Lake Creek

today solly, rob, ben and i headed up to lake creek. aaron, who came to our club first aid day, joined us and took some video. lake creek was at a lower flow ( 10.4ft) so some of the more notable rapids were less ominous than rumored. but the horn was still very notable and i ended up going through part of it upside down, while ben got surfed in one of the wave holes in the horn. grassy was not in but mill wave was at an excelent level and rob was getting some great blunts. there were many other boaters on the river, and we encountered Tom at the put in and on the river. all in all it was a fun day.
~althea

A great day at neils

Today Paxton and I went up to neils for some surfing. It was raining when we got there and the rain did not let up the whole day. We put in at mom's pies and headed down to neils. There was no one else at neils so we did not have to wait for a turn to surf. Early on it was at an incredibly good level(2.9) and as the day continued the water rose (3.2) and neils became bigger and more dynamic. Paxton ended up getting verticle of the top of the wave (some strange form of a stern squirt) and towards the end he was getting a good deal of bounce. Sadly the blunt still eludes me but I was getting some sick spins and a lot of bounce, so much that a couple of times I ended up spinning in the air!
~althea

Some Cotton Candy Action

This weekend, Althea, Quinn, Ben and I all headed over to cotton candy for a good morning session. The level was about 10.5(i think), a great level for staying on the wave; it wasn't quite as steep, but there was much more of a retentive pile. Both Quinn and I were getting roundhouses( maybe a blunt or two?) and, although Althea was having trouble at the beginning, by the end she was carving it up. Ben's hands got really cold, so he borrowed my pogies and warmed up on the bank. After while we headed over to 24/7, thinking that it would in, but unfortunately the intake was clogged with leaves and twigs, making 24/7 pretty shallow. Oh well, we still had fun, and both Quinn and Ben took some great pics.......http://www.flickr.com/photos/21995069@N05/page4/.
Rob

Logo-Go Power Rangers

this is the logo so far. too crazy? think he's enjoying that paddle a little TOO much?

that song is just too much stupid for words.

great video btw rob.

Old footage thrown together

So, this video is one i made a while back and just recently found, so its going to be a little outdated. Most of it is comprised of my mexico trip and some lake creek sessions.
Rob

Cold but fun day on the Siletz

This weekends trip was an interesting one. Earlier on in the week, it had been decided that, since we had three volunteers we could split up, one group could go run some solid class four, and the other group could decide on something a bit easier. As the week wore on however, our volunteers quickly disappeared until the morning of, when Dove( Thanks dove!) was the only volunteer who could make it. Still, we managed to salvage a great trip to the Siletz, a coastal river with some fun class two-three and one great class four. It ended up being a long day(sorry Quinn) and we had a few swims( way to stick with it maxgnarr!), but overall it turned out to be a great, more challenging, trip.
rob

PS-Enjoy the vid!(props to barry)

Craft Day at the Whitewater Club

We had a great time at Craft Day at the weekly meeting this week. I showed how to make a temporary repair to a cracked boat (check out Fix a cracked boat... ), we put together small 1st Aid kits for the backs of our boats, and everyone made themselves a pair of hand paddles cut from broken boats in my yard.

Here is the list of suggested items for a small first aid kit. I got almost all of them into a 1 liter nalgene bottle. Solly then duct-taped a small carabiner to the top of the bottle making an ideal "back-of-the-boat" kit.

5-10 pairs gloves (keeps all that icky stuff off you)
Scissors or multi-tool
10-20 Band-Aids
~ 4 Gauze Pads
Double Antibiotic Ointment (my dog is allergic to the Triple Antibiotic Cream)
2+ cravats (I just cut up our oldest sheet into triangles ~ 4 ft across, then folded and ironned them very small)
Possible Medications: Ibuprofen/Acetaminophen/Aspirin, Benedril or another antihistamine,Any personal meds
** Please check w/a doctor before including ANY medications!
Emergency shelter (I put in 2 garbage bags: 1 for my top and 1 for my bottom)
Zip-ties (between these, the safety pins, and the duct tape you can fix anything)
4+ safety pins
Gorilla tape, wrapped around...
Permanent marker + paper
2+ ziplocks (can be used to irrigate wounds)
Emergen-C or other drink packs
Extra Food (I pick the gnarliest-tasting energy bar possible so you won't eat it in a non-emergency; e.g. peanut PowR Bar)
Lighter + matches (both in a small ziplock)
Firestarter (I use short lengths of bicycle tires)
Headlamp or flashlight (w/extra batteries)

Next week I'll demonstrate how to repair a wrist gasket on a drytop (pretty easy). Hopefully, I'll be able to post step-by-step pictures on how to make your own hand paddles from that broken boat - once he gets a digital camera for Christmas (hint, hint).
- Tom