I left the house at 8:45. It took a bit longer than expected, 3:40! I also had a little trouble finding the put-in, so I was further delayed and didn't actually make it to the put-in until 12:50. When I got there--a big eddy,--I saw two kayakers just heading out of the eddy. I hollered at them and they paddled back towards me. I asked them if one of them was Mike. They said no, but I could paddle with them anyway. I changed quickly and hopped in with them. They then said that there had been a group there that left a few minutes ago that had said they were waiting for someone. They had also said they'd be stopping to play a lot on the way down, so the two thought I'd be able to catch up with them.
Sure enough, at the first playspot, the group of three was there. I asked for Mike again and this time he was there. I said goodbye to the other two--they were doing a straight run because one of them was a first timer--and checked out the playwaves. There were two of them. I didn't really look at the first one, but the second one was a little big for me, but not as big as some of the ones on the Dryway.
I never made it all the way onto it. On my last attempt, I flipped over just as I was getting into it. I tried a few rolls, going over some waves and one small, not sticky hole that almost rolled me by itself. I made a couple more unsuccessful attempts, trying to breathe on each one to buy another attempt (which is probably why they were unsuccessful). On the second to last one, I could hear Mike's voice before I went back down, so I knew he was right there. This was a very good thing to know because, unlike T-ville, I really was out of attempts. I made the signal for a bow rescue, felt Mike's bow and pulled myself up. No swim. They were impressed by how long I stuck it out, which allowed them to catch up and me to avoid a swim.
After one small drop, we were into a long section of mostly moving flatwater. Mike remarked that this was his favorite section of the run as he took his feet out of the pegs and stretched them out on the bow. A disadvantage of having a short boat like mine is that the feet can't be taken out of the bow on a section like this. They asked me if I knew any flatwater moves in my short boat, so I tried a few stern squirts, rolling once on the second attempt and doing one really nice one. I also practiced some pivot turns in this section and attempted one bow stall, which needs a lot of work.
We finally got to the next whitewater portion, which slowly picked up. It was very similar to the lower West, except wider and with more playspots to catch on the fly. Mike caught one really nice-looking wave, but I couldn't get to it because he was on it.
This rapid culminates in a class III- drop and we eddied out right above it. There is a wide pourover in the center, so you have to go left or right. They recommended left since that's the side the takeout is on and it's right after the drop, so that's the way I went.
In the large takeout eddy, I located a wave right off shore, easily accessible from another microeddy just a few feet into the current. I surfed on this a bunch of times while I waited for the others to come down from surfing above. I was able to do some carving on this wave as I learned last weekend and stay on it a long time. Carving is the best. Next time I will try to do some full spins.
It was a great day, despite the long drive and the late start.
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