What is big water?
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For me its big water when the more experienced boaters before me decide to take out or not run it. Of course that sometimes also means they are tired and had enough.
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i definitely agree w/ phil that some stuff will start to wash out at big water and get easier. of course, some stuff gets horrifying before it washes out. not knowing when and where horrifying becomes washed out can make for an interesting day.
some folks i know up in wv, kayakers i'll admit, who paddle much burlier stuff than i've been on, have paddled the upper gauley at 10 grand or higher (the commercial rafting cut off is 5-6k, to put things in perspective). they say it 'mostly' gets easier at 10k than at 5k. mostly being the key word for me.
some folks i know up in wv, kayakers i'll admit, who paddle much burlier stuff than i've been on, have paddled the upper gauley at 10 grand or higher (the commercial rafting cut off is 5-6k, to put things in perspective). they say it 'mostly' gets easier at 10k than at 5k. mostly being the key word for me.
ain't nothin but water, rocks, and gravity
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Longboatin
- CBoats Addict
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Big water for me can be a lot of things (lately I've been boating so little that I think a pool session with a lot of wake being kicked up would probably qualify as big water). But anyway.
One definition of big water for me is water that -- once you're in it -- is big enough that you can't see where you're going and you get lost.
This happened to me once out west, and I have to admit, it was thrilling. Of course, this implies both that you felt you knew where you were going (which rules out bombing down flooded rivers with no foresight or scouting -- as well as, frankly, paddling with certain groups who do not know where they are going, for varied reasons!), and also rules out short-but-large rapids in which one is aware, all-too-aware, of exactly where he is when he hits the dreaded large feature . . .
That said, I remember Daniel D from LVM describing their first run of A.F.P. on the Stikine. They'd scouted, but still John Grace was observed, as Daniel put it, "backpaddling frantically, lost in the immensity of it."
That's big!
Another definition for me of big water would be a river that has eddies that you do not want to ever go into. Any time you are scouting and you actually have cause to avoid certain eddies, and think, "I need to avoid that eddy of death, and then I need to make sure I'm not pushed into that one either, and that one is a death whirlpool, and I'd never be able to escape that . . . wow, is that a whole sequoia?" . . . that's usually a big river.
Alden
One definition of big water for me is water that -- once you're in it -- is big enough that you can't see where you're going and you get lost.
This happened to me once out west, and I have to admit, it was thrilling. Of course, this implies both that you felt you knew where you were going (which rules out bombing down flooded rivers with no foresight or scouting -- as well as, frankly, paddling with certain groups who do not know where they are going, for varied reasons!), and also rules out short-but-large rapids in which one is aware, all-too-aware, of exactly where he is when he hits the dreaded large feature . . .
That said, I remember Daniel D from LVM describing their first run of A.F.P. on the Stikine. They'd scouted, but still John Grace was observed, as Daniel put it, "backpaddling frantically, lost in the immensity of it."
That's big!
Another definition for me of big water would be a river that has eddies that you do not want to ever go into. Any time you are scouting and you actually have cause to avoid certain eddies, and think, "I need to avoid that eddy of death, and then I need to make sure I'm not pushed into that one either, and that one is a death whirlpool, and I'd never be able to escape that . . . wow, is that a whole sequoia?" . . . that's usually a big river.
Alden
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Louie