Alternate river craft

Sarah, Jeff, Maggie, Craig

Many of you have been wondering where I've been this summer. No i haven't spent every day at the Falls like last summer. Between various trips, injuries, school, climbing (hey i can do 5.11s now!) and a general lack of motivation I have been out paddling less. But that doesn't mean i haven't made it out to the Potomac or had a blast!

Along with a few requisite Falls runs and some attaining, what would the summer be without some general tom-foolery? When i couldn't paddle too well due to some injuries i decided it was time to break out my fins and boogie board again. Craig, Sarah, Jeff, and I had a great time negotiating the treacherous Mather Gorge on our bargain store craft! Craig even came up with the perfect solution to rafting.

Sarah headed home to the UK this week but not before showing us just how it's done on the Fishladder Boof. It was wonderful having her around this summer. I think we all made some great friends this summer and hope to meet up again soon.

Craig in his alligator raft	Craig let's the chicks do all the work	I can make mine go higher!
Sarah fires up the boof, showing us how	Jeff and Craig, wishing the flatwater would move just a little faster	The alligator raft is hard to roll. But at least it is stable... no issue,

Laura

I was having a great time running laps on the MD lines, hanging out with good friends in the crowd that had gathered at Horseshoe and just generally enjoying a beautiful September day. It was just four days before Gauley Fest. Laura had come up to get in some practice before her first Lower Gauley trip that was planned with the Jackson Crew that weekend (she'd just one the World Kayak "Am I ready for the Gauley" contest. We chatted a bit and she headed down O-Deck to head home. I was going to hang out for a bit more and was sitting in the eddy. I heard someone calling my name but with so many people had no idea who or why so initially ignored it. But then i saw Helene climbing back up from the bottom of O-Deck. Finally i understood what was going on, Laura had dislocated her shoulder.

I pealed out quickly and headed down. I found Laura laying over a rock with her arm extended out over it. Sean and a few other people were there trying to comfort / help her. Scott and a few others showed up shortly after. But unfortunately none of us knew anything about shoulder dislocations. I'd seen it happen to Mark twice but he'd always been able to reduce his own. I was rather annoyed with myself for not having learned anything to this point. The irony of the whole thing was that Laura, Scott, and I had all signed up for Jay Ditty's shoulder reduction class that he was holding at Gauley Fest just a few days later.

We were able to ferry Laura over to Fisherman's eddy but she was in too much pain to hike up to the parking lot. So Scott called 911 while Sean and a few others worked on comforting Laura and getting her out of the water. It was starting to get dark and it was cooling down so a few people brought blankets from their cars to wrap her in. Soon after we were being circled by a helicopter. When walked up to the parking lot to great the ambulance we were amazed at the scene. No less than 5 firetrucks and dozens of medical and emergency personnel. It was quite the incredible sight.

I so had wished that Jay's clinic had already taken place. I would really have liked to have been able to help Laura. I hope to never see this happen to anyone again but as a boater i know it is inevitable. In the future perhaps i can be more useful.

I will let Laura tell her experience:

After a fun evening “attempting” (generally, I would just flush off) to surf at horseshoe, I decided to call it a night and head down to the take out at Fisherman’s eddy. Just downstream from Horseshoe, is a fairly straightforward class III rapid called O-deck which mainly consists of a few ledge holes. I had done this rapid a couple of times in the previous week so felt pretty comfortable just heading down. I even joked with my friend Helene, who I consider a paddling mentor, that I would “lead her down”. Anyways, at the very bottom of the river left line, I hit the edge of a hole and flipped. At this point, I essentially wasn’t in the rapid anymore and thought to myself—“I can’t believe I just flipped at O-deck”. It was pretty shallow and tucked to avoid the rocks.

When I flipped, my paddle was more on my offside so I began to move it around onto my onside. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the best plan, and I felt my paddle blade get stuck on a rock and my boat started to come up.. “Well, I guess I am doing a bottom brace” I thought to myself. However, all of the sudden, my paddle wasn’t in my hand and I couldn’t control my arm; it was just dangling there in the water. “What the f#*k?,”. I thought. And then the pain hit me…

I swam out and was basically already in an eddy across from the take out. I yelled, “I dislocated my shoulder” as I crawled up to shore. I could already feel the muscles spasming and I held my arm protectively to my chest. While I sat on shore, Helene and a few other paddlers collected my gear and assessed the situation. Several paddlers who had either been running Great Falls or playing at Horseshoe stopped and offered their assistance.

The next hour or so it’s a bit of a blur. All I can say is that several paddlers, both strangers and friends, helped get me across the river to the takeout, called 911, carried my boat up to my car, covered me in blankets to keep me warm (as the sun had now set), and waiting with me for the paramedics. The pain was getting increasingly worse and by this time I could hardly move. Apparently, I kept asking those around me if I would get pain medications when the paramedics arrive- clearing I had a one track mind at that time.

I was only a couple hundred yards from my car (as the crow flies) but first you had to climb up a steep hill . I knew I couldn’t do it given the pain I was in but I assumed when paramedics arrived that they would give me a painkiller and sling and help me walk up, or carry me up the hill. Then I heard a helicopter over head and the approaching paramedic say “the boat should be up here shortly.” My pain was then complemented by humiliation and embarrassment. I was going to be one of those people that they always complain about on the message boards who were medi-vaced out unnecessarily. I tried to stand up to show I didn’t need the help but the pain was too much and I resigned myself to wait for the boat and ignored the humiliation I felt.

Within a few minutes boat came and I went on a very painful ride down to Sandy Landing, a boat launch about a ½ mile downriver. I felt a sense of relief as I saw the blinking lights of ambulance. Finally, I will get my pain medication and someone will put my shoulder back in, I thought to myself. At this point, I think I was almost delirious. Over an hour and half has passed since the dislocation. I was cold, shivering and the pain was unbearable. I didn’t even protest when they cut off my Astral Rescue PFD and my brand new hydroskin top. And I hardly noticed that it took four attempts to get an IV, leaving me with bloody spots all over my arm. I was just focusing on breathing and relaxing to ease the pain.

Finally, I saw the paramedic inject me with something and he told me that I would feel much better soon. But I didn’t! It felt just the same. I asked for some more morphine and the paramedic after the calling the hospital for permission obliged. But even after five injection, it wasn’t working. It turns out I am one of the lucky few that is not affected by morphine! The pain just kept getting worse.

We arrived at the hospital were I was greeted by frantic boyfriend who had been informed by my friends of my accident and had been waiting for me. As a veteran of shoulder dislocations himself, he was very sympathetic. After signing some papers and being admitted, the doctor finally came and reduced my shoulder. The pain, which has tortured me for the past 3 hours receded instantly. I thought to myself, “I wish I had done that to myself three hours ago.” After some x-rays, they gave me a sling and some pain medications and sent me home with instructions to keep it immobilized for three weeks.

I am now almost done with my immobilization period and anxious to start physical therapy. I am hoping that within 3 months, I will be back on the water (or in the pool as it will be January) and my normal active life will be resumed. While the medical literature says that it is highly likely that I dislocate my shoulder again, I am vowing to do my pt regularly to mitigate this risk.

Having been restricted from my regular hectic lifestyle, I have had a lot of time to reflect on this experience. Here is what I learned:

1. The kayaking community is full of good Samaritans. I still can’t believe how many perfect strangers helped me. Actually, one of the strangers who helped me, a father and son, ended up being chosen to take place my place in the World Kayak contest! I think that is karma at work. Thank you to everyone who helped me and I am proud to be apart of such a community.

2. Learn how to reduce a shoulder. This is a common injury in kayaking and if you paddle long enough, someone you know will dislocate a shoulder. I know that my situation inspired many of my friends to take a shoulder reduction course at Gauley Fest. I plan to take one soon as well.

3. Don’t let your pride get in the way of safety. A few days after the dislocation, I ran into, Tom McEwan, paddling legend who I had received instruction from over past year. When I told him what had happened, he said, “What would you have done differently in hindsight?” I laughed and said that maybe I should have waited until I knew there were no rocks. He agreed, but said “What about just letting go of your paddle when you felt it catch?” I responded, “But Tom, I can’t hand roll my boat very well and I would have swam at O-deck which would have been embarrassing.” He just looked at me and said, “ But you swam anyway and at least you wouldn’t have hurt you shoulder….” A lesson I should remember for the future.

~Laura

At Fisherman's Eddy

Fourth of July

On the Fourth of July a bunch of us paddled down from Brookmont to Roosevelt Island to watch the fireworks. The long stretch of flatwater after Little Falls required a long boat as far as I was concerned. We had quite the strange assortment. Joe in his wildwater boat, Rachel in her wavehopper, Hector in his Outburst, Jack in a sea kayak, me in the Response, and poor Kurt and Jen in their Diesels (I gotta say I felt bad for them having to paddle all that flatwater!). It was all worthwhile though as we had a perfect view of the the fireworks from the water over the Lincoln Memorial / Washington Monument. Definitely a great experience.










See more photos from the Fourth here

Falls

Mark on Fishladder Boof, Photo by Roy Sewall

Mark running Pummel, Photo by Pete Guion

Maggie and Mark on MD lines, Photo by Pete Guion

Mark running Pummel, Photo by Pete Guion

Mark running Pencil Sharpener, Photo by Pete Guion

Mark and Maggie at Pummel, Photo by Roy Sewall

Virginia Lines, Photos by Maggie

Maryland Lines, Photos by Pete Guion

Maggie and Mark at Horseshoe, Photos by Roy Sewall

Mark and Maggie, Photos by Roy Sewall

Mark and Maggie running Fishladder Boof, Photos by Roy Sewall

Maggie running Fishladder Boof, Photos by Roy Sewall

Maggie and Mark, Photo by Roy Sewall

Great Falls, Part II

After all summer of looking at it the level was once again back to 2.9, great time to run the VA lines of the falls. Wednesday we met Scott and headed out to the Flake to scout. We walked down to the Spout, checking out U-Hole and S-Turn along the way. We had the lines pretty well figured out on our own. Joe joined us as we got back to our boats and went over a few key points and we were on our way. Scott went with Mike and eddied out at the bottom. Joe, Mark and i waited in the eddy at the top and i decided to go first. I came down the first ledge, got a great boof off the top drop and slid right along the rock that separates the drop from the U-hole. Hit the bottom straight on. It was a perfect run! I got to the bottom and saw that Scott and Mike had eddied out too far down to have seen my run. Joe and Mark were behind as well. So no one saw it! poop! At S-turn i was doing well but underestimated how far left i'd get pushed at the bottom and didn't work hard enough to the right. I hit the pillow at the bottom and flipped, rolled right up, no big deal. This time i had gone last though and of course everyone saw that!! Figures!! I got out and scouted the Spout. I'd been really nervous about it. Something about that rock under the curtain that made me pretty uneasy. My run wasn't great, i pencilled in too much and got a good nasal douching. Overall though i had a great time and felt pretty good.

Saturday we went out for a second run. Another great line on U-hole (although i did end up a little too far left at the bottom, and eddied out right above the undercut, a little unnerving but not a big deal, kinda a cool move). S-Turn also went well this time. It was weird though cuz i got splashed really hard in the face at the top and my eyes were so blurred that it was like paddling through a white fog. I was able to visualize the line though and made it to the bottom without incident. S-Turn is probalby one of the longest and most involved rapids on the falls. I still flipped on the Spout but no nasal douching this time. So my first two runs weren't perfect but they were good. Mark had good lines and was also enjoying getting to run another part of the falls.

Scott had a pretty sketchy line on U-hole Saturday morning and Sunday we were all kinda nervous about running it. We got out and scouted again, just to be sure. My run was perfect again and that took the edge off. A little too much I guess cuz I let my guard down when I got to S-turn. I screwed up my boof stroke (okay so I keep taking a right stroke instead of a left where its really obviously a left stroke move, worked out the first 2 times... I know better now though!!).

I came off the drop, hit the reactionary on the left, flipped, tried to roll, hit another wave/hole and got pushed back down, the water is pretty chaotic there, smacked a rock lightly with my shoulder, not too bad, smacked my head lightly, also no big deal, thinking I can hold on easy till it calms some... Then... BANG!! It felt like somone threw a brick at me. It hurt so bad there was no way I was going to roll and not flip again in that swirly water, so I just held on tight to my paddle, waited for the pool, and hoped there would be no more rocks. There weren't. I felt myself hit the final wave/hole at the bottom and knew I was at the pool above the final 20 foot drop and rolled up fast now, gave Scott the okay and floated into the eddy above the Spout.

Mark came down, asked if I was okay to run the last drop. He'd seen me flip but didn't know what happened much after that. He asked if I needed a break and I said I just wanted to get down to the bottom. I hurt but could still paddle. There's really no good way to climb out of the gorge at this point anyway. So I took a moment to breathe, let the guys go first, waited for the okay whistle and went. Paddled from right to left as hard as I could but I was pretty well worn and my back/shoulder hurt as I moved. I didn't make it as far left as intended and went right off the middle of the drop.

As I came over the lip I had this moment of panic, I thought was going to hit the rocks on the right, I'm not sure if got a boof stroke in or not or if it just shot me out on its own but I landed fairly flat and in the middle of the big soft boil at the bottom. The landing was perfect, felt awesome (well except for that ache in my back), I don’t think I even got my face wet. So after the beating I got my first clean run on the Spout so that felt really good, I felt somewhat redeemed. Afterwards Scott was going to do a second run so we climbed up the flake with him to watch. Probably wasn't the best idea but I felt reasonably well and didn't want him up there alone.

Later that day were were supposed to be going to the Dickerson whitewater course (Mark was demoing a new creekboat). I was initially going to just go and watch but after a few hours of rest I felt pretty good, took some ibuprofen and was able to paddle for a few laps on the course. Could't make all the moves I usually go for but still was able to have a good time. I'm thankful it wasn’t worse and will definitely be taking that left boof stroke from now on! And shoping for a new pfd.

So no serious damage done, just a bit bruised. I hit just below my shoulder bone right about where my pfd ends I think. I really like my Astral vest, I was actually thinking about upgrading to a newer model (have had mine for 3 years or so). But I just really feel like I need more coverage and none of them seem to provide enough.

The VA lines are a lot of fun. The moves aren't super hard but the consequence of mistakes is pretty serious. It's pretty incredible being in the gorge that is formed there. Once you commit to it you can't see the rest of the falls at all. It's almost like being on a completely different river. People say that the VA side is far more forgiving but so far its given me one of the worst beatings yet. Nonetheless i look forward to more runs soon!