It had been a few years in the coming, but I finally acquired for myself a new helmet. This is the twofold problem that I have: that CKS is my local kayak shop and that I work one door down the street.
So I caught them on a day when they were holding an end of summer sale, and thought what the hell, I'll go all in and came out with a new Sweet Rocker HC. While I don't have any other Sweet helmet experience to compare it to I haven't been disappointed.
Sweet Rocker HC
Two main impressions on this item: it's massive and it's quite possibly the most comfortable out-of-box helmet I've ever tried on my head. The bulk comes from the fact that this helmet is constructed around a hard compressed foam body not unlike a bike helmet, then layered with a full coverage Kevlar shell, and then that is covered by a durable hard plastic shell coating. From all that' I've read, this is generally considered to be one of the most protective pieces of head gear on the market, but it's not small. My perspective is probably a bit skewed being as the helmet I had been wearing for about five years was just a Kevlar shell with a little bit of foam padding on the inside, so quite the change. The coverage over the brow, temples, and occiput is all cut quite low too, adding to the fact that there is just a lot of very useful material on your head. I also keep attached the removable sun vizor which definitely increases the relative size of what is attached to your head. It's pretty smart though in that it's easy to adjust up or down so as not to interfere too much with your view. It has taken me a while to get used to it so I stopped banging it with my forearm when going for a bow draw.
As for a word on fit... as I mentioned this one was very comfortable straight out of the box. That being said, I still had to get creative with some foam pads to get it perfect. I don't think any helmet will ever be a perfect fit without some customization. Sweet was quite generous with the handily cut peel and stick foam pads. All I had to do was meticulously test the position of each one to build out a pattern and it was a done deal. Now it feels uniformly snug and I can bend over to touch my toes without it strapped on my head and it actually stays in place.
The sizing, though, was initially the most curious thing... When trying them on in the store, the Medium was way too small. Mostly it was too narrow. Then the Large is almost too large for me. I have it fitting very well, but still I had to use most of the foam that came with it and generally have to keep the adjustment system that goes across the back cranked down nearly as tight as it will go... not all the way, but almost. The one system of the helmet that I find overly complex is the chin strap. It's a double slider type of system that is very secure, but next to impossible to adjust while it's being worn.
Another nice feature is that with all the extra coverage, this helmet is actually quite warm. It even came with insulated ear guards that can be snapped into place. I haven't needed them yet, but I expect I will be breaking them out now that winter boating is upon us.
This helmet comes in a Full Face version as well. I seriously considered getting it like this, but I couldn't reconcile myself with having the extra bulk around my face all the time just for the relatively few situations when I think it's actually warranted. That being said, on one of my first runs out with my shiny new head gear, I was yards a away from another paddler when she did a most impressive face grind on a rock at the end of Trashcan in Bailey. Thankfully, she DID have the full face version of this helmet and definitely saved her chin and a few teeth.
The Rocker HC is not the cheapest helmet on the market to be sure, but I don't think the protection of my head is where I want to cut any corners. This helmet is large and in charge and is probably not for everyone. Honestly, if you are sticking to Class III (for example), I think this particular helmet would be overkill and you would find it hot and bulky... But for steeper water, I really wouldn't want to be wearing anything else.
Just for grins, here's a shot of me looking like a total goof... but there's the helmet.
And yeah, I still keep it in the nifty carrying bag that it came in...
Tragically low water aside in my part of the Great State of Colorado, this has been a pretty good kayaking year for a few of us here. For 2012 I have a record of at least 818 river miles (thus far!), probably about 750 of which were from the seat of my Pyranha Shiva.
Back in April I wrote a review of my then new to me Medium Shiva. Naturally, I had only had it out a hand full of times then... so a followup is due.
My end of season verdict: I am still enamored with this boat. Like anything however, there are some characteristics that I have given me some trouble.
Speed
Long Nose
Pro: The Shiva is fast! At 8'6", give her two or three strokes, the bow raises up a tad and you can be at top speed, which is not a bad clip. Also, the front is very tapered making it easy to get good vertical strokes without feeling like you're reaching around the boat. For a comparison, I was running the Baily section of the North Fork of the South Platte one day when the fellow I was paddling with commented that I was outpacing his Stomper by a fair margin. He was counting that we were taking the same number of strokes while in the Class II paddle out. Personally, I usually really appreciate a fast boat. I find it really helps when negotiating larger rapids, or when accelerating to punch that hole or to square up to a boof. Basically, there are lots of situations when I think speed will keep you out of trouble.
Con: The Shiva is fast! There have been a few instances when I have overshot my approach to a boof or some such and ended up biting off too much rock. This usually just leads to a bunch of ungraceful floundering. I'll fully admit, though, that this is really more paddler error than any issue with the boat.
Stability
Extra Volume Stern
Pro: There's a lot of it. The Shiva is built around a subtle Suede design which puts its widest point around the back of the cockpit. It is this feature, I feel, that most contributes to the boat's stability, especially when it is moving through the water. Also, the back deck is very high volume and nicely rounded with quite high side walls giving the Shiva excellent secondary stability. The front deck is pitched too allowing for a quick and predictable resurface after a drop or through a hole. At 80 gallons, there's enough volume to keep you happily on the surface.
The Author in Middle Tampax on Bailey
Con: Until you get used to it, primary stability is rather touchy. The Shiva does an excellent job of being able to switch from edge to edge when, say, flying off the back side of a rock boof... but I suspect this would make it feel initially less stable if you're not one who feels comfortable being in a kayak.
Edge Control & Maneuverability
Pro: For technically a displacement hull boat, the Shiva has fairly well defined edge control. The edge on the Shiva is nothing like the edge on a Burn, but it's there. The edges are placed kind of high up on the hull curvature, so there is still a rounded underside to make for generally softer landings. Also, the rolled edges make it very predictable and stable when bouncing over rocks. Don't let the softer chines fool you, this boat still whips into micro eddies like a champ.
Launch Pad right under the Seat.
As for overall maneuverability, I think an important aspect is a boat's rocker. The Shiva has what I've always called a progressive rocker. When sitting on the living room floor, the stern of the boat is off the carpet starting at the back of the seat, and the front of the boat rises off somewhere around the knees. For me, this seems to make it handle as if it was shorter than it actually is. The center of the boat makes for a nice spin disc and launch pad. You can see exactly where that pad is by the abrasion pattern. This progressive rocker also allows the bow to easily ride up, helping the boat maintain its stance on top of the water. Combined with the high tapering around the nose, the front half of the boat tends to ride up and out over the water when you hit a rock, as opposed to being deflected to the side. Result: auto-boof.
Fat Bob Styles the Lower Drop of Tampax
Con: It is essentially a displacement hull and not a planing hull. There are pros and cons to both to be sure; for me, when creeking I'd rather a displacement hull, it's softer over rocks and on landings. However, I have noticed that the displacement hull does not do as well in big water. Even with the Shiva's moderate chines, getting the boat to hold a solid line in big pushy water has been my biggest challenge. Plus, it wants to be heeled far over to the side to get an edge to fully engage.
Outfitting
Pro: Pyranha has their Connect 30 outfitting in this boat. There is an updated outfitting that can come in the later 2012 models, but I haven't played with that yet. I like it, not everyone does, but I do. It's simple, comfortable, and easy to work with. What I really appreciate about how this outfitting works with this boat is that I don't feel like the front deck is too massive and in my way and my knees don't feel too splayed out. Honestly, one of my chief complaints about the Liquidlogic creekers is that my knees feel way to wide for comfort. For storage in the ckockpit area, the water bottle is held vertically against the front column by a shock cord. Between that and the seat there is a handy area on top of the rail to hold a throw bag, but I had to add a simple webbing and clip around that rail to clip it in. I have written anther post about my outfitting additions and what I came up with to secure my Watershed camera bag.
Knee Brace
Lateral Knee Stability
Con: Like any boat, at lest for me, a decent amount of work has to go into the outfitting to get it really dialed in. It always feels more comfortable to me to raise my seat, and the Shiva has been no exception. The NRS Hot Seat is peal and stick and had been every comfortable, raising the seat by about an inch. Usually, I prefer to move my seat forward, but that hasn't been the case here. It has felt great to me in its factory neutral position. The most amount of work I have had to put into the outfitting has been for my knees. The Connect 30 knee braces are just that, braces... not full wrap around knee cups.... so I had to make my own. I had to cut foam blocks into scoops and glue them to the hull to the outside of the knee brace. Now it holds my knee from both sides, but I definitely had to put in the work. Another troubling observation here: the ratchet for the back band connects to the knee braces and puts more torquing stress on that plastic than I would like to see when the back band is really loaded. In fact, I've seen this piece fail after some heavy use and the whole knee brace had to be replaced.
Conclusion
In summation I really like the Shiva and fully expect to get another one when or if I ever wear this one out. It's fast, stable, predictable, rolls easily and is highly responsive. I have no issue with staying in this boat all day and I can scramble in and out quickly. For big water situations I might like to have a bit more of the chine, but for steep creeks or shallower environments it's a machine. The stern is high volume and easily accessible; I can easily get a full drybag, med kit, pin kit, and breakdown paddle without really noticing a change in the handling characteristics. Fair warning, this boat is rather heavy. It is constructed with a double thick hull and really it's just a lot of plastic and boat. At 48 pounds, plus all your gear, it can feel like a lot to lug around on the steeper hikes to be sure.... But on water it's a tank!
It's true, I do love photography, It's such a wonderful excuse to go slow and really take in what's around you... especially when floating down a river.
SO..... I have just made another blog (yes, I know) that is my new gallery. To avoid confusion, it's called RiverVibe Photography. I will be updating it often with new work, so please take a look and tell me what you think.
I think I have a problem.... This low water year in Colorado has inspired me to get yet another kayak
Early this spring I got my hands on a shiny new Pyranha Shiva creeker and have absolutely loved dialing it in, but the rocks have been so high this year that I've been very troubled by how much nice new plastic I've had to leave behind. So I got it into my head to find an old creek or downriver boat that was long and old-school and made the winter Numbers and Pine Creek a little more challenging. Well, last week I found it! The Dagger Crossfire is a 1991 design, 11 feet long, 66 gallons, and a radical design in its day.
In the past week I've only been able to get it into the water once in the Salida town river park. I can tell already that this boat is stable and accelerates like a dream. If it was a little bit more rockered and had little higher deck, it would be a fantastic creek racer. This week provided a beautiful evening with kids and dogs playing in the water and trees in the height of their Fall turning.
I feel as though I really lucked out with the condition that this boat is still in, even the outfitting was in great shape. That said, it did need a little work... screws needed tightening, hip-pads needed installing, and a backrest needed to be created. It was the backrest that needed the most work and turned into quite the little artistic system made out of minicell foam! I had wanted to keep whatever I came up with to be generally in keeping with the period of the kayak and I looked to the old Perception foam block for inspiration.
Backrest System
Here's what I came up with:
What I'm really happy with is that it is adjustable. The wedge (resting between the stern center column and the backrest block) can be positioned up or down, thus moving the whole block forward or back. Holding it all together is a simple strap of flat webbing and a buckle. The webbing runs from one gear loop that is part of the outfitting forward though the block by a slit, across the front of the block to the other side, back through another slit, back through the other gear loop and back over the top of the wedge to buckle back on itself. The angles that the webbing makes across these interlocking pieces of foam hold them both equally down and back against the stern column.... so... if the backrest block is positioned forward or back, the tension on the webbing will always equalize, thus holding the whole thing at the desired setting. It might sound confusing, but a picture is worth a thousand words....
Far back (loose) position
Far forward (tight) position
Anyway, I'm really looking forward to spending a lot of time in this classic kayak for years to come.
Lots of people take cameras in their kayaks down river and so I know I'm not the first to come up with their own little system for keeping it all together and dry, but I quite like what I have working now. It's simple and secure.
Equal to the camera itself, the most important element is my lovely red Watershed Ocoee Drybag. In my opinion, Watershed is by far the best drybag on the market. It's zip-lock style closure and rugged construction make it one of the only products I would trust to keep my camera or laptop dry. Also, the Ocoee is the smallest bag they make which when closed, rolled, and clipped shut makes a tube shape that fits just perfectly between my legs in my kayak. Recently, I invested in an upgrade to this bag when I got the newly re-deigned padded liner. Another bag in itself, this liner is made to fit whichever size of Watershed you have and can be removed and zippered closed if you wished to use it that way, but in truth, it fits so perfectly into it's waterproof home that it takes some effort to get it in and out.
Padded liner with camera, 2 lenses, large and small microfiber towel, pouch for extra battery and film, etc.
Gear loop through center column
But those are all other people's great ideas that I'm just using. What really dialed my system in for me was how I devised to secure it into my Shiva creek boat. Like most modern creekers, the Shiva has a plastic center column just afore the cockpit rim to which a water bottle can be affixed by a bungee. This bungee cord is kept in place by passing through a little hole made into the center column. I realized that there was just enough room to pass a small bit of cordage through this hole as well... in fact, it's the perfect size to just accommodate the type of cord I used to make my typical Prussic Loops and indeed, that is what I tied to create a gear loop. Using a locking carabiner of course, I can now secure the drybag to this loop using any one of it's six built in attachment points. I prefer to use one on the end as this fits better between my legs. And the best parts are that the water bottle still has it's home (inside the gear loop) and I made the loop just long enough so that the bag can be flipped out onto the front deck, making it much easier to get in and out of the boat without unclipping and removing the bag!
Bag can flip up and rest on deck without being unclipped.
Ocoee Watershed fits perfectly and comfortably in the creek boat!
Ta-Da! A simple, secure and safe system for keeping my gear in my boat. Should my boat and I ever go on our own unexpected whitewater adventures the gear loop is long enough to let the bag safely swing out of the way as I swim past and yet the loop is small enough that there is nothing on which I could get caught on my way out... though I hope I hope I don't end up using this safety feature anytime soon!
Back in April I read an interesting article from the Matador Notebook about the gear that technical photographers and film makers take with them into the field. It's true, even if you're not a professional film maker, you still end up spending a good deal of time thinking about what gear you want with you. Your gear is like you support system, especially when we venture out to explore the planet in a kayak. No matter how fantastic your companions are... what makes or breaks your day really comes down to you and your equipment. At least... I obsess about it...
Something I have struggled with from time to time is what to do with my hands on my paddle. Specifically what, if anything, to do about modifying the grip.
The paddle that I have used for a long time is the AT2. I love this paddle and have no real complaints about it, but sometimes my hands would slip at inopportune times. I have tried the paddle wax, but never really liked how it felt on my hands. Also, I was never keen on having to re-apply. Earlier this summer I wrapped the grips of one of my paddles with medical tape. This I found to be a huge improvement. The texture really addressed the grip problem, but in the end I wasn't as happy as I knew I could be. For one, the medical tape hasn't proving to be as resilient as I had hoped; and for another, the cloth tape absorbed water and actually made my hands colder in the wind.
So I went all in and conducted a $16 experiment: bike handlebar wrap. I walked down to Subculture Cyclery, one of the local bike shops here in Salida. They have a really neat new building by the way, and they are all super nice and helpful. After some minutes fondling every variety of wrap they had on offer, I finally went with the Deda Elementi brand tape. I like it because it' is nonabsorbent and has a nice high grip rubbery like texture. At home that night I spent not quite an hour wrapping my grips. Starting on the blade end, I affixed the wrap with red Duct Tape and coiled it around so the tape overlapped about a third of it's width. After I wrapped passed the bend in the paddle, I finished it off with another stopper of tape. If you are wondering, I picked this direction so it would have slightly more texture coming in from the blade as that is how my hands would usually slip.
Consensus so far is that I really dig it! What I hadn't expected was how much fatter it would make the hold on the paddle. This threw me off right at first, but very soon I wasn't even noticing the change. The very next day I took my improved paddle to Gore Canyon to really try it out, I figured I could always take it off if I didn't like it, but on it stayed. It had been pointed out to me that the bike wrap might get a slippery or slimy texture when wet, but this turns out not to be the case, at least not with this brand. Also, I took great care to wrap it tightly and evenly and it has so far been rock solid and shows no sign of slippage.
If you want to customize the feel of your paddle, I highly recommend giving this a try. If, however, you have smaller hands or the paddle feels large in your hands already, I might advise against this alteration. There probably are some skinnier tapes out there that I would love to learn about. After a couple weeks of paddling almost every day, I still feel like I have greatly improved my dexterity and control over my paddle.
Recently, I responded to the thread on the Mountain Buzz about new boats with edge. The poster described his experience in a Liquid Logic Vision 44. While sitting on the edge of the river awaiting rafts to come by to photograph, I wrote out a response that I thought was a nice brief summation of my thoughts on the Vision and Pyranha Molan, my last two freestyle boats. What follows is a lightly edited copy of that response.
Well I like them both, but they are very different. The Molan I feel has a bit tighter control when it's surfing on its hull, and it feels looser across the wave or pile, spins very well... The Vision has more rocker and lower volume ends and so it was for me much more predictable when engaging the bow or stern. The Molan is so bulbous that I find it more challenging to initiate and then it tends to cork out in random directions. When you do nail it, the loop goes huge though. The rocker of the Vision helped with surfing too.
As far as weight, I'm about 140 and feel almost too light for the Medium Molan. The length is good, but there is a bit too much air down around my feet. On the other hand, it's a very comfortable boat.
When I look at the bow of the new Pyranha Jed, it looks like they were trying to address that overly bulbous bow.
There is a huge amount of personal preference and style that goes into what you are going to like in a playboat.
I stay continually amazed by the advances in materials, R & D, and attention to detail that have become standard in the world of high-end outdoor pursuit gear.
After I got in my Shiva, it became clear that I would need to invest in a new skirt as well. My favorite IR Suparman skirt just did not fit on the boat's XL cockpit, so I had to resort to using an old BomberGear EZ -Fit that I still had. This worked well enough, but the stitching was fraying and a couple of holes were getting worse each time I stretched it on the boat. Then, I was happy I had gone ahead and ordered a new one, because my slide under the MJ rock on the Embudo ripped yet another hole clear through at the rim.
So anyway, after some research I decided on the new IR Klingon Empire. Originally I had wanted to find a skirt with an implosion bar, but learned that many manufacturers are getting away from this feature. And here's what sold me on the Klingon: (apart from me being an old Treky) the wrapped bungee rand is coated right in the middle with an extra-sticky rubber to really lock onto the cockpit rim.
The Shiva (all three sizes) have a keyhole that measures 93 inches in circumference. Skirtfit.com is a fantastic resource where you can find almost any boat's cockpit dimensions. Use that info to dial in your next skirt size. For IR, that equates to an XL keyhole.
First thing, I tried and succeeded in getting this skirt on the boat dry... a huge improvement and a real time saver in some situations. I noticed also that it was actually a looser fit than I had expected. I guess I was used to having to give myself a hernia getting my old skirts on. On the other hand, I'm more confident I could release it with one hand if I was in a tricky spot. When it's on though, it is rock solid. I tried to push it in and pull it from all directions and I never could get the rim to budge. I am completely confidant in this skirt's ability to stay on the boat.
IR makes both a Klingon, and the new Klingon Empire. They both include the same principal of the sticky rubber on the rand, but the Empire includes a Kevlar abrasion resistant zone in the front. The tunnel is very comfortable as well. The neoprene there somehow seams stretchier than what was used in older skirts. It makes for a good fit up in my drytop, but it doesn't feel tight.
So far, my new skirt has made it down Brown's Canyon, Pine Creek through Number 5.5, and the Bailey stretch of the N. F. of the South Platte. I might walk MJ's next time I'm there just for concern of what that rock does to skirts...
I had grazed a sieve or an undercut a few times, and felt that inexorable pull toward oblivion, but I had never actually been through an undercut... until... that is, last Saturday on the Rio Embudo.
The weather was chilly and I might not have been paddling my absolute best, but the crew I was with was solid. We had automatically set safety earlier at Cheese Grater and the same was true for this rapid in question, MJ's Shoulder. A little bit of history for me and MJ's... this rapid is most often an auto-portage for me. Not that it is particularly difficult; it's one of those were the fun to hazard ratio is really not working out well in the paddler's favor. It's short, fast, manky, and the only move to be made is to keep it straight and punch two holes at the bottom. Compounding the hazard side of the equation is the fact that at the very end there is a wall of rock constricting the channel by half from the right. The second and final hole is here... and this rock is undercut. I've run this rapid twice before, each without incident. One of those times I was chasing a swimmer's boat downstream and looked over to see that I had just missed the portage eddy.
One of the best ways to learn and improve in an endeavor like kayaking is to embrace your own narcissistic tendencies and watch videos of yourself. A huge thanks to Mike for the footage and to Atom for doing me the huge favor of emailing it to me. The first thing I noticed was that I was not nearly as aggressive as I needed to be as I came through this rapid. While I had been on line, I didn't have enough momentum nor forward posture and got completely stopped by the first hole. My brace pivoted me to the right as I came out of it and right into the undercut wall.
Here is where my memory and what is shown on the video really diverge. What I remember vividly is my bow slamming into the rock and everything pausing for a split second. Next the whole 80 gallon boat felt like it was sucked down and under the rock. I even recall a slurping sound. I could feel the boat appear to be pushed down along the rock as I was hoping it was going down river. The rock was scraping along the top of the boat and my elbow pads as I was smashed on my back-deck with my arms raised in a high brace in front of me, trying to keep my face off the rock. At one point, I think instinctually to preserve my right shoulder, I let go of the paddle with my right hand.
This all happened painfully slowly. Slowly enough to consider pulling my skirt and swimming. But then it was suddenly over. Fortunately I found my paddle again with my right hand and back-deck rolled up and easily made it into the eddy.
In the video though, this whole rock situation only lasted a couple of seconds at best. And it was only another couple before I rolled up too.
Is time compressing or expanding? Was I speeding up? Are there bizarre ripples in the relativistic flow of space-time that exist under undercut rocks in rivers... or just this particular undercut... or how about simply under rocks? Between rocks?
I just know that I'm thankful that the only damage was the hole torn into my sprayskirt by the underside of that rock. My elbow got a good hit, and my shoulder has felt a bit strained in the days since, but it's getting better. Now I can't wait to see how I feel about running her again... eventually.
Just recently I indulged a whim and bought myself the kayak backpack made by NRS. I was hoping that this would turn out to be a nifty little bit of gear that I could keep rolled up in a dry bag in my boat, but now I'm not so sure.
I won't get into the mechanics of how it goes on the boat because you can see the whole video at the NRS page.
When I first tried this on in the backyard I was stoked.... but then on the river some issues developed. First of all, it's heavy and doesn't pack down nearly as small as I had expected. There is a surplus of heavy, reinforced padding making the back of the contraption. This seems bulky and unnecessary because the hull of a boat is going to be smooth against your back, so the backpack really shouldn't need extra padding there. The hip and shoulder harnesses are well padded though, and that's a good thing. When I tried to pack it in the boat, I really had to work to fold and stuff it into a very reasonably sized dry bag. It wasn't a very quick operation.
Once rigged, I knew getting a loaded creek boat up on my back was going to be tricky, but it's kind of ridiculous as to how much effort it takes to balance the thing on the nose, hunch down and get it all into position on your back.
After I passed that point without falling down, I was surprised as to how tippy and ungainly it was riding on my back. Maybe this is because the Shiva has so much rocker, but I always felt like I was being pulled over backward. I had to bend forward in this overly exaggerated way that really made my lower back hurt. Also, as it's difficult to put it down and get it back on, there is really no way to rest on the trail. I was able to set the nose down and lean back on it in a rather precarious manner, but that did very little in the way of actual rest. Tipping was also an issue. Any little list to the side was cause for concern.
I tried to get the rig as synched down as tight to the boat as I could, but it didn't really seem to help much.
This afternoon I was experimenting with rigging it with the cockpit to my back, hoping that the curvature of the boat would work with me and not against me. This was not an improvement. While it was indeed more comfortable, as soon as I walked around it was clear that there was not enough support to stabilize the boat.
So yeah, I'm not hugely impressed. Rather more work and weight than it is worth. At least it will work well to walk my play boat across downtown to the river park.
Ran the Pine Creek through Number 5.5 on the Arkansas today. Super fun run and still unseasonably warm. At these super low flows of under 200, there are a lot of fun rock boofs and tight little eddies, but generally not a lot in the way of new lines or tricks.
That changed a little today and so I had to share it! Number Five at this level is generally run as a drop down the tongue essentially into rocks. It goes and isn't scary because there is so little water, but it's kind of a crapshoot as to whether you end up doing some exaggerated rock brace with your paddle on the left. Thanks to a tip Bob had heard, we found a new route that still keeps the main drop in play.
Here's the new line: catch the eddy on river right just above the main drop. You'll know it when you see it because it's right in front of a big flat slap of rock that at normally higher water is the big fun boof to the right on the shoot. Look down and across the drop and you can see the new run clearly. Next peel out and ferry over so you cut hard behind the rock making the left side of the shoot. Now you're down the main drop and avoided grinding your face on the boulders! Now you have two options... if you cut tight enough behind the river left rock, you'll be in an eddy. If you're a little farther out like I was, you're best option is to S-turn down river again and slalom down another route between some boulders.
I'm sorry I don't have a picture, but you can see if from the car-window-scout just downstream of the bridge. Trust me, it's fun and more dynamic than just crashing right down the middle.... well, at least it might be something slightly new. And, you're still in fine position to hit your favorite line or boof for the second half of the rapid.
Enjoy!
Oh heck, here's picture from the day anyway. This is Bob popping a new Mamba 8.1's cherry on the Speed Bump rock just above the PC hole. Nicely done.
I want to talk about something that happened to me quite unexpectedly. It felt terrible and truly could have been much much worse.
Late last month I ran the Upper Taos Box. I have been down this stretch many times and this day was with a crew of good solid boaters. I was feeling this day that river running hardly gets much better than this. To start off with, I love the Rio Grande and all the terrain in northern New Mexico. Waking up in the back of my truck in a beautiful place like the Wild and Scenic Rivers Area near Questa is one my favorite feelings in the world. Even though it was still March 26, the day was sunny and warm; the Rio was running just over 600, so it was low, but still fast, fun and technically challenging. To top it off, this was also my first demanding run in my new Shiva and I was fired up to get to know her.
If you don't know, the Upper T. Box can be a rewarding day, but you have to work for it and the carnage is not uncommon... The run itself is 7.5 miles of fast and busy Class IV and V with sieves being the major hazzard. The most daunting aspect of this rally though, I think most will agree, is the hiking. The hike in is a steep and rocky trail that drops some 600 vertical feet in about a quarter of a mile down to the river. The hike out is closer to 800 vertical feet over about eight tenths of a mile. Remember, you carry your 50 pound creek boat with all your wet gear, pin kit, med kit, spare paddle.... Fun!
So as I said, this day I had been feeling good and strong on the water and didn't feel at all tired when I first hoisted my boat to head up and out. I was even experimenting with a new backpack system to carry the boat, but I'll write about that piece of gear more specifically soon.
Now here is were my day got interesting. Almost immediately, I began feeling the sun very intensely and felt like I was just zapped right away of all energy. The boat on my back seemed to increase in weight tenfold and my legs felt like noodles. Even at the top of the first pitch, I had a sneaking suspicion that something was wrong. Although the last thing I wanted was to carry more weight, I had to sit and take off my dry pants as I was so very hot. I drank much of the little bit of water I had left (I had chugged much of it at the river) and felt better when I set off again in my long underwear hiked up to my knees. As soon as the trail turned upward again however, the heat and fatigue set in with a vengeance. At this point I was worried, but I knew what I had to do... I had to get out of the canyon. There was only one way to go, up. I trudged on. Everything hurt. This was more than just feeling tired; there was a very menacing aspect to my situation. I was getting weaker and shakier with every step. The day, which was really not all that hot, felt like an oven... the sun like a giant heat lamp trained just on me. Frequently I allowed myself to stop and rest with the nose of my kayak on the ground. Here was a problem with the backpack harness, it took (or seemed to take) so much work to take the thing off and put it back on that I had to resort to plopping the bow down in the dirt and leaning back against it in a very precarious manner. So that was my pattern... I'd hike for two or three minutes and get too uncoordinated to continue and have to rest for three or four. And it all got worse as time went on. Soon, I was getting very dizzy, headachy, crampy, and nauseated. I think the frequent little rests in whatever shade I could find was my only saving grace preventing me from vomiting. Before long, the dehydration set in. My throat and tongue were sticking together and I had nothing to spit or swallow. I was in survival mode. But the rim was so close, I had to press on.
Finally, I did make it out. In the parking lot I essentially collapsed on the cool concrete under a tree and passed out for about 20 minutes. Still, when I got myself up and moving, I was still not quite right. I felt very heavy, utterly exhausted and slow. It took me for ever to pack up the truck and make ready for the three hour drive back to Salida.
This experience came as a complete surprise. I've done this exact hike many times before, and knew I was not in for a particularly fun time, but this was different. The mind turns into a funny thing when it gets out of whack. I'm trained as a Wilderness EMT and all the while little red flags and alarms were going off in my head, but being so affected, I wasn't listening to them very well.
Maybe it was just a perfect storm. I hadn't slept great the night before (though I didn't feel tired), and I'll admit I didn't really have my usual summer hiking legs back under me as it was still early season. I also know that it is possible for this type of heat exhaustion to come on a person with no exact cause. It certainly just hit me out of blue. I never would have expected that eight tenths of a mile could stretch on for so long.
My big mistake was not carrying enough water. Trying to cut down on my carry weight I had nearly finished what water I had at the river. My second poor choice was that I didn't set my boat down, carry out just all the gear and eat some food and rest for a while back at camp. There was no rush, I could always have gone back for the boat later. But no, I had told myself I was going to do the hike....
What I did right was at least allowing myself the grace to go slow. All the little stops I took probably saved me from a worse outcome.
So the moral of my story is to be kind to yourself. Be aware of yourself. Also be aware of the other people out there with you. The best I felt during the whole experience was when one of the other guys I had been boating with came back down to check on me after I hadn't appeared up at the rim for so long. We love to get out there and push ourselves hard in the elements and sometimes our bodies just don't respond the way we expect. That's ok. Allow yourself the leeway to go slow if you need to. No point in pushing yourself on the trail... save that for on the water!
So let's get this off to a good start. Some weeks ago I finally got in my new boat... a shiny new green and black Pyranha Shiva. The Shiva is Pyranha's new steep creeker and I had been looking forward to having one in my shed since last August.
In short: Well worth the wait!
Thank you CKS!
The one word to describe the Shiva is BOOF. All you have to do is look at a rock or edge and boat leaps into the air. I've even bounced out of the water when hitting a rock sideways. Super fun!
I'm not a big person. ~ 140 dripping wet before all the gear and the Medium is just the right size. Don't get me wrong, it's a big boat. At 80 gallons and 8'6", there's a lot of plastic around you, but it doesn't paddle that way. With the extreme progressive rocker, the massive stern stays nicely out of the water and actually gives the feel of a shorter boat when handling on the water. In fact, when you look at how the hull sits on the floor, the boat actually rises off the carpet just behind the seat. This allows the boat to have a nice rise when moving through the water at speed. This is to say that you don't have to work hard to rocker some of the stern into the water and therefor the bow lifts up really easily, almost automatically.
Speaking of the hull, I wouldn't call it a true displacement or plaining hull, but closer to the latter. With this design Pyranha has gotten away from the extreme edges of the Burn and Everest. The Shiva has tight "roundy" edges that do transition into a zone of flatness right in the middle of the boat. What is lost in control while in big pushy water is more than made up for by stability and predictability when a rock comes into play. She still catches those micro-eddys with style, you just have to remember that you're in a creek boat and not a play boat.
The most important design element of the Shiva, in my opinion, is the where the beam, or widest point, is located. Usually you'll find the widest point of a creek boat to be right in the center. With the Shiva (as well as Dagger Nomad, and the old WaveHopper type racers) the beam is positioned back, just at the back of the cockpit. This gives the boat a lovely tapering going toward the bow. This makes for a very fast design (it looks like a torpedo in front of you) and greatly increases secondary stability. For example, when landing a boof with the boat heeled dramatically to one side (which would usually be cause for a big dynamic brace), the Shiva, given even the smallest bit of forward momentum, feel like it's almost self-righting.
As far as comfort, I could sit in this boat all day. The most salient point would be about the knees. It feels to me like the Shiva, while nice and tall, is a tad bit more narrow in the knees than most. Now this comes down to a lot of personal preference, but for me, having my knees splayed wider translates to more strain on my Sciatic nerve over the long run.
A word about the stern, it's positively massive. It would take an equally massive seam to pull it down. It's also easy to access and could easily hold gear for an overnight.
Off the water, this boat is a beast. My biggest complaint would be weight, but it's just a lot of plastic. With pin kit, wet gear, and everything else, I was really struggling on the hike out of the Upper Taos Box. That also might have been because I did more driving than anything else this winter.....
As I eluded to, this is much more of a steep creeker than a big water boat. It's tall with relatively soft edges and therefor can get pushed around easily if you're not really on top of your paddling. I was more comfortable in Escalante Creek than in the Cross Mountain of the Yampa.
Can't wait to get her on the Embudo next weekend!
Thanks for reading!
Hello and welcome to RiverVibe's famously new blog concerning my generally river related doings!
While the descent to some tedious and tepid pool of narcissism is always a very real and dangerously slippery slope (and I'm sure we will eddy out there from time to time), it is my intent as set forth here to stay true to my intentions of maintaining a personal and pertinent review of the tools, materials, and techniques that allow me to live, love, and explore the rivers of our living Earth.
And now for maybe a little background... I currently live in the middle of the most beautiful Rocky Mountains, in a little town called Salida, Colorado. We have a river here. The mighty Arkansas River is born just a couple of hours north past the town of Buena Vista and turns east at Salida on its way to Pueblo and beyond into the fields of Colorado's Eastern Slope. There is a nifty whitewater park within walking distance of my home.
During the summer, I work as a professional river photographer. Many of these days start, after coffee, with me being the first boat on the waters of Browns Canyon, our popular Class III day run. I'll kayak in at least one camera, laptop, and other essentials. I'll then set up my office at the Zoom Flume rapid and take pictures of all the private and commercial river runners. Then in the evening I'm often the last boat off the water.
On my days "off" I'll often play the part of the safety kayaker for one of the local rafting companies on our local Class IV stretch.
All the while my goal in life is to then travel and kayak as many new runs, rivers, and creeks as I am able. I'm often heading south to New Mexico and the Rio Grande and the Rio Embudo when she runs.
I have been running rivers since around 1996, I think. My start was on the rivers around Austin, TX, but I got to the mountains as quickly as I could and in the intervening years I've been through many kayaks and canoes and have been fortunate to be a part of the fantastic expansion and maturing of the river running lifestyle. Gear has advanced considerably and these days are particularly exciting as designs continue to get ever more refined.
Currently, the topics you'll see me write about will be mostly my new Pyranha Shiva, Molan, and Fluid Spice as well as the trips and logistics that get them on new creeks.
Why am I doing this? The sort answer is that I obsess. I obsess about gear and runs and spend so much time talking and thinking about them that I reasoned I should make my thoughts available to a wider audience in the hope that they will stimulate further discussion.
I hope these upcoming musings will be helpful to someone, or at least interesting. This blog will (I hope) be entertaining for me... why else do anything... and if it happens to cross the line to being entertaining to you the reader, please don't blame the author. That may well be a conversation that needs to happen privately between yourself, your psyche, and a psychologist.
