And now that the Witch is dead, so is RBP it seems!
 

Bit Farmer wrote:
Wilko wrote:
John Kuthe wrote:
C'mon folks! RBP is what we make of it!

I've taken a hiatus from paddling while I'm (still) going to nursing
school, what's everyone else up to?

I spent the last three years at university, recently got another piece
of paper adding a Msc to my name. Now it's job-hunting again.
I'm still paddling, but because the school holidays messed up my
paddling schedule for the past couple of years, paddling 70+ days a
year is over. Also, I had a pretty bad paddling accident last year,
landing on a rock after going down a dam (basically an artificial
waterfall in the Czech Republic that we ran a lot, where they put big
boulders below the drop against erosion) which has made me a tad less
eager to run harder stuff nowadays.


Reminds me of the old saying:
Good judgment comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgment.

One of the great benefits to youth is the perception of immortality. The
older we get, the more cautious we become because deep down you know
that there is a very fine line between those who walk away from an
accident and those who don't - and is is not always skill that separates
the two.

The best thing that ever happened to me was getting married and raising
a family. There were some activities I simply gave up because the risks
outweighed the potential enjoyment. There is a level of risk I can live
with. The rest I will leave to my imagination.

Well Blakely, you said it better than I can.

That's indeed the impression I am also getting. For me, it was not so
much about taking increasing risks any more, but about becoming more
aware of the scale of the risk I was taking. It's why I stopped running
increasingly more difficult stuff after Scott died, and why I
concentrated more on playing and running stuff with a buddy in a
Topo-Duo. Still, over the years I found that I started running more
things in my playboat that a creeker would be more suitable for. This
was one of those.

Everything looked exactly as it had the dozens of times we had run it
before, so no-one bothered to check the bottom of the drop. My buddy
went down the drop upside-down, barely missing the boulder with his head
(without knowing it), but the hit broke his boat. Then he signalled that
everything was okay, so I ran it as well, deliberately trying to keep my
boat vertical (because it was well over 10ft deep there... in the past)
to prevent his "landing". I hit the boulder full on, folding my boat at
the ankles and taking the force in all my joints and back. That was an
increasingly painful trip back to the cars (several miles downstream),
and then for several hours driving back to Prague. I was checked by
sveral doctors and surprised that I lost a little over 1/2 an inch in
height... Oh well. Less bumping my head into low doorframes. ;-)

I try to learn from other people's experiences where I can, but that's
not always an option. In this instance, the sport lost some of its magic

We're also talking about kids, and I'm curious to see what that will do
to my perception of the world. Time will tell. :-)

--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/

And now that the Witch is dead, so is RBP it seems!
 

Wilko wrote:
Bit Farmer wrote:
Wilko wrote:
John Kuthe wrote:
C'mon folks! RBP is what we make of it!

I've taken a hiatus from paddling while I'm (still) going to nursing
school, what's everyone else up to?

I spent the last three years at university, recently got another
piece of paper adding a Msc to my name. Now it's job-hunting again.
I'm still paddling, but because the school holidays messed up my
paddling schedule for the past couple of years, paddling 70+ days a
year is over. Also, I had a pretty bad paddling accident last year,
landing on a rock after going down a dam (basically an artificial
waterfall in the Czech Republic that we ran a lot, where they put big
boulders below the drop against erosion) which has made me a tad less
eager to run harder stuff nowadays.


Reminds me of the old saying:
Good judgment comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgment.

One of the great benefits to youth is the perception of immortality.
The older we get, the more cautious we become because deep down you
know that there is a very fine line between those who walk away from
an accident and those who don't - and is is not always skill that
separates the two.

The best thing that ever happened to me was getting married and
raising a family. There were some activities I simply gave up because
the risks outweighed the potential enjoyment. There is a level of
risk I can live with. The rest I will leave to my imagination.

Well Blakely, you said it better than I can.

That's indeed the impression I am also getting. For me, it was not so
much about taking increasing risks any more, but about becoming more
aware of the scale of the risk I was taking. It's why I stopped running
increasingly more difficult stuff after Scott died, and why I
concentrated more on playing and running stuff with a buddy in a
Topo-Duo. Still, over the years I found that I started running more
things in my playboat that a creeker would be more suitable for. This
was one of those.

Everything looked exactly as it had the dozens of times we had run it
before, so no-one bothered to check the bottom of the drop. My buddy
went down the drop upside-down, barely missing the boulder with his head
(without knowing it), but the hit broke his boat. Then he signalled that
everything was okay, so I ran it as well, deliberately trying to keep my
boat vertical (because it was well over 10ft deep there... in the past)
to prevent his "landing". I hit the boulder full on, folding my boat at
the ankles and taking the force in all my joints and back. That was an
increasingly painful trip back to the cars (several miles downstream),
and then for several hours driving back to Prague. I was checked by
sveral doctors and surprised that I lost a little over 1/2 an inch in
height... Oh well. Less bumping my head into low doorframes. ;-)

I try to learn from other people's experiences where I can, but that's
not always an option. In this instance, the sport lost some of its magic

We're also talking about kids, and I'm curious to see what that will do
to my perception of the world. Time will tell. :-)


Man, that sounded like a tough run. Glad the only loss was a bit of height. Perhaps you will decompress slowly over time.

I finally got my Grand Canyon permit and ran it this summer as a single boat family trip. I am thinking that should be the finale
of my whitewater boating career. I will rafting and IK'ing the local rivers and maybe do a Desolation Canyon trip any time I can
get a permit, but I do not need to chase ever bigger water. What I would really like to accomplish is an extended raft trip down
the Yukon or Copper River in Alaska. Sell the raft at the end of the trip and move on to sailing.

Blakely

And now that the Witch is dead, so is RBP it seems!
 

Hello Wilko, you wrote:

I was checked by sveral doctors and surprised that I lost a little
over 1/2 an inch in height... Oh well. Less bumping my head into
low doorframes. ;-)

I'm sure you're happy that you weren't even more seriously injured--or
worse--but that still doesn't sound like much fun. Aside from the
height adjustment, I hope you've recovered well!

I try to learn from other people's experiences where I can, but
that's not always an option. In this instance, the sport lost some
of its magic

We're also talking about kids, and I'm curious to see what that will
do to my perception of the world. Time will tell. :-)

Uh oh...soon enough we'll be reading Wilko-Sized-Trip-Reports about
open canoeing on calm rivers and--gawd forbid--sea kayaking on
"flat/open" water! ;)

--
Melissa

And now that the Witch is dead, so is RBP it seems!
 

watersprite wrote:
Hello Wilko, you wrote:

I was checked by sveral doctors and surprised that I lost a little
over 1/2 an inch in height... Oh well. Less bumping my head into
low doorframes. ;-)

I'm sure you're happy that you weren't even more seriously injured--or
worse--but that still doesn't sound like much fun. Aside from the
height adjustment, I hope you've recovered well!

Yeah, it took about half a year for me to be able to run again. Looks
like there will be some permanent damage, but there isn't much I can do
about that.

I try to learn from other people's experiences where I can, but
that's not always an option. In this instance, the sport lost some
of its magic

We're also talking about kids, and I'm curious to see what that will
do to my perception of the world. Time will tell. :-)

Uh oh...soon enough we'll be reading Wilko-Sized-Trip-Reports about
open canoeing on calm rivers and--gawd forbid--sea kayaking on
"flat/open" water! ;)

Actually, I still run class V stuff every now and then, but indeed I was
also trying to find less dangerous ways of venting off some steam...




whispers I even started playing paintball! :-)




--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/

And now that the Witch is dead, so is RBP it seems!
 

On Oct 31, 9:27*am, Wilko wrote:


whispers I even started playing paintball! :-)

--Wilkovan den Bergh * * * * * * * * * * * * *wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
* * *Eindhoven * * * * The Netherlands * * * * * *Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---http://kayaker.nl/

Yow, what comes next....Middle Age?

--riverman

And now that the Witch is dead, so is RBP it seems!
 

riverman wrote:
On Oct 31, 9:27 am, Wilko wrote:

whispers I even started playing paintball! :-)

--Wilkovan den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---http://kayaker.nl/

Yow, what comes next....Middle Age?

Comes *next*?

I'm already 40, Myron! ;-)

--
Wilko van den Bergh wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/

And now that the Witch is dead, so is RBP it seems!
 

On Nov 2, 5:06*am, Wilko wrote:
riverman wrote:
On Oct 31, 9:27 am, Wilko wrote:

whispers I even started playing paintball! :-)

--Wilkovan den Bergh * * * * * * * * * * * * *wilkoa t)dse(d o tnl
* * *Eindhoven * * * * The Netherlands * * * * * *Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---http://kayaker.nl/

Yow, what comes next....Middle Age?

Comes *next*?

I'm already 40, Myron! ;-)


Middle age starts at 40 in the Netherlands?? I just passed 51, and
figure I have a couple of years left before it hits.

--riverman

And now that the Witch is dead, so is RBP it seems!
 

Sorry I've been out playing in the wilderness.....

Regarding the Huron River, Michigan's DEQ has guidelines for clearing
rivers of trees and such that we follow when we are working on river
clearing projects with the Lansning Oar and Paddle Club www.loapc.org

http://www.mywatersheds.org/publicat...yFactSheet.pdf

Rich

And now that the Witch is dead, so is RBP it seems!
 

Sorry I've been out playing in the wilderness.......

Regarding the Huron River, Michigan's DEQ has guidelines for clearing
rivers of natural obstructions:
http://www.mywatersheds.org/publicat...yFactSheet.pdf

We follow them when we are clearing rivers with the Lansing Oar and
Paddle Club: www.loapc.org

Rich