July 8, 2004

Sometimes you have to wonder if somebody is smiling down on you. Well, if you follow my “real-time” articles you will know that I had no idea that the Caney Fork River would be running at 12,000 CFS this afternoon. In case you are new to my website, that is like saying, a 25 year swell is coming into Hawaii, or we just got 100” of fresh powder, or I just won the lottery. Oh yea- We are talking about the Brave Wave- and paddling the Fun. For anybody wondering if the Fun can hold air, check out this photo essay. I don’t know of another boat in the world that can catch air on a wave such as this, with as much ease. The combination of speed, carving, and bounce is unmatched, and rarely can you get all three in one boat, until now.

Curtis Stabler, paddling the 4 Fun, Dane Jackson paddling the Fun 1, and I paddling the Fun, started out with the “big” seal launch, and then the secret, “top wave”, and on to the “hole”. The hole is big by Zambezi standards at 12,000 cfs, but that didn’t stop Curtis from dropping into the meat on his first ride. I had an inkling that the Brave Wave might be in, even though the bottom lake was high, so I ferried across (no easy feat) and scouted from my boat, seeing two big pulsing peaks, that got me excited to see more. I went down a little only to see that there was lots of fun to be had further downstream. I probed a big hole that was luring me in the middle of the river on the way down and got a little action out of it but the diversion was not worth pursuing once I saw what lied ahead, the “Brave Wave” and its Scary sister upstream. It wasn’t particularly hard to catch in the beginning and Dane, Curtis, and I all got some action right out of the gates.

I would ferry hard just above the wave and keep my eye on the peak of the wave trying to get stopped before getting to the peak. To catch the wave you would get to the top of the wave and paddle until you realized that you were about to “drop in”. What an incredible feeling looking down into a trough and knowing that you were about to drop 6 feet or more before stopping. The speed of the water is incredible and your hull is skipping on the water like a hydroplane before it catches a small wave and launches you out of control. Dane was a hollering fool on the wave, as if he was opening his favorite Christmas present over and over again in instant rewind. Curtis was holding on, getting the rush of the wave to keep his waning energy going. I was looking for an exit from the grasp of gravity, a bounce, or ejection from the norm, and found it more often than not. It was as if, Newton’s chicken was all wrong, the sky wasn’t falling, the kayakers were flying. How do they do that is a question for M.I.T. Well, I can tell you it is a matter of trajectory and a proper boat on a proper wave, that is all. What a crazy concept that you can be sitting in a kayak and somehow launch it clear of the water. Well, it is reality, and the reality is no where near the perception of reality. The perception is much grander and more intense than the photo or the results. It is flying, it is no the energy of a motor, or of anything but the water rushing by and the willingness and skill to ‘throw the move’.

Well, here is the photo essay. It is not a 60,000 cfs trip to the far reaches of the earth, but simply a 90 second drive from my home to the best playboating in North America from time to time. In fact- take a calendar and pin it on your wall- throw a single dart at it- the day you hit, Rock Island is in the top three places in North America to play on that day, chances are. Just FYI.

I am just stoked that the saying, “Nothing is as good or bad as it seems at the moment.” Is not always true. I thought that the water levels at Rock Island in July couldn’t get any better, and they did, they got perfect, cool!!!

EJ