{"id":1311,"date":"2011-04-18T23:35:11","date_gmt":"2011-04-19T06:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/?p=1311"},"modified":"2021-07-31T15:15:17","modified_gmt":"2021-07-31T22:15:17","slug":"when-things-go-wrong-on-the-river-and-how-to-get-out-of-a-hole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/kayak-practice\/when-things-go-wrong-on-the-river-and-how-to-get-out-of-a-hole\/","title":{"rendered":"When Things Go Wrong on the River – And How to Get Out of a Hole"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dave Moroles testing out Lunch Hole on the Skykomish<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Scott Henderson posted a really poignant account a while ago on Professor Paddle about how he nearly didn’t make it out of a hole on the Middle Middle run on the Snoqualmie – a mostly Class III run with a pretty easy IV section that most of us Seattle area paddlers are used to bombing\u00a0after work without too much thought beforehand.<\/p>\n

It’s really worth reading the thread – linked to here<\/a> – not only because he shares a story that is not the easiest to share, but also because of the responses and advice that follows from other paddlers.\u00a0 Here are some take-homes that I got from it:<\/p>\n

Staying and Getting Out of Holes:<\/h2>\n
\n

Based on this and some other stories I’ve heard, some of the closest calls you might run into could be on “easy”, Class III type water, and\/or on a run that you’re really familiar with.\u00a0 So don’t let your guard down.<\/p>\n

If you’re stuck in a hole, balling up and letting yourself go deep instead of fighting the water should help you flush out.<\/p>\n

From Scott’s post and one of the responses, it appears that if things go badly enough that you go limp you also have a better chance of flushing out.\u00a0 (Let’s not kid ourselves, this option really sucks.)<\/p>\n

Kyle Kovalik posted something that I’ve heard is also helpful:\u00a0 “If you can get\u00a0flat… swim accross the eddy line into the downstream current, rolling your body as you do (from a breast stroke to a back stroke or vice versa). This works best in flattish pourover style holes.”<\/p>\n

Practicing swimming in whitewater is a great idea.\u00a0 Not fun (I personally suck at it and tend to swim 5 times farther than anyone else, not on purpose) but definitely useful.<\/p>\n

This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive explanation of how to get out of holes, but I’ve also heard (and kind of experienced when my sprayskirt blew on Lunch Hole on the Sky a couple days ago) that if you’re still in your boat, pulling your skirt and letting your boat fill with water is another way to possibly get out of a hydraulic.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Getting Back in the Game<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

Anyway, the main thing I got out of Scott’s post and the ensuing thread was not so much how to get out of holes (although that is useful), but more about the mentality of how to approach kayaking in general.\u00a0 It’s such an intense sport, and when we’re into it we tend to fall in love with it and go full bore.\u00a0 But, it’s also dangerous enough that we need to always be aware of the risks in order to last in it long term.\u00a0 The flip side is, if\u00a0we focus on those too much\u00a0we’d seriously just stay home – it’s kind of like reading statistics about every\u00a0innocent soul\u00a0who pulled out of their driveway and got T-boned by some dummy going 110 miles per hour on a residential street, and then deciding to never drive again.<\/p>\n

The reality is there – yes, it could happen (and getting caught in a vicious hole or pinned on some rock\u00a0is probably way more likely than becoming a cautionary tale in suburbia) – but if you’re going to boat you kind of have to just take that as part of the deal.<\/p>\n

Reading the Professor Paddle\u00a0thread and from conversations with other boaters, it seems that nearly everyone has had a close call at some point and either had to deal with what is pretty much post traumatic fear, or even take some time off of boating to get their head back in the game.\u00a0 Some of it is pure psychological conditioning (abject terror =\u00a0very bad, do not repeat), so I thought the advice that John (doggievacation on PP) gave was\u00a0good even though I overlooked it the first time I read it.\u00a0 He said:<\/p>\n

\n

“…\u00a0boat when you feel ready and stick to nice, familiar runs.\u00a0 Make sure you have fun EVERY TIME you boat and steer clear of any drop that makes you feel panicky.\u00a0 If you can do that, I think you’ll find the worm will fade on its own, but go with your gut and take your time.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It usually takes time to get over traumatic experiences, and just like\u00a0acquiring muscle memory for the roll, part of that psychological conditioning involves\u00a0pure repetition – in this case, of something good.<\/p>\n

Anyway, it’s really helpful to be reminded of how easy it is for any of us to become\u00a0complacent on a run, or accustomed to getting out of hairy situations without too much carnage.\u00a0 The fact is, the wrong hole at the wrong level, at the exact wrong angle that puts us in the wrong spot could happen to anyone, at any time, so I really appreciate Scott sharing his story.\u00a0 It applies to all kayakers at any level, and it’s especially helpful coming from the viewpoint of someone who has had\u00a0a lot of experience on whitewater.<\/p>\n

That being said, paddling scared isn’t exactly a huge help either and there’s no way we can foresee everything on the river, so the best attitude is probably a good blend of realistic caution and\u00a0a healthy dose of \u00a0“Oh, what the heck.”\u00a0 (I know I tend to focus on the latter because it requires less technical skill.)\u00a0 Speaking of which, I’ve started dropping into Lunch Hole<\/a>, a la Dave Moroles and Rob McKibbin.\u00a0 If these blog posts end unexplainedly, that might be why. ;)<\/p>\n

Here’s one of Blair’s videos that shows what a workout a big hydraulic like\u00a0Lunch Hole can provide, about two thirds of the way through it – it is a super sticky hole in the mid-3,000 cfs range.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scott Henderson posted a really poignant account a while ago on Professor Paddle about how he nearly didn’t make it out of a hole on the Middle Middle run on the Snoqualmie – a mostly Class III run with a pretty easy IV section that most of us Seattle area paddlers are used to bombing\u00a0after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,58],"tags":[180,126,202,203,201,120,62,200,80],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}