I had the day off Wednesday, so I decided to head down to Connecticut to visit my grandmother and great aunt and stop at T-ville on the way back.
I got to the park and play put in and saw many cars with boats. There were only about 5 kayakers in the water and there were even two people with boogie boards.
The level was just under 4 feet, over double the height (and much more volume) than my trip there on Tax Day. The rapid was barely recognizable. I had a somewhat difficult time figuring out which hole was which. The eddies for accessing the waves and holes were pretty much washed out, which was quite problematic for me. Basically, I couldn't paddle up to where I needed to be to get on the play features; I had to walk up the bank or in shallow water, which was quite painful with my 2mm neoprene socks and the sharp brownstone rocks of T-ville.
My first few rides, I just paddled up what was left of the eddy as far as I could and paddled into the current, missing the waves. The next couple of times, I got out of the boat, waded upstream, and got in from a farther up point. I didn't get to the features this way either, not having ferried out far enough. One of these times I did have a pretty good ride through the waves, just missing getting swallowed by the main play hole. After the hole, I even did an unintentional midriver stern squirt. I got in a few rolls on these rides too.
With my feet hurting, I decided I would go for one more ride. (I also had to get home pretty quickly to meat my friend to go up to New Hampshire and hike on Thursday). This ride failed to reach the hole as well, so I went for one more absolutely final one.
I made the hole, but it endered me instantly and actually held me for a few seconds. I tried to roll twice in the hole, but I was obviously on the wrong side. Then I flushed out and tried to roll a couple more times, but I was still against the current so I didn't make it. I decided to try one more time and then wet exit. I didn't make it: first swim of 2006. I was already into the next rapid when I wet exited. I started to swim over towards the river right side when I saw a kayak on my left catch up to my boat. He said to grab his loop, so I did and got my boat with the other hand. He took me over to the left side (a much shorter walk back than the right side). I got out and secured my boat above water level then climbed out of the gorge. (I didn't want to bring the boat up until I had my shoes on). There was still the matter of my paddle however. My rescuer had considerable distance to go to it on account of having brought me and the boat to shore and I was afraid the paddle would be history. I had visions of it getting stuck in the undercut rock below the broken dam.
I ran back to my car and drove down to the dam. My rescuer had been joined there by two friends. I didn't see any of them with my paddle. But then they told me it was on the beach above the dam. :-) They caught up to it in the large pool above the dam, which I had forgotten existed. I got the paddle and the boat and got home in time to leave again for the hike in New Hampshire at a reasonable time.
Thinking about the swim, I realized it was more of a mental breakdown than a physical one. The "last" roll attempt did not have to be the final one; I got a breath on that attempt, and could have made at least one more. Luckily, the water was so high I didn't make contact with any rocks during the swim and thanks to the other paddlers, I still have all my equipment. (You only own half the paddle now, Artemis).
Showing posts with label Artemis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Artemis. Show all posts
4/30/2006
West
To get some more class III experience, I headed up to the West River in Vermont for the weekend. Last fall, I did the Lower West, a class II run, but this time the purpose of the trip was to run the class III section immediately above that.
I drove up late after work on Friday night after a short detour to pick up a critical item I had left at home. I got into the Motel 6 in Brattleboro, VT at 1:20 AM. It was a beautiful night and on one straightaway on the highway I turned off my headlights (briefly!) to look at the stars.
I left the motel at 7:55 to get to the put in at 9, the meeting time. I paced the Mapquest time by 10 minutes, including a stop, so I could have slept longer :-(.
I found Josh, the guy from my pool sessions I'd arranged to paddle with and other assorted characters in our group, some of whom had met online at the Northeast Paddlers Messageboard. Josh explained that he stayed at Vern's house, another one in our group, the night before and that I could probably stay there that night. This meant that I had to drive back to Brattleboro to check out of my motel by noon to cancel my reservation as I had reserved for both nights. I would miss the first run, but that would be okay, because there would be 2 or 3 that day.
When I got back to the river, I had to wait about an hour for the group to get there after their run. Afterwards, we ate lunch and it was decided that we would run the lower in the afternoon, which was fine by me. We took a different channel around an island than I had taken in the fall. It was a lot narrower than the other side, pretty boney and no where near as pushy.
Below the confluence of the two channels, we caught up to the AMC group that included Artemis, Andy Novick and a few other familar faces. There was a pretty good rapid here and I did some ferries. I talked to Andy and Artemis a bit. Andy said he saw me catch some eddies in the middle of the river that other people wouldn't see. I'm not sure where he could have seen this, but it's good to get a compliment from him. I really hope I get to take his course in June.
The waves at Ducky Dump didn't seem as big as in the fall, but it could be just me. By the way, I've never heard this rapid called by that name, only referred to as "The Last Rapid."
One of the local paddlers had a big dinner at his house nearby and afterwards we went to Vern's. They woke me up at 6:30 AM and I was pretty tired. I went back to bed while they finished breakfast. We then drove back to the takeout and waited a while for the rest of the group to get there. It was a cold morning and I was still tired, so I rested in the car for a bit.
Finally, with the air warming up quickly, we did the shuttle up to the dam, the start of the class III section. Josh, Vern, one other and I portaged the very first rapid, which is quite big, fast and shallow, described by some as a class IV. After we put on, there was some pretty good action. There were plenty of waves and holes, a little bigger than the lower, and not as many ways to avoid hitting some feature.
I flipped a couple of times on some squirrly eddy lines on river right, but rolled each time. I followed Vern closely past Boof Rock, a class III rapid with some pretty big waves, maybe 6' or more.
After a few more bends, we reached the toughest rapid on the run, The Dumplings. I followed Josh closely through the truck-sized boulders of this rapid. We hugged the left side of the first one, then ferried hard toward river right to avoid being slammed into the second one. I ended up too far to the right, headed towards the third boulder. I tried to ferry back to the left but flipped over. I tried to roll quickly to avoid hitting the rock, but I was rolling against the current so I didn't make it. However, the current swept me away from the rock and into the middle. I tried two more rolls in some big waves, but I was still going against the current. I was expecting my first swim of 2006, but I made it on my fourth attempt, when I was finally turned around and wasn't fighting the current. I guess it's time to learn my offside roll.
There were a couple of surfing waves below here, but we were at the take out shortly. We ate a quick lunch and ran the lower again, which was a little anticlimactic.
It was a great trip (Friday night not withstanding)and I was pleased to have made it down the class III section unscathed. I am now 11/11 on combat rolls in 2006, which is excellent. That means I'd have to swim 12 times in a row to not have a 50% roll, which is the guideline for the intermediate course. Even with last year's roll, I would not swim 12 times in a row. So I'd have to say the season's off to an excellent start, with the help of all the pool sessions over the winter.
I drove up late after work on Friday night after a short detour to pick up a critical item I had left at home. I got into the Motel 6 in Brattleboro, VT at 1:20 AM. It was a beautiful night and on one straightaway on the highway I turned off my headlights (briefly!) to look at the stars.
I left the motel at 7:55 to get to the put in at 9, the meeting time. I paced the Mapquest time by 10 minutes, including a stop, so I could have slept longer :-(.
I found Josh, the guy from my pool sessions I'd arranged to paddle with and other assorted characters in our group, some of whom had met online at the Northeast Paddlers Messageboard. Josh explained that he stayed at Vern's house, another one in our group, the night before and that I could probably stay there that night. This meant that I had to drive back to Brattleboro to check out of my motel by noon to cancel my reservation as I had reserved for both nights. I would miss the first run, but that would be okay, because there would be 2 or 3 that day.
When I got back to the river, I had to wait about an hour for the group to get there after their run. Afterwards, we ate lunch and it was decided that we would run the lower in the afternoon, which was fine by me. We took a different channel around an island than I had taken in the fall. It was a lot narrower than the other side, pretty boney and no where near as pushy.
Below the confluence of the two channels, we caught up to the AMC group that included Artemis, Andy Novick and a few other familar faces. There was a pretty good rapid here and I did some ferries. I talked to Andy and Artemis a bit. Andy said he saw me catch some eddies in the middle of the river that other people wouldn't see. I'm not sure where he could have seen this, but it's good to get a compliment from him. I really hope I get to take his course in June.
The waves at Ducky Dump didn't seem as big as in the fall, but it could be just me. By the way, I've never heard this rapid called by that name, only referred to as "The Last Rapid."
One of the local paddlers had a big dinner at his house nearby and afterwards we went to Vern's. They woke me up at 6:30 AM and I was pretty tired. I went back to bed while they finished breakfast. We then drove back to the takeout and waited a while for the rest of the group to get there. It was a cold morning and I was still tired, so I rested in the car for a bit.
Finally, with the air warming up quickly, we did the shuttle up to the dam, the start of the class III section. Josh, Vern, one other and I portaged the very first rapid, which is quite big, fast and shallow, described by some as a class IV. After we put on, there was some pretty good action. There were plenty of waves and holes, a little bigger than the lower, and not as many ways to avoid hitting some feature.
I flipped a couple of times on some squirrly eddy lines on river right, but rolled each time. I followed Vern closely past Boof Rock, a class III rapid with some pretty big waves, maybe 6' or more.
After a few more bends, we reached the toughest rapid on the run, The Dumplings. I followed Josh closely through the truck-sized boulders of this rapid. We hugged the left side of the first one, then ferried hard toward river right to avoid being slammed into the second one. I ended up too far to the right, headed towards the third boulder. I tried to ferry back to the left but flipped over. I tried to roll quickly to avoid hitting the rock, but I was rolling against the current so I didn't make it. However, the current swept me away from the rock and into the middle. I tried two more rolls in some big waves, but I was still going against the current. I was expecting my first swim of 2006, but I made it on my fourth attempt, when I was finally turned around and wasn't fighting the current. I guess it's time to learn my offside roll.
There were a couple of surfing waves below here, but we were at the take out shortly. We ate a quick lunch and ran the lower again, which was a little anticlimactic.
It was a great trip (Friday night not withstanding)and I was pleased to have made it down the class III section unscathed. I am now 11/11 on combat rolls in 2006, which is excellent. That means I'd have to swim 12 times in a row to not have a 50% roll, which is the guideline for the intermediate course. Even with last year's roll, I would not swim 12 times in a row. So I'd have to say the season's off to an excellent start, with the help of all the pool sessions over the winter.
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