I caught AIR! Aka "Unidentified Flying [View All]

[eyepaddle]

Kayak!"

Smokin' Joe Frasier! Up here in MN we've had a bit (shitload) of rain recently. All of my favorite rivers have surged past flood stage--often being 10 times their volume of a week ago. This can make a huge difference. To complicate matters there was a consensus that the gage for my local stream was wildly OVERstating how big the flow was, so I went to it tonight expecting to have a lively, but run-of-the-mill session. And a chance to try out my new drysuit--before next spring comes along.

Here's the gage reading from the last several days:



As you can see, it was on it's way DOWN, and since the gauge was reading high, I figured it was gonna be fun, but relaxed.

Holy F'ing S**t!

Was I WAY off. The Verm was friggin' HUUUUUUGGGGGEEEEE! Ordinarily I like to goof around on certain waves and play--tonight was all business. As with everything else, perspective is all important. I knew it was gonna be muscular, but you really have to see it from down in it to KNOW.

Here is a picture from about 80 feet above "Railroad Hole" last night, when the river had about one half the volume it had tonight


The white frothy mass in the bottom corner is Railroad Hole. I approached it much like the boater in this pic just the hole was MUCH bigger and faster. I hit that wave and no foolin' folks, my damn boat launched clear out of the frigging water! Shocking.

Here's a close up of what I planned to do--before my aerial adventures:



It was just too fast and the hole was shaped wrong for sitting in like this guy. But, to hit the big water AND hold my own--even to be seen by a bunch of friends, well let's just say I am very satisfied tonight--and truly happy.

I have found my path to connection (I hope that doesn't sound too terribly pretenrious!) :D