Submitted: 06-28-2001 by BK
After 2 years of local flatwater and small riffles, my brother and I took the disco downriver through some serious Class II and Class III whitewater. It was the first time for both of us in a canoe and we learned we had to plan ahead more than we do in kayaks. We were also amazed. Sure, we got wet, but only from the head-high waves we blasted through. I have enough hardshell kayaking experience to know that we should have capsized about four times, but we did not. Staying upright had nothing to do with us, as we misread the river more than once and had way too many unfortunate surprizes. Being an uncovered canoe, we shipped lots of water, requring a bailing stop after each big rapid, but this craft performed like a Timex watch: not much to look at, but it just took its lickings and kept on ticking. And perhaps the most amazing thing was when we hit a rock dead on and slid over it the whole length of the canoe the disco not only did not dump us, it also only received a minor, but lengthy, superficial scratch! |