Skull @ 35k CFS 6:9:19

Skull Play by Play, 35,000 CFS, June 9th, 2019

:04 Cal (my boat mate and wing man) and I both acknowledge that Chris, in the red lead boat, has started his right to left move. I note the approximate spot that I see him begin his traverse.

:15 As we approach what I believe to be the spot that the lead boat started his move, you hear Cal shout “now”. A little early I think, but you see me start to make my move a short time later.

:30 I find myself almost immediately on river left, sooner than I want to be.
The boat encounters a strong hydraulic which pushes the rear end out into the center of the river. Rather than fight it or try to continue pushing to river left, I spin the boat so that I am in position again to pull to the left, downstream.

:48 Cal yells at me to “tee-up!” but I like to wait for this move so that if I need to, I can continue to gain leftward momentum. At the last moment I pull the nose of the boat around to hit the 1st wave dead on.

There was hardly any drop at all over Skull and now the battle is on to stay well away from the Room of Doom and Rock of Shock. We never really see the Room - there is an 8-10 foot was of water obscuring our view.

1:00 Cal is yelling for me to “pull!” And I am answering his call with my own. On the 3rd response, you can hear a little desperation in my voice.

1:10 The boat takes a mighty hit from the right and begins to tilt. I tumble out of my chair, pulling the right oar out of the tower as I go. I call for “high side!” But I only get the word “high” out of my mouth because the that moment I am certain I am going into the water and my body instinctively cuts my speech so I can hold my breath. My left shin catches the amo can in the cockpit and keeps me from going out. By now the boat is on autopilot and moving past the Rock of Shock on its own. I put the oar back in the tower noting that the ring for my oar tether is in the wrong place. Once I realize that the hard part is over and we’re safe, I quickly put the oar back in the tower.

The entire event took 90 seconds!

We showed this video to Cal’s 3 year old twins and, at the moment that I almost come out of the boat, Izzy says “Dangerous”. Even a 3 year old knows better!
After careful review of the video, Cal and I both agree that I got river left too soon. Skull is, even at this flow, a right to left move that is all about building and carrying momentum through the drop to keep away from the hazards that exist on river right. We think that perhaps I should have been more in the center before starting my move. Maybe I started the move too soon. I was advised against getting too far right because, with the river moving so fast, it would be a lot of powerful water to cover and get across. It Is a classic case of not wanting to be right so much that one fails to get right enough to properly set up for a right to left move and gather the necessary momentum that carries you river left past the hazards. With all the hydraulics we encountered, it is hard to say what would work and what would not. It may not have been pretty, but we got through it.

I hope those of you who are considering running West Water at this level or higher can learn something from our experience and apply it to your own.

Видео Skull @ 35k CFS 6:9:19 канала Brad Manosevitz