Carnage on the Green

Well, considering the name of this blog, we have surprisingly little (as in none) beat down footage or stories. This is most likely attributed to the fact that I'm not running difficult whitewater on a regular basis, and that Dave is insanely good (reference his post below with video of him running the left line a sunshine THE FIRST TIME HE EVER RAN THE RAPID!). Either way, this was a major gap in our paddling lives. Well that all changes now....

I should start by mentioning that I really got screwed. I got beat down, and did not get it on camera. What good is that?! As frustrating as it is, I figured I would tell the story for entertainment purposes, and include a video of some the days highlights.

So I am on my way down to school in FL from NY (a common theme in my paddling life) and a had the opportunity to stop at the Green for a day, and then spend a few days at the Ocoee. I'm all fired up for the run. I had only run Go Left once before, and it did not go so well. So I told my self if I was feeling good, I would fire it up when we got there. The level was around 6 that day. And as we approached Go Left I was feeling really good. I ran it no problem. This is the first and last time you will see me in the video. So now I'm all fired up because I had a clean line through Go Left.

Now comes Zwicks...I had never had any real problems with it before. Well I got pushed left by the top hole and went right into the meat of the hole. I knew that that hole always spits you out. I had been told this time and again, "If your patient enough, it will spit you right out". Well if I had held on just a little longer, it would have. But my paddle got ripped out of my hands the second time I got window shaded, and I figured my best shot was to just make it into the river right eddy before I ever even came close to Chiefs.

So I swam, with paddle in hand right into the river right eddy. No big deal. A little tired, looking around for my boat hoping it did not go down stream...YEA BABY, there it is, filled with water, but still in the eddy...kind of. I watched while Dave fought to keep my boat from floating down stream (and into Chiefs, a boat killing machine). He failed. Jokingly, I got mad at Dave for not having a tow tether. If he had one, he probably would have saved my boat. His quick reply with "If you had float bags, you would still have your boat" shut me up pretty quick.

So I'm sure my boat is done for (as well as my breakdown Lendal and my Watershed dry bag) . A friend is running down the river left after it to see where it ends up (my guess was nut cracker). I forgot to mention it is an almost brand new boat. That was my 5th time using it.

So here is where it gets even uglier. I need to get to the river left to hike after my boat. It just would not be possible on the river right where I was. So my friend paddled up to me and offers to ferry me across on the back of his boat. Well it should be noted that this was his first time on the river. He had no clue what Chiefs looked like. I knew what it looked like, and knew that if I swam into it, I probably would not survive.

Well I grabbed on anyways, and we began across. It became clear that he was not going to make it into the river left eddy with me on the back of his boat. I did not want to drag him into Chiefs having never even seen it before. So I let go. He makes it into the eddy, and I am clinging on to the rocks just down stream of the eddy. I was maybe 20-30ft upstream of Chiefs. I'm doing everything I can to try to get up on the rocks, but it becomes clear that that is not going to work. So I let go and swim for my life across the current and into the opposite eddy. From an outside observer, it would seem like I had no trouble getting over there. But for me, it was the scariest moment of my life.

Now I am exhausted, both mentally and physically, and back where I started 30 seconds ago. After much deliberation with those paddlers present (thanks for your help), I opted to climb up the rocks in Zwicks to where the river is narrowest (just down stream of the hole) and jump across the current. It worked like a charm. I basically cleared the current completely and ended up in the river left eddy. Phew...

By this time I have been told that my boat had disappeared completely above Gorilla and had not resurfaced. I did not really believe this. A few minuets later I was told that my friends had it out of the water above Rapid Transit, but that it was not salvageable. I had already come to accept this a truth, so it was not a big deal.

I hike down to see it. To my great surprise it is totally salvageable. A 3-4 inch dent in the stern, and two 1-2 inch cracks right next to the dent. Lendal break down in the stern just where I left it.

Happy to know that I did not have to hike out, I began to hike back up to the accident scene to film my friends paddling the slides. I was not about to hike my boat up with me, so I just left it above Rapid Transit and paddled from there to the take out.

Well the carnage is not over...

As I made it back to Zwicks, a paddler from the crew right behind us got surfed in the top hole, swam over the bottom drop, and just barely made it into the river right eddy I had occupied not so long ago. I ran down stream after her boating hoping to stop it at some opportunistic moment, hopefully preventing it from suffering the same fate mine did.

The boat disappeared in Chiefs and for a moment I stopped running, convinced the chase was over. After maybe 5-7 seconds, the boat resurfaced and I continued the chase. This is where I saw the second scariest moment of the day (no, my swim was not the first. That is still to come).

An unnamed paddler, standing right next to the river left eddy above pencil sharpener jumps into the water and grabs the boat as it floats into the eddy (mind you its filled to the brim with water). I watch as the boat started to pull him out the bottom of the eddy and into pencil sharpener. He did finally let go at what seemed to be the last possible moment.

Well that boat did not fair as well as mine, but it too was still functioning.

OK...So....with that all said, now we are at sunshine.

Dave is going to run it for the second time ever. (right line. its in the video). He styles it.

I ask around to see if there are any more takers, and when everyone says no, I put my camera away. What a shame.

Another from my group decided to fire it up. He runs the right line. Pencils straight in and disappears for a good 3-5 seconds. I'm standing on top of the rock on river right, so I don't see him pop up into the cave, skirt blown, but very happy to be unscathed. That was the scariest moment of the day.

The rest was uneventful. Hope you enjoyed the story. Here is the video.

Almost forgot! My Watershed dry bag ended up in the Birthday Eddy!!! Much thanks to Will Lyons who ran the notch (not intending on running the drop) got out and fished my bag out from the eddy. This is not the first time he has been there when I needed.

Peace
Toby