Hi Folks,

Well, it finally happened. After 25 years of paddling, I finally had an
uber-wipeout that led to me separating from my craft.

It happened on Lolo Creek, a scene of others' epic stories, but mostly until
now a source of fun and entertainment for myself. Lolo Creek is a Class
IV-V run with 6 miles of 160 fpm in the middle. Wiping out in the middle of
the steep stuff is what I did, and since the steep stuff on Lolo Creek is
all pointed downhill (there aren't any pools to speak of) my boat has now
taken off for the Clearwater.

The boat is a red Riot Big Gun. After numerous problems with this boat, I
can't really recommend it for people like me. The vast majority of these
new creekers are designed for much better boaters than myself, and they
demand a more athletic style. They also top out right at my weight limit
(I'm 250 lbs., and not really very fat either), so their sharp gunwhales and
abbreviated rocker in the tail make it bad when the boat spins around
backward. Not stable. Believe me.

I flipped in the middle of the drop known as Chaos or Maniac. I spun
around, dug my tail in, and turned upside down. My Grateful Heads Hard Hit
took about 5 hits-- it worked great. I was up against a rock, unable to
roll, when I finally hit the button and aqua-projected. After a few
desperate seconds of holding on to my boat, I realized that it was gonna be
the boat or my life.

Hiking out of Lolo Creek was epic, but not as epic as I always had dreaded.
I had to scramble like a four-legged herbivore up 1800 vertical feet of 45
degree slope crumbling granite. Not fun-- falling would have meant very bad
things-- probably worse than what the river had already done to me. I made
it, then wandered around lost on old logging roads, learning tons about the
local geography-- knowledge gained by going the wrong direction. I finally
ended up at a very nice, crusty old farmer's house. I regaled them with
tales of my stupidity, so they let me use their phone and gave me a hot cup
of tea.

I all ears about real STABLE creekers for big guys. I've been thinking
about the Micro 250. Since this boat is out of production, I haven't the
foggiest where I'd locate one.

I've also thought about the Prijon Kompressor. Any comments would be
appreciated-- Wilko?

Quite frankly, I'm looking for a boat that WON'T spin on a dime. This is
not a real advantage for me, mortal kayaker that I am, doing runs that
almost never have gradients steeper than 180'/mile. Most of the runs I do
actually have real water, too, but it would be nice to have a boat that slid
predictably off rocks. The Big Gun never did for me.

I'm alive.

Best,

Chuck