Deerfield, part 4 (The Gap!)

I felt back in command on Fife Brook once again today. The level was much lower than the previous trip with beautiful sunny weather. I had one really good surf at the first wave below Hangover Helper, which I saved at the end with a hard right-hand brace. This wave was noticeably smaller than two weeks ago. I had no flips until the tricky spot below the island, where I went over where the currents come back together. I was not shaken by this happening and I had already decided to run the Gap.

When we got to the take out just above the Gap, it was determined by the group that only I and one other would be running it. The other person was an older guy whose young son was with us today and whose name I forget. I told him it would be my first time running it and would be following him. Meanwhile, he helped his son to put away his gear and bring it up to the road. So I sat in my boat on the shore for what seemed like ten minutes but was probably only three, my state of calm slowly eroding. Finally he came back down and I took a deep breath and sighed and we peeled out.

In the lead-in waves, he took an interesting route around a big one. Trying to follow his line exactly, I did the same; it was a semi-circle about halfway up the wave, left to right. As soon as I got on to the downstream side of the wave, I flipped over. I set up quickly and rolled--my first combat roll at a very opportune time. I was stil moving towards river right and ended up hitting a rock above the Gap. For some reason, I tried to brace instead of grabbing the rock and I went back over. I was upright for about 3 seconds, long enough to hear someone say "Great roll." I decided not to try another roll here, following advice I had heard at the beginner's class which was just to stay in the boat if you flipped in The Gap and wet exit at the bottom. After looking at many pictures, I realized I was much farther from the heart of The Gap than I thought I was, giving me time to try some more rolls.

All and all, it was a good trip and I was very pleased to get my first combat roll, however brief the benefits.