# Grand Canyon - Lava Flip Vid!



## calendar16 (Mar 8, 2007)

Just back from the most incredible trip I have ever done. Reentry is rather difficult right now. Going through withdrawals of the scenery, the friends, the laughter, the memories being made daily, not being able to crack a beer open at 10am, not sleeping under a blanket of stars with the roar of the river. I can't wait to go back!

In the meantime enjoy this vid of my friends 14' boat flipping in Lava last week with flows around 7,000 - 9,000cfs. Her 14'er was swalloped and flipped twice on the trip, in Upset and Lava. Luckily, my wife walked Lava and got this gem of a vid on the recorder.

Have fun out there!

Debbie & Natalie Flip in Lava Falls - YouTube


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## Gumbydamnit (Apr 2, 2008)

Ledge hole is easy to miss, but those waves at the bottom can sure get ya. Like many of the rapids down there if the wave surges at just the right time you're gonna go swimming. Nice video.


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## shoenfeld13 (Aug 18, 2009)

Looks like someone forgot to scout, or look in the guide book, or listen to anyone who has ever gone through Lava. Good video. Thanks.


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## blutzski (Mar 31, 2004)

I hear ya on the withdrawal thing. Just reading your description gave me withdrawal. Thanks for posting.


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## restrac2000 (Mar 6, 2008)

shoenfeld13 said:


> Looks like someone forgot to scout, or look in the guide book, or listen to anyone who has ever gone through Lava. Good video. Thanks.


Harsh much? People flip in Big Kahoona all the time. Unless I am reading the video wrong ... but it looks like they made a clean right run around the Ledge and then stalled on the big tail waves by Cheese Grater. Correct?

Appreciate seeing the difference from when I ran it at 20k. Looks completely different. The Big K was huge but it didn't look like it has as much of a hydraulic as this video shows. I just remember the bubble line being absolutely steep.

Thanks for sharing and good job on preventing injuries and gear loss.


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## floatingk (Aug 5, 2008)

I love carnage, especially after being part of so much of it! Nice vid!


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## Lids (Jun 29, 2008)

shoenfeld13 said:


> Looks like someone forgot to scout, or look in the guide book, or listen to anyone who has ever gone through Lava. Good video. Thanks.



Looks like someone has forgotten that sometimes you hit a wave and no matter what you do, it's going to school you. It also looks like your time is coming.


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## treemanji (Jan 23, 2011)

shoenfeld13 said:


> Looks like someone forgot to scout, or look in the guide book, or listen to anyone who has ever gone through Lava. Good video. Thanks.


 
Thanks for posting the vid, river looks so much different depending on water levels, glad you had such an awesome time! You know the trip was great when you can't wait to go back. 
Someone is just arrogant and doesn't know you can flip in a lot of places down there scout or not. Don't listen to shonefeld13's bs he just remembers wondering what was going on the san juan and wants to feel like he is something special ask him if he scouted his flip. Props to your friend for rowing her 14' down there!


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## calendar16 (Mar 8, 2007)

shoenfeld13 said:


> Looks like someone forgot to scout, or look in the guide book, or listen to anyone who has ever gone through Lava. Good video. Thanks.


Pretty naive comment there buddy. We did scout, we did have a map, and the captain of this boat has run Lava several times. This is a pretty text book run (in case you didn't know). She ran just right of the ledge hole , had the boat straight through the V-wave and the timing when she hit the bottom wave was just not in her favor. Maybe if she pushed a couple of times before the wave or even dug her oars in at the top of the wave to grab some down river current it could have ended up differently but that is all hind sight. That wave at the bottom curls, curls, curls and then crashes so depending on your timing that's just how it goes in Lava. 

Your time to flip is coming and when it does I hope you get it on video!

Happy boating!


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## Debs (Aug 10, 2009)

Or maybe she just needs a bigger, heavier boat and then she can it all sideways.


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## David L (Feb 13, 2004)

The thing about that wave(s) down there is that you don't always get much time to choose what part of it to hit. Some, but just a little, not enough to make a meaningful correction to the right or left of it. 

After you come out of the v-wave, when you see where you're heading, if you do want to move over after the v-wave, you only get 5-8 seconds sometimes to give the boat a turn, pull the oars, then put it back straight before you're going to hit.

I thought she was very straight for the wave, it just didn't let enough of the boat through before sucking it back in. Then, flip!


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## Osseous (Jan 13, 2012)

calendar16 said:


> Pretty naive comment there buddy. We did scout, we did have a map, and the captain of this boat has run Lava several times. This is a pretty text book run (in case you didn't know). She ran just right of the ledge hole , had the boat straight through the V-wave and the timing when she hit the bottom wave was just not in her favor. Maybe if she pushed a couple of times before the wave or even dug her oars in at the top of the wave to grab some down river current it could have ended up differently but that is all hind sight. That wave at the bottom curls, curls, curls and then crashes so depending on your timing that's just how it goes in Lava.
> 
> Your time to flip is coming and when it does I hope you get it on video!
> 
> Happy boating!


Yup!


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## lmaciag (Oct 10, 2003)

We ran Lava on 10/30/2012 and Big Kahuna was pretty sticky, especially the left side where they were in this video. We had a heavy 16' cat surf for 14 seconds (someone timed it on the video) before it lost a passenger then released the craft without flipping. I was in a heavy 18' round boat and stalled for a second as well. The right side looked stickier on the scout, but ended up being more forgiving for others in our group. I've run Lava two other times at slightly higher flows and this part of the rapid was a big, fun wave train. The corner pocket is ugly right now with a tree in there. Didn't want to get close to that.


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## liquidphoto (Oct 22, 2010)

Which side on upset, right or left?


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## Kyle K (Dec 17, 2008)

liquidphoto said:


> Which side on upset, right or left?


Depends on flows but almost all of the time, the left is much easier, albeit much, much bigger. Simply start on the left side of the tongue and continue pushing left all the way down. At higher flows the left side laterals at the top want to push you back out into the main center current so make sure you maintain a lot of leftward momentum. It's big over there but manageable. As you pass the hole, head for the first eddy on the left to set up safety for your friends still upstream. Note: The left looks horrendous from the right shore should you scout but it's really mostly big waves and a lot of fun. 

The right is actually not all that hard, but you need to nail the first bit to set up the second bit. Your goal is to slow everything down. Mind your ferry angles and try to stay somewhat close to the river right debris fan, to slow both your downstream and left to right momentum. As you pass the apex of the fan you want to stop any left to right movement by pulling hard right into the slow water below the apex. A downstream ferry angle can be helpful here. Essentially you are catching a "moving eddy" that is the slow water on river right below the apex and between the shore and the hole. Drift by the hole and catch the first eddy on the right to set up safety for your friends still upstream.

Good rowing and have fun!


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## liquidphoto (Oct 22, 2010)

Kyle K said:


> Depends on flows but almost all of the time, the left is much easier, albeit much, much bigger. Simply start on the left side of the tongue and continue pushing left all the way down. At higher flows the left side laterals at the top want to push you back out into the main center current so make sure you maintain a lot of leftward momentum. It's big over there but manageable. As you pass the hole, head for the first eddy on the left to set up safety for your friends still upstream. Note: The left looks horrendous from the right shore should you scout but it's really mostly big waves and a lot of fun.
> 
> The right is actually not all that hard, but you need to nail the first bit to set up the second bit. Your goal is to slow everything down. Mind your ferry angles and try to stay somewhat close to the river right debris fan, to slow both your downstream and left to right momentum. As you pass the apex of the fan you want to stop any left to right movement by pulling hard right into the slow water below the apex. A downstream ferry angle can be helpful here. Essentially you are catching a "moving eddy" that is the slow water on river right below the apex and between the shore and the hole. Drift by the hole and catch the first eddy on the right to set up safety for your friends still upstream.
> 
> Good rowing and have fun!


I have run both right and left. Got the moves dialed. I didn't ask the question clearly.... What side did they flip on when they ran Upset?


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## David L (Feb 13, 2004)

liquidphoto said:


> Which side on upset, right or left?


Right with the wife, left without!


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## Bryan (Feb 3, 2005)

Nice video Cal. 
Bryan Carter here, Chris I. Friend. 
Sounds like a great trip. I'm still waiting for my first trip down the grand. 
We should try to hook up sometime for a float.


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## calendar16 (Mar 8, 2007)

Here is the whole vid of all of our boats runs down Lava...my boat has the POV camera on it...more vids to come!

Grandios Adventure's Lava Runs - YouTube


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