Back on the water finally, longest working yet
Man, I had a great time on the water last night. Did some of my best surfing ever. I seemed to be able to pick right up where I left off after about a month break. With a little advice from some guy named Jewls, was able to spin halfway fairly easily. The trick was to use those edges to spin, vice paddle.
I also had a very eventful working at wet bottom. There was a weird sort of curling wave on river left that only one person remotely attempted to surf. I went up and did what he did, catching the foam wave formation to surf a bit, then was drawn up into the side curling wave/hole thing above. I side surfed it and did some good edging and bracing for a while, but soon realized that it was not going to let me out.
After trying a few things I was violently flipped. Feeling that things were too turbulent to roll, I waited for probably five long seconds, before realizing I was going no where. I then tried using my paddle to grab some current to draw me out, but that only seemed to suck me down even more. After I felt I had no air left I attempted as hard of a roll as I could muster and got all the way up, but was window shaded back down, still in the same exact spot.
Out of breath, I pulled the skirt, but the force of the water made it really difficult to get my body out of the boat. Finally out, I popped up for a brief second before being sucked back under by the current. Feeling like I might actually be in a bit of trouble, I timed a couple breaths and then turned on the gas for a surface swim out of there. I thought for sure this was not going to work and I was going to have to try one of those fabled swim down escapes, which my brain really didn't want to attempt.
The top swim worked and I was free and for some reason I was completely calm the whole time. I think I stayed calm because I could really sense just how stuck I was and that I needed to NOT freak out. People told me I actually came up with a smile. I was pretty happy to be out of that hole and happy with myself for thinking of all of the things I thought while in there. I was probably not in any true dire danger, as the worst that would have probably happen is I would have maybe passed out, washed out before too long, and someone would have drug me out of the water. Still, that would not have been much fun.
At any rate, my surf control is getting pretty darned good. It is to the point that I have time to think about what is going on and try some new things. I surfed for quite a while at MD and VA chutes, before and after our gorge run, and I actually flipped maybe twice, and was almost always able to get back to the eddy before getting pushed down river very far at all. I was even able to make some great bracing saves and at one point I just about did a backdeck roll instinctively (I don't have a backdeck roll, but the motion happened on it's own, and I damned near came up.
Boat: Rodeo, G-Force
Level: 3.4
Run: Mather Gorge and Chutes
Wave descriptions:
I also had a very eventful working at wet bottom. There was a weird sort of curling wave on river left that only one person remotely attempted to surf. I went up and did what he did, catching the foam wave formation to surf a bit, then was drawn up into the side curling wave/hole thing above. I side surfed it and did some good edging and bracing for a while, but soon realized that it was not going to let me out.
After trying a few things I was violently flipped. Feeling that things were too turbulent to roll, I waited for probably five long seconds, before realizing I was going no where. I then tried using my paddle to grab some current to draw me out, but that only seemed to suck me down even more. After I felt I had no air left I attempted as hard of a roll as I could muster and got all the way up, but was window shaded back down, still in the same exact spot.
Out of breath, I pulled the skirt, but the force of the water made it really difficult to get my body out of the boat. Finally out, I popped up for a brief second before being sucked back under by the current. Feeling like I might actually be in a bit of trouble, I timed a couple breaths and then turned on the gas for a surface swim out of there. I thought for sure this was not going to work and I was going to have to try one of those fabled swim down escapes, which my brain really didn't want to attempt.
The top swim worked and I was free and for some reason I was completely calm the whole time. I think I stayed calm because I could really sense just how stuck I was and that I needed to NOT freak out. People told me I actually came up with a smile. I was pretty happy to be out of that hole and happy with myself for thinking of all of the things I thought while in there. I was probably not in any true dire danger, as the worst that would have probably happen is I would have maybe passed out, washed out before too long, and someone would have drug me out of the water. Still, that would not have been much fun.
At any rate, my surf control is getting pretty darned good. It is to the point that I have time to think about what is going on and try some new things. I surfed for quite a while at MD and VA chutes, before and after our gorge run, and I actually flipped maybe twice, and was almost always able to get back to the eddy before getting pushed down river very far at all. I was even able to make some great bracing saves and at one point I just about did a backdeck roll instinctively (I don't have a backdeck roll, but the motion happened on it's own, and I damned near came up.
Boat: Rodeo, G-Force
Level: 3.4
Run: Mather Gorge and Chutes
Wave descriptions:
- Wet Bottom had a strange curling wave that sucked you in and kept you there... big time.
- MD - PERFECT hole that you could drop right in and spin
- VA - Nice glassy wave easy to catch and just sit there