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Thanks!

I don't know why it was so hard to find people who wanted to paddle last week...

Damn!

I've used an NRS, a Kokatat very briefly, and a Hiko. The Hiko was the best of the bunch in terms of how long before it first sprung a leak. I could do a whole video about dry suit disasters, ha. I've spent the past week finding and patching leaks in my NRS, so that's the driest one I've got right now, but the fabric is weak and the seams have been falling apart for years. The suit is basically held together with aquaseal right now, which is less than ideal because you can't get a patch to stick to aquaseal. I did it anyway because with the number of leaks I've got it was cheaper and easier to do that than to patch it. The Hiko I patched properly, but getting patches to properly adhere to the tips of the toes is very tricky, and I haven't succeeded at that yet. I'm tempted to slap aquaseal on the toe boxes, which should restore that suit to near-perfection. I also need to replace a busted gasket, which is the real reason I'm using my NRS right now. My big internal debate right now is whether I should get an IR dry suit. I have had great luck with their dry tops, but getting a whole new suit is expensive, so I'm still not sure whether I will.

It's sore, but holding together. Thanks for asking!

@paddlebikediveclimb go to the doc and tell them what happened and they should give you some antiinflammatories. They made a world of a difference for mine. Hope you're back to 100 soon!

I was pleasantly surprised: while I could feel rocks nearby, I didn't have any hard impacts.

😂

I probably should take time off. I paddled today, and it was painful.

Thanks; I learned a few things making this video, which means it was worth doing for my own edification, if nothing else!

It's my boat in this video that got all deformed. I was going to try the boiling water and brute force method to try to bend the bow back down into place. That being said, David made a good point in this video that even if I do manage to "fix" the damage, the spot where it was bent is most likely structurally comprised, and there's a real possibility of it cracking wide open if it's exposed to similar force in the future. I'm gonna try to get the bulge out and see if it's still paddleable, and continue to use it if it is, but probably not anything above class IV anymore. Would be an absolute disaster if I had the bow crack wide open on another class V rapid, I'm lucky enough as is that I had my skirt implode on Great Falls and am still here to talk about it. A damaged boat, lost paddle, and extensive bruising is actually a pretty good outcome considering I would have swam over the middle of Horseshoe if I hadn't gotten to shore fast enough after my skirt popped. I'm gonna be ordering a rand skirt within the next few days to say the least so that I never find myself in that situation again. Kicking myself for not getting one years ago due to the cost, and people recommending a Klingon Empire over a rand, but now, the amount of gear that I lost and destroyed in this accident is going to probably end up costing me 3 times as much as a rand if I had just gotten one in the first place... lesson learned!

The Level Six Ace Rand is nice if you can find one in the right size combo.

Yeah! It took a few tries to figure it out, but it turns out to be more fun than the right line when you hit it well.

@@paddlebikediveclimb That curler gives you a good target. You'll have to show me sometime.

Stern hit a rock

I agree that benchmade strap cutters are amazing. My SWR Instructor Trainer instructor had a small one that he keeps on his PFD where I've got my bearclaw. I was never able to find one that small, so I never purchased one. That said, we all had the chance to use his in class, which is why I started carrying the strap cutter that you saw me fail with in this video. If I ever see one, I'm grabbing it.

Thanks! I appreciate that you blunted the tip. After this demo, I seriously considered blunting a steak knife, but my Byrd (the longest serrated knife I tried aside from the steak and bread knives) already fills that niche for me... I think. That's a good point about wet ropes cutting differently. I have trained cutting ropes in water, and I didn't do it for this video because I was imagining a "semi-realistic" situation with moving water - aka nothing in a video but bubbles. I'll see what I can do about just getting the rope wet and cutting it. Not a bad idea for a cutting through plastic comparison. When I'm not on my daily runs, I carry a folding saw in my dry bag for wood and - if I got in that situation - cutting a boat. My experience cutting welding rods from boat plastic means I'm not wildly optimistic about my ability to get through a boat quickly. Worth trying out, though.

@paddlebikediveclimb one of my SWR instructors always carries a folding saw in his gear.

Any higher and I probably would have not run the notch at all. So almost certainly a better outcome, ha

I hope it's useful to you

Thanks; I'm going to have to check out what Walker Knife Co has. My understanding is that Spyderco bought Byrd because Byrd was making high quality knock-offs. The Atlantic Salt looks like exactly the same knife as the Cara Cara.

@@paddlebikediveclimb Yes, those Byrd knives are fantastic value for sure. I'd hope it would be better single handle open? Perhaps its just lost some ability with age, use, corrosion, etc? For a knife that could be lost on a river, the Byrd likely makes more sense, but true single hand open and close is definitely a worthy feature of every Spyderco I have. Thanks again for producing such great content~

Off line - too far right entering the notch - followed up with a mistimed boof, leading to penciling the drop and getting pummeled under the curtain.

Thanks! Glad it came through

Thanks; big water is so much fun, but it's kind of a rare treat here. Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks! Attempt number I lost count.

Thanks for not running me over!

You have to work to stay on line, because the current is trying to push you away from the sweet spot in several different directions, but it's a great boof when you hit it!

I have a strong preference to not wind up where I need to escape!

I've been told the New at high water is very similar to the Grand. More confirmation sounds great to me.

The Greyhound? Or is there another monster surf wave I'm not aware of?

Yeah, I'm assuming you want Greyhound Bus Stopper. That's in here. It was breaking and greening. You'll see Spencer catch it and me blow off it when it greened.

You might be thinking of the ones on the new river dries

Oh yeah, good point. Oddly my friends who went to the dries this same day said it was too low, which really confused me

@@dl5604 Yes, that's it. Is that a different section that is dam controlled with releases like on the Gauley?

🫳

By waiting, you mean harassing? Ha!

​@@paddlebikediveclimb Perhaps

Yeah, we were mostly interested in avoiding the nasty spots!

For sure! I make a point of posting my off days and bad lines because I think it's important to not just have kayaking videos of people cruising through their lines with no issues; I think that gives people a false sense of how easy things are.

I finally found a buddy who shared a video of him swimming out of Sock Em Dog. I see the similarities.

Nothing of scouting at higher water, but I've got a couple videos of running the river. There are plenty of videos of people with greater skill than I have running everything, though.

I expect that'll be quite some time from now, but I will likely take a hike in to chronicle the new Green once it settles into itself.

@@paddlebikediveclimb TY, my cousin Fast Fred lost his home (Cabin) in Green River Cove. Thanks, this let me see the beauty of the river that I have not seen in over 20 years!

He's okay, though?

@@paddlebikediveclimb Yes, he is but he lost everything, FastFredRuddock on YT, thanks.

I'm glad that at least he's okay. Good luck!

Nope; I have no clue what that means.

@@paddlebikediveclimb the mason Dixon canoe cruisers. They're the local kayak club for Harper's ferry

Gotcha. I am very rarely in the Harper's Ferry area, which would explain why I haven't heard of them

I feel like Center is the place to meet all the shredders you never see when it comes in.

I don't know your skill level, so I won't say what's an ideal place to SUP, but if you want to meet the folks who whitewater SUP in the area, you'll usually find them at Anglers. Or if the level is just right, at Rocky

@@paddlebikediveclimb sweet. And I appreciate you taking into consideration my skill level. I should’ve explained that a little bit more. I’m a comfortable class 3 kayaker/SUP’r. The lower Yough and Stonycreek are my favorite places to paddle. I’ve been doing a lot of bigger water and rafts. But I’m finding myself being a lot more comfortable on my standup than my kayak. But thanks for your input a lot. I really appreciate it. I will check that out. Again, thanks a lot. And keep posting your videos. I enjoy them highly enjoy them.

Cool, if you're comfortable on class 3 big water, check out Rocky Island Waves when the river drops back down to 4.2-4.0ish. It's class 3, phenomenal surf wave, and your probability of meeting other folks who SUP the area is pretty high.