Tommy Hagg "The Gnarls Canoe Movie"

[cadster]

Relevant essay from Doug Ammons:
http://www.dougammons.com/NewColumns.html

[Louie]

Well Gabe, personally I would rather go in a river acident than in a car wreck, and Pablo is really the only friend I have had that has died on the river. I am glad I wasn't there when it happened, but then again I kinda wish I had been there, maybe just maybe I would have seen the log that got him and would have been able to warn him No it is nuthin to joke about but it is better to laught than cry. When I am gone i hope you all have a big wake with a lot of jokein and laughtin and no cryin at all. When it is my time it is my time and I love boatin and hate drivin so I hope I die doin something I love and not sumthin I hate, I guess that is why I am more careful drivin than I am boatin.

Oh and Larry, Happy Birthday, or two other words. You are for sure goin to be a Cali guy till the day you die.

[FullGnarlzOC]

Thanks for the concern guys. Really, I appreciate it.

Craig - I was firing up the middle line... the same line that I scouted the day before for a good bit. I don't know if you read the 'full story or not' but my bow was angled into the wave, as opposed to being on the complete right of it. Call it experience, call it paddling a boat I've never paddled... call it whatever. Blown lines happen. I was never headed for the room on purpose. That was just the back up plan, once I got blown 180s. As far as I understand Pillow is one of the safest rapids on the river.

Another thing... I don't like scouting. don't take this as i dont scout period. I just dont like the head game right now. Confidence is huge. and Seeing as though most of the stuff I've been doing is a 'first' I am not TOTALLY confident in how it's going to turn out( i had to TRUST that Wayne knew the deal...and he did very much). Understanding what's going to happen to a 10ft canoe on these rapids...That comes with experience... for instance a 10ft boof before I went on that creekin trip, would have been a butt puckerer for me, and my biggest vertical drop. Well by the end of the trip, a 10ft boof is no different to me than plowing through a class III hole.

Another example....Iron Ring, when I scouted that on Friday, that was one of the first times I really looked at a big Class V rapid, and had total confidence in styling it. This was because I ran 'Partical Accelerater' on the Rackette. Which was basically Iron Ring....but WaYYYYYY BIGGER. Point being... The more I run, the better off I'll be, head game wise. By the way Someone almost died on Partical right before I ran it. Art, wayne's buddy, had to 'hand of god' someone, as they were stuck underwater, pushed against a rock by run off. Someone also got sucked through the sieve Moshier Falls (openboaters dont swim rapid) the same day we ran it. Class V is dangerous. For sure.

Back to not scouting pillow on Sat - If I see an opportunity to get to the bottom if i'm feeling a certain way, I just go. Twin Falls for instance (pic at the end of the video...or that 'stout drop u posted a picture of a bit ago) I just fired up... I had someone point me where it go over and i went, knowing it was straight forward 3 hits to the bottom. The prelude played a big factor in me just firing up Pillow. I just wanted down. No thinking game. "Oh what If i cant do that because I dont know how the boat is gonna react"...well if you just go...it takes that right out of the equation.

It didn't work this time. QB sneaks don't always work either, and the coach gets destroyed for making that 4th and 1 call. Also gets praised when it works perfectly. Those are the choices we make.

Calculated choices. But really, I hear you guys. Dying on the river isn't cool. But as far as I am concerened, letting the 'idea of dying' on the river, hold you back from doing what you want/love/aspire to be....isn't cool either. There's a thin line in this game. And I'm perfectly ok with straddling it. I air on the side of caution more than some of you think.

[FullGnarlzOC]

and Craig. It's a 17min HD feature. Would you want to watch "the canoe movie" in lo-res the first time you saw it? Some people are watching it without sound... which IMO almost ruins the video...as most of it requires a good set of speaker and ears.


Talking to wayne, He had a really good point. The biggest deal with the pillow incident, ant not scouting it... was missing out on scouting a rapid with some of the best open boaters in the world, and seeing how they think, and how they evaluate certain features. And that's what you were eluding too Craig. and in Hindsight - Definitely wasn't a mistake. I just wasn't thinking about it at the time. I wanted down... lol

[Craig Smerda]

Another thing... I don't like scouting.

Well Tom I for one think you really need to reconsider that... did you happen to notice that Dooley, Matt, Roy and the rest of the well experienced group looking this pitch of the run over? Not exactly a bunch of novice boaters right? There was probably 200+ years worth the ww-open canoe paddling experience standing up on the rocks looking at it from above... not because anyone was scared or anything else... it's so you can pick the best line possible that you feel comfortable running. It doesn't always mean it's going to happen but most of us typically toss in a plan B route on a big rapid or drop just in case the plan A line doesn't work. Here's another dam'n good reason to scout... you really don't know wth is in a drop at times... I can't even begin to count the number of times we've found tree's in rapids or drops... or found rocks that have moved or holes that have changed on runs we know quite well. This isn't some big game of chicken... so don't play it like it is for your sake and ours... don't become a statistic. If the folks you boat with are the "gamblers" (they don't look but just run & hope for the best types) then imo you need to get the he11 away from them and start boating with people that actually have a clue... maybe I'm off base here but I'd be willing to wager that I'm not.

Don't get me wrong and I'm not trying to bust your nutz here because I want to see you actually get better at this... but do you think people like David Simpson ran the Green the first time without looking at it? Do you think Eli ran Horsepasture or the Ravens Fork without scoping out each drop? Do you think Jeff Thuot ran the Taureau river years ago without knowing what lie beneath each pitch of that run? Do you think the first people to run the Gauley never looked at each and every rapid they possibly could?

I was standing right there watching the run... and I saw what happened... you got off line... it happens. I went up for the rock slap with my paddle blade... I got the rock slap like I wanted to but failed to lean and get the stick back to my onside fast enough... I hit the curler flipped and rolled up... _hit happens... I laughed about it. Heck... I bet if you polled the entire group less than half would say they were totally thrilled with their run at Pillow and did exactly what they wanted to.

Paddling whitewater is a bit like playing Russian Roulette... the more bullets you are willing to put into the chambers the less likely you are to win.

[FullGnarlzOC]

I like that last quote. That nails it.

[Craig Smerda]

maybe I should start selling t-shirts and bumper stickers

[FullGnarlzOC]

I'd buy one. Fer sure...

[Jim]

I remember boating with a C-1er many years ago. I met him about a year after a failed rescue of a pinned paddler. Not someone from his group, it was from another group that he came upon right after the pin. For a couple of years he was pretty subdued. One day we were out and he really was grinning and playing and having fun. He said that after 3 years it was the first time he was on a river where all of the boaters were in control and were good, so that he felt safe cutting loose... until then he was always on edge and looking out for dangers. Seeing him have a day of fun, and how different that was from his usual paddling, really demonstrated how that failed rescue took the joy out of his river-running. The person who drowned was not the only victim of that accident... I agree with Papa L'edge's concerns about Russian roulette.

[jscottl67]

Some people just gotta pee on the electric fence to figure out it's not a good idea - nuthin' you can do about it [/i]

[Larry Horne]

The person who drowned was not the only victim of that accident...

amen.

But it's like telling a teenage boy not to drive like a moron. It doesn't matter, he'll drive like one untill he eats $hit, does something even worse, or gets lucky and scared straight.

Out here a few years ago, a very good class five boater got pinned and died while trying to help another boater in trouble. Neither boater was a yahoo, the group was solid. it was just one of those things... but how would it feel to be that guy.

...how would it feel if something like that happened because you were showing off like a frikin moron.

[FullGnarlzOC]

hah. hey jscott. and some people wouldn't go within 100 feet of the fence, in fear that anything might happen.

Jim - ur story paints a clear picture of how one event can affect so much more than you think.

it's in my best interest to continue to be careful. Eddy McGnarlz died once I got to Class IV+, as it became alot more serious than class III, where I use to do such things as flip over on purpose, just to make a class III rapid interesting for me (its alot harder full of water, makes for good practice).

Besides that... I've always felt like it was always about more than just me. Perhaps, that's my open boat pride coming out. The same reason, why I will always primarily paddle open-boat. Pride in the craft, pride in the sport and truly believing how great of a whitewater craft it really is. The last thing I would ever want to do is cast a shadow over it. Understand that and you'll start to understand my MO.

[Louie]

"..... letting the 'idea of dying' on the river, hold you back from doing what you want/love/aspire to be....isn't cool either. There's a thin line in this game. And I'm perfectly ok with straddling it. I air on the side of caution more than some of you think.

you hit the nail on the head there, don't through life bein skeered, that ain't really livin, that is just existin. BTW I didn't talk to you that much but I got the impression that you didn't have no dead wish. You do what you think you need too, remember if these guy and me was so smart we would be rich.

[FullGnarlzOC]

"that ain't really livin, that is just existin."

I couldn't feel stronger about any one sentence.

[cheajack]

At any level of river difficulty, there is a vast difference between being a quick enough and strong enough athlete to take what the rapid dishes out and get out of trouble paddling reactively and; reading the rapid, designing a strategy to run a line that minimizes hazards and obstacles and executing that stategy proactively. The first is a fusion of athleticism and luck. The second is paddling skill. We all know what happens to luck.