Codger_64
Moderator
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2004
- Messages
- 62,324
I frequent pool-drop rivers too. There is a certain amount of safety in that generally, no matter how badly you screw up a run, there is always a place down stream to recover and rest. The upstream pool also allows a chance to scout the drop before it is run. This is particularly helpful when running a new stream or one which has moving obstructions.
As for age, well it really isn't age so much as physical limitations which usually come with age. Often, body parts just don't work like they used to. Injuries accumulated over a lifetime tend to add up. And any way you cut it, paddlesports are a physical endevour.
Experience allows us to paddle smarter instead of harder, to work with the water instead of against it. I tend to forget this until I get to a tricky rapid with inexperienced paddlers in front of me. I see them bunch up when they should spread out, like drivers taking an exit ramp at a high rate of speed, unable to avoid a pileup when one of the leaders makes a mistake. I watch them power foreward thinking that speed will overcome the force of the current, not realizing that speed only makes mistakes more inevitable and impacts harder.
I see them take the faster water in the outside of bends because the water looks smoother there. But I tend to take the shallower, slower water inside the bend, even if there are more rocks there evidenced by caps and rollers. I've learned that the outside is usually where sweepers lie as the current undercuts the bank. And travelind slower than the current, via backpaddling, gives more time for observation, decisions and route changing.
I almost never see them catch an eddy in a longer run. At least not on purpose. And if they do it by accident, they almost always come near capsize, unprepared for the change in direction and momentum. Leaving an eddy is almost as traumatic for them. Often as not, they will reenter the current backwards and then try to get turned around. Another good opportunity to capsize.
For the experienced paddler, an eddy is your friend. The current there is calm or even moving upstream against the obstruction, requiring very little effort to stay there until ready to move downstream. It gives one the opportunity to scout or rest. Or allow fellow paddlers to catch up, or downstream paddlers to recover from a capsize. Few sights are as harrowing as seeing a mass pileup of canoes when a leader capsizes and the followers are too close, going to fast to avoid collisions with swamped boats and spilled paddlers.
As for age, well it really isn't age so much as physical limitations which usually come with age. Often, body parts just don't work like they used to. Injuries accumulated over a lifetime tend to add up. And any way you cut it, paddlesports are a physical endevour.
Experience allows us to paddle smarter instead of harder, to work with the water instead of against it. I tend to forget this until I get to a tricky rapid with inexperienced paddlers in front of me. I see them bunch up when they should spread out, like drivers taking an exit ramp at a high rate of speed, unable to avoid a pileup when one of the leaders makes a mistake. I watch them power foreward thinking that speed will overcome the force of the current, not realizing that speed only makes mistakes more inevitable and impacts harder.
I see them take the faster water in the outside of bends because the water looks smoother there. But I tend to take the shallower, slower water inside the bend, even if there are more rocks there evidenced by caps and rollers. I've learned that the outside is usually where sweepers lie as the current undercuts the bank. And travelind slower than the current, via backpaddling, gives more time for observation, decisions and route changing.
I almost never see them catch an eddy in a longer run. At least not on purpose. And if they do it by accident, they almost always come near capsize, unprepared for the change in direction and momentum. Leaving an eddy is almost as traumatic for them. Often as not, they will reenter the current backwards and then try to get turned around. Another good opportunity to capsize.
For the experienced paddler, an eddy is your friend. The current there is calm or even moving upstream against the obstruction, requiring very little effort to stay there until ready to move downstream. It gives one the opportunity to scout or rest. Or allow fellow paddlers to catch up, or downstream paddlers to recover from a capsize. Few sights are as harrowing as seeing a mass pileup of canoes when a leader capsizes and the followers are too close, going to fast to avoid collisions with swamped boats and spilled paddlers.
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