (A new line for me, fun as hell). I eddied out right above the notch took a look at her and paddled on in. Had what I thought was a decent line and then it happened, I was pushed up on the large boulder on the left, bounced off and before you could say holy mother F&%k, I was over. No big deal I’ll just roll, sh$t balls, my paddle was broken! I tried the ole c1 roll with zero success, probably because I was busy trying to rearrange the river bottom with my FACE! Just trying to make the rock right after the notch a little more boofable for the next guy. Tried to roll 2 more times and again, tried to rearrange a few more large boulders around to make that section more enjoyable the next time down. Deciding that I was done with my hydrology experiment, and I best be getting my head above water and to shore out I popped. I swam my ass river right directly. I jumped out and proceeded to chase my boat and the bailey boat wranglers through the steeps. Seth my paddling buddy and facial reconstructor, pushed it into an eddy where Hoeve, Tom, and a few other regulators pulled the ole lady out of the drink. I was met by the crew in the small raft who were looking at me funny and asking me if I was OK. I reached up to my left eye and found I was bleeding somewhat out of my left eyebrow area. So in a matter of seconds I busted my paddle and I busted my face. Still having a great time, cause I know sometimes the river just wants to remind you who’s in charge and she just doesn’t care. These fine river goers paddled me across the river where I was reunited with my stead and given a break down paddle to continue (Thanks Tom) my adventure. Even though I didn’t paddle either of the max’s or deer creek on this day, I still had a friggen blast, maybe too much of a blast, since my boat split ½ way through the run after boofing a rock pile. So I drained it every 5-10 minutes and made it back for some free beer and food! EPIC! So although I was enjoying the food and drinks there was this little 1.5 inch bleeding problem in the side of my face that needed to be dealt with. So I finished my booty beer in the magical booty beer race and headed back to camp for more beer and stiches. Seth took a few shots, got out his suture kit, I took a few shots and opened a beer. And so it began………… See links for suture job!
PART 1
Bailey Fest 2013 - YouTube
PART 2
Bailey Fest - YouTube
TURN ON THE TUNNEL!


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## coloclimber512

Out of boat experience yesterday on Tunnel. Fucking Tunnel!


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## eljim

I swam Sunshine during Bryan Dreyer's memorial trip in July. Not the first time.


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## Aroberts

I got a swim in yesterday on the NF Payette. Got recirced in the hole after I pulled a good 6 times before I was finally able to get flushed. It was pretty ledgy with not much water flushing deep. Pretty scary situation but it ended well. My boat took a beating. Brand new Pure XL that I haven't had a week yet. The nose cap is gone and the nose was pushed in. The nose worked back to normal on its own in the garage last night but now I'm on a mission to find a nose cap. 

Don't paddle next to your buddy and cock block him into a super sticky hole


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## Anchorless

Where was this, Roberts?


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## Aroberts

Anchorless said:


> Where was this, Roberts?


It was a random 10' wide ledge hole on the warm up section. It's a hole you would never find yourself close to 99% of the time and honestly on the 100 times I have paddled through there I have never seen it. It's hard to explain where its at on the internet. A buddy paddled up next to me to BS. Once we saw the hole coming he was able to miss it but too late for me. I entered it with no speed, 45 degree angle to the right and was not able to get a right stroke in because my buddies boat was bumper to bumper with mine. One of those fluke deals but I'll make sure I have my own happy space from now on. The water is about 4'-5' deep there with maybe the bottom 1' releasing water so curling up in a ball and going deep didn't work. It's always the little ledge holes that get you the worst.


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## Kendrick

JP Griffith said:


> Last week I was trying to run the meat of Gore Canyon in todo-switch style... all of the rapids backwards. Everything was solid until I tried to back boof the meat of Toilet Bowl. I had almost no speed and was a little off center. After a little beat down and being pulled close to the rock that backs the hole up, I decided it was time to swim (I've yet to see someone paddle out of toilet bowl once in it, but I'd love to hear if someone has). It spat me out fast followed shortly by my paddle and boat. I'm glad to say that I completely self-rescued, drank my booty, and can't wait to give a todo-switch Gore Canyon another go!


I saw Leslie B. roll up and paddle out of it in a Prijon Creeker 225. Luck and skill?

My first time down it, I swam, but friend said I looked like I was almost out of it at one point (through a few ends and rolls before I realized it was toilet bowl and had me turning end over end vertically).

I wouldn't be surprised if playboaters get out of it fine. All theory of course. If I ever get a decent playboat and decent skill with it to boot, I'll have to find out.


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## yakr

After 119 consecutive days staying in my boat, I swam Vallecito Monday. Flow was just under 2.2 and I got too far left on entrance falls, plugged it, lost my paddle, and got shoved against the cliff which kept me from hitting a hand roll. Swam into the cave amongst a ton of wood, but luckily my boat, paddle, and both elbow pads floated in also so aside from some help draining my boat (thanks Eric Parker) there wasn't a huge rescue required. Got a redemption lap on Bakers this morning, so here's to another 120+ good days in a row.


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## blutzski

Bump. I have a feeling Bear Creek has not resulted in zero swims. Fess up and make me feel better about chickening out.


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## deepsouthpaddler

If all bear swims were on here we would have pages... I ran it six times from 400-700 and swam 3 times on three different runs. Backwards over no fun falls at 700. Got boofed on my head as I swam. Got pinned and manked out in the first no scout falls drop yesterday. Big ledge hole below the slide got me today. Dropped in on another paddler surfing and we both swam. It's a minor miracle that I still have all my gear (thanks to my bros of course). Had a relatively swim free year running harder stuff than bear. Late season rust combined with an annoying cold definitely took the paddling skills down a notch. Bear at high water was awesome though. Carnage is the ante for paddling bear. Doubt I will get a chance to paddle it that high again in my career.


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## smauk2

I thought I had made it through the season of 2013 swim-less, but here I am, post Bear Creek, writing this up. 

The big hole below the slide, well it can be a pretty mackin hole and it doesn't have a straight forward line. The options appeared to be gut it with momentum or take an awkward looking right line when you can't grab a boof stroke because of overhanging shrubbery. I unintentionally opted for the somewhere in between line which consisted of an awkward boof with not nearly enough momentum.

Sure enough I was blasted into an endo and found myself surfing facing river left. The boil on this side is big... Spent some time trying to claw up it, but I realized quickly I needed to be facing the other direction. I ended up getting up onto the pile somewhat but felt myself getting pulled back in. I decided to go with it and took a couple back strokes and shoved my stern into the hole. A thrashing followed and I had a feeling I was going to flush. I felt a very brief moment of calm that was intercepted by a hit to the head and the familiar feeling of being in a hole upside down.

I thought I had hit a rock getting pulled back into the first hole... well it turns out I hit one in between the big hole and a less notable hole right below it. I swam and realized I was out of both holes... fucking embarrassing. Did all the work to get out of the holes and proceeded to beater to shore without my gear.

Much thanks to Ian for diving into the creek and snagging my paddle right after his own swim, and to Natalie for roping me across.


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## Machias

First trip down the Lower Gauley. I took my 16 foot Aire Cataraft down. I had an absolute BLAST. I made it down 4 of the Class V rapids with no problems. I will say Mango's (Wade) cataraft tubes are very clean on the bottom. I got to inspect them in great detail and up close as I swam under them at Lower Mash rapid. I did most of Upper Mash rapid no problem then somewhere near the bottom of the rapid I either caught a underwater rock or a wave really caught my right side oar and jerked it clean out of my hand. By the time I recovered it I was lined up dead center of my right tube with Indecision Rock just sticking out of the surface. I hit the Indecision Rock and the right tube slide up towards the sky, slowly at first and then dam quick. I plunged in backside first, felt my back hit a large rock, probably three feet below surface and hang there for a millisecond and then slide over the top. I remember thinking, oh that was lucky as I was surfacing. I found my upside down cat and manage to get a hand on the tube handle just in time to start my run on the Lower Mash rapid. As I was going through Lower Mash I saw Mango's cat right in front of me. I could clearly see his cat hit a wall and stop. About that time my upside down cat and I slammed into his cat and I went under my tubes and came up and smashed the bottom of Mango's tubes and then I went under again and came up and for good measure smacked the bottom of his other tube. Then I heard someone, I think it was Mango, yelling at me to swim hard river right to avoid a big undercut rock, which I did. Then Justin paddled up in his kayak and I was able to hang on and get a ride to an eddie. I was fairly wiped out at that point. Walked a ways down the shore and then got a ride down river on the back of a kayak. Thank you everyone who helped me out, I appreciate it ALOT. Pure Screaming Hell rapid was my best rapid all day, had great lines down it and was very smooth, glad to have ended it on a good note. Supposedly there is some video of my flip, one of the commercial rafts was filming, I'll have to try and track it down.


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## KennytheJet

I swam at the last rapid before takeout on the deschutes harpham flat to sandy beach and couldn't get to shore in time and then swam shears falls... Just kidding but I did swim trying to surf the last rapid and was pretty embarrassed!


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## bobbuilds

I fuckin swam at kayak polo last night.


Yeah, i posted it here.

Nate "the destroyer" knocked me over with 1 hand, I have a bunch of other excuses to...

The pool was HUGE! it must have been at least 50,000 cf sorry there is no "s" it wasn't moving water.

I shook it off though, got back in my boat.


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## BryanS.

I swam at the bottom of Carver rapid on the Clackamas after dropping over a ledge sideways and missing first roll attempt.


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## brenda

The are 2 holes you need to scoot in between at the Wall drop on the Clearwater (Canada). I had never been brave enough to run this section before because if you swim here, it is a LONG (not fun swim) I was told. I followed hubby and we both missed the foot wide tongue and got back endered in the left side hole, rolled up and went WHEW!!! We pulled into the only eddy before the canyon section below to watch our friend being worked in the right hand (much stickier) hole. He ended up swimming. Our group really were on him to get him out before the canyon started. I, in my wisdom (or lack of) decided to be useful and go after his boat. Having never rescued a boat before, I just followed it wherever it went making that section quite difficult. I finally caught up with it (after getting flipped 3 more times) and was able to almost clip on to the boat when i dropped into a hole, with the swimming boat, and lost my paddle. I got flipped again and after a few attempts at hand rolling (definitely not as easy as at the pool) I swam. All I could think of was "ah oh...now we have 2 swimmers". Fortunately it was near the bottom of the canyon and while I was trying to haul my boat, his boat and my paddle to shore, someone came to help me out. Hubby showed up and said "what the F**K are you doing. Don't ever try to clip on to someones boat until you know what is below you" Lesson learned !!!


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## hojo

What's funny is that chasing a boat down something can(or might not) distract you from your own fear, enabling you to paddle it cleaner. I've chased a few boats realizing later that I had a completely different focus during those chases including one over a drop that afterwords kind of freaked me out. Not recommended but an interesting side effect of shifting your focus.


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## cayo 2

...have definitely experienced what Hojo is talking about...if you are the type who tends to worry or overthink things too much launching into chase mode frees you of some of that -you have a mission and things happen fast...it is a mixed bag though, good that you instinctually react and just do it reading and running where the boat leads less encumbered by self-doubt, bad in that you could blunder into stuff that should be scouted on an unfamiliar run and exacerbate the situation, or worse...I like chase boating,probably because of that temporary freedom from nerves ...also prefer chase boating if others can help the swimmer.In the event of injury I don 't know first aid /cpr, so on a delegation of duties basis it is better...


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