I’m not a river paddler or a white water paddler. My goals are not to run class V’s for kicks. But on the other hand, I can’t count all the really good sea kayakers I’ve heard say you need white water experience to be a better sea kayaker. Ok then, I certainly do want to be a better sea kayaker. And you certainly can’t deny white water is a dynamic environment. Well, it’s a new class room. So don’t worry that my blog is heading off in a new direction. Far from it. When you see my Pyranha, know my heart is still lost at sea, I’m just in training mode.

Here at home we have a tiny little river. I really shouldn’t be mean to it, but it is tiny. Most days you’d be hard pressed to get down it without getting hung up on a couple rocks or a sandy wash. You certainly can’t work on your surf skills! But the river has become popular for inflatable rafting as there is about a 5 foot drop from one end of town to the other. But it’s not really fun unless you’ve had a lot of water. The last few days. . . we’ve had a lot of water. Nothing but rain. The river is getting quick and muddy, and yes, there now are a few little play spots as well. (not in the picture above though. . )

When I first slid into the river at my normal launch point I was quickly whisked off. In a quick flash I couldn’t help but remember all the tales I was told as a kid about how dangerous the river was in flood. Yet as an adult I knew that it averaged 2-3 feet in depth and most of the rapids were normally less than a foot deep. This was not a “big” river. I was hoping that maybe with all the rain it would be, for a day or two, a slightly less small river.

As I had said the river drops about 5 feet through town. Those 5 feet come mainly in 3 small drops. The rest of the river is stone filled riffles with small deeper, wider, bits. Yesterday though most of the stones were far under the surface. All the riffles were mostly gone. Near our town park I found one really nice little spot to play, but no eddies near by, and I was long past it in a flash. Later though I did find another nice spot. Nothing fancy but a solid little wave that was holding together nicely behind a small drop. Right dead center of the river. Again there were no eddies nearby, but I did have time just to go for it. I dropped my paddle in the water, and with a quick twist of the blade, was instantly facing up stream just above and to the right of the wave. I jammed up my knee and ferry glided right into the little hole. Wonderful! I might have learned something on the wolf.

For a moment I was shaky. I’d almost lose the wave, or get surfed too far ahead and start diving. I was tensing up big time. But somehow I managed to stay on the wave and not get blown down the river. Time was indeed passing. The longer I held my ground, the more the tension started to ease and I could think.

You see, the edgings the thing. No, more than that, it’s everything. In a sea kayak I’ve never felt a need to really jam up on an edge so far that my hips were seizing. It was not natural. So in white water my edges were lazy big time. In white water, even baby white water, you want a big edge and to be able to switch edges on a dime. This is the place where you want to be “on a swivel” as they say. With practice I found I could work across the little wave and back again just with the correct edge. Cool. When I would get too far ahead of the wave and my nose would take a big dive into the on-coming flow, I had to remember to edge and slice the nose out. I could not just lean back as my sea kayak brain wanted to do.

I also got comfortable edging back into the wave and not into the current. (Another bad, big water assumption.) I would try to get dead center in the wave and hold my position just by edging the boat. Then, at some point I found myself stern ruddering! Quite unconsciously. Somehow I had sort of floated off and my subconscious brain just took over. Something must have clicked while I was “away”. My mind said, “hey this is just surf” and went into surf mode without my help. Once my brain understood, I mean actually got it, that I was surfing a wave behind me while facing up river, my skills (measly as they are) came back! I had real control. Now I could see I was surfing a puny wave in a little river and I was in control. I was aware of being very relaxed and having fun. Believe it or not I spent about 25 minutes on that wave just lost in the game. Hyper focused and obsessive!? well. .

Realizing I was starting to get a bit dizzy. . . and a bit nauseous from watching the water rush by for so long, I decided to spin off back down the river. I had to wipe big pools of sweat of my face and get my eyes to re-focus on the “big picture”. Luckily I remembered to change my edge when I came off the wave and back into the current. Now I realized my tongue had turned to dust and finally got out some water and about wiped out the bottle.

About a mile further down I came to where an old bridge and was marked by 3 big weedy islands. Here they squeezed the river into faster channels as it slid by. I dived into the eddy behind the middle island. The fast current would make a perfect place to practice my ferry glides. At first I did not put much of an angle on the boat and I’d paddle like hell and go nowhere. I had to feel the current. Then as I brought the boat into more of a forty-five degree angle I’d zip across and behind the next island. Then I’d think about my edge again, set up like the newbie I am and with a crazy edge, blast back out into the flow and glide back over to the center island, then across the eddy and over to the next little island. Back and forth I went across the river. Over and over, and over jumping from eddy to eddy and watching my edge. At one point I broke out with a weak edge and almost got rolled. I braced up. Good thing. The water is only like 2 feet deep there. Luckily it happened fast enough that I didn’t go sliding down the river.

Later I was riding the current past Circus World Museum and looking for any little wave or rock to play in. There was a show going on in the Big Top (which by the way is now a “tiny top”.) The elephants were doing their tricks. Right there, I found a little wave and parked on it. With almost no effort I sat there and watched the elephants. One big guy in a blue shirt suddenly noticed a little red boat in the river facing the wrong way and going nowhere. He turned in his seat to watch the guy in the river. Now I could’nt concentrate. I peeled out down to my jeep just a few yards away.

The moral of my story? Edging is everything?. . . ww/river kayaking makes you a better sea kayaker?. . . I can write 20 paragraphs about nothing? Some dogs like potatoes chips while many animals dislike sauerkraut?

AND a little free whine. . . My god how my hips hurt! Every time I move, the pain makes me giggle, not sure why. What an old geezer I’ve become.