"Byron Funnell" wrote in message
...
Sounds good. I tend to paddle with a lot of kayakers and in smaller water
that is not too much of a big deal. I am sure though that on the Colorado,
the drier route would be preferred! That seems to be the rest of the
groups
concern too. I do tend to try to make my own choices, but also like to
have
the most data going in. I paddled Hells's Canyon several years ago. My
route
on both Wild Sheep and Granite was an eddy hop down the left bank. Worked
one out of two. Swam the second after sliding sideways into a huge hole
and
getting munched. Roll failed. But it was still a good time over all.


You may discover that, in several runs, the safest and easiest run is down
the chute. When you get to Sockdolager, the waves in the middle look
monsterous (because they are), but the eddy line along the shore is rather
snakey and you will almost certainly dump if you try to skirt them by much.
Most folks just aim down the center, swallow their fear, and GO for it.
Turns out the be one of the biggest yahoos of the trip.

Another place to look seriously at the bigwater run is Hermit. The later
waves (the 5th one, according to legend) are stalling waves, and will flip
you in any craft if you hit them at the wrong time and without a good
downstream velocity. If you try to skirt the wavetrain at the top, you will
inevitably be drawn into the downstream V anyway and punch into the lower
waves with too little velocity. So the safest run there is actually to set
up and charge down the center like mad, not to try and skirt them.

Actually, its similar at House Rock....if you try to skirt it by getting off
the line at the top, you just get drawn into the meat of the hole instead.

Give each run a good, hard look, and don't be afraid of going down the big
water. Most rapids do have a skirt line, but you can get dumped on them and
washed through the shoreline rocks. Its often better to get flushed than
crushed; just have safety set up below. Do an old google search from about 7
years ago on rbp under 'riverman' about 'throwbags' and 'grand canyon' and
see the discussions about the pros and cons of ropes in big water like that.

--riverman